Formatting Main Drive (please read)

[xaelee]

haha, i know the titles messed up, but heres what i meant to say...

im gonna format my main drive (plan to) basically reinstall vista on it. i have all my programs and applications installed onto my second drive though. im wondering what will happen when i format my main drive? i know the files will be untouched but will there be any reinstallation issues or anything like that?

also, i have programs that have been installed on both drives (im not sure why it requires that) but stuff like adobe creative suite, it gave me the option to install it all on the main drive or something like 1gb on main drive and 4gb on secondary drive.

i could use some helpful information please! thanks!!

 

[tlmck]

Anything installed on the main drive will be wiped out, meaning after reinstalling Vista, you will also have to reinstall the other programs. The data on the second drive will be untouched as you say..

 

[hairycat101]

usually when you format your boot partition, you loose your programs. You will have to re-instal programs, updates, drivers and settings. Make sure your files (the documents you want to save) are on the drive that is not getting formatted. Good luck.

 

[grieve]

If you installed any application on drive 2 (not the OS drive) you will also have to install those apps.

The only thing that is not affected by an OS format is DATA files, anything that required the OS to 'operate' will not function after the format as your registry will have incorrect values.

 

[xaelee]

ah i see, thanks for your replies!
i have another question...
does this mean all the games and applications ive installed on my second drive have to be uninstalled then reinstalled?

 

[mGuyA]

They do not need to be uninstalled. They do need to be installed. After you load the OS the programs on the second drive are just 'files' - you need to install the software to load the registry settings, build the menus, load any needed drivers, etc.

When I do this I usually open the case and disconnect the cables to the drive I want to save - don't want to format the wrong drive.

 

[xaelee]

cool, thanks for that tip.

how do i install the programs to the OS even when the files are still there without uninstalling?

 

[evilshuriken]

Well you don't really need to "uninstall" that stuff. When a program is uninstalled all that happens is the files are removed along with any references to those files and settings in the registry(Or at least that is what is supposed to happen but it's very common for many registry keys to be missed. Not sure why, lazy programmers?).
So you could just delete the data files for those programs since they will just be installed again later.

 

[xaelee]

ah, i see, darn.
okay thanks! i believe i have enough answers. basically its gonna suck haha. thanks everyone! =)