Question about maxtor hard drive

DaMaster · #1 31st Dec 04, 06:06 PM

Ok guys, I have two hard drives, for one with the os and all programs installed which came with the PC and the other is a maxtor hard drive which i brought and fitted in with all personal data, what i want to know is i got a norton ghost disc with the pc which ive used in the pass, it takes my system back to how i first got it with windows me installed and then i would install a upgrade of xp because the pc is under warranty, what i want to know is if i did this, the maxtor hard drive would have to be installed again with the maxtor cd in xp for it to be recogized would it format the drive which i dont wish it to do.

KingCobra · #2 31st Dec 04, 06:33 PM

If your Maxtor HD is already NTFS format and it's not the HD your going to use for the OS it will not be formated. If you want all the data on it to stay and your scared that during this reinstall it might screw up your data HD, just unplug it until after you reinstall your system. Your system should recogize the HD after you plug it in after the OS install and you reboot.

DaMaster · #3 31st Dec 04, 06:47 PM

but the maxtor hard drive itself doesnt it need to be installed in windows xp again with the maxtor cd?

KingCobra · #4 31st Dec 04, 07:20 PM

I have never had to install it. I just know what has worked for me and I have Maxtor, 2 in one system and 1 in another. Keep me posted.

DoG · #5 31st Dec 04, 08:10 PM

The maxtor CD is just a basic set of utils for formatting the hdd, the actual drivers for the drive are contained within Windows. If you are unsure or still worried do as KC says, no changes will be made to the maxtor drive and windows will find it again when you plug it back in.

DaMaster · #6 3rd Jan 05, 01:39 PM

You guys were right, I just disconnected the hard drive and formatted c: and all went well and I plugged the maxtor drive back in and it showed in my computer, Thanks.

KingCobra · #7 3rd Jan 05, 01:49 PM

Glad to hear all went well.

What are friends for.

wase4711 · #8 4th Jan 05, 12:30 AM

I have done the same thing dozens of times before, and as both KC and Dog said, if you unplug ANY external hard drive during a format, all you should have to do is plug it back in once you are done, and you should be back in business..
the only time external hard drives can get goofy is if you have a RAID config on your hard drive; both my pc's are RAID 0, but one of them wont boot if you have the external hard drive plugged in or turned on during the boot sequence..fiortunately, I found a external HD with an on/off switch, a Seagate, so we just keep it off during booting, and then turn it on AFTER the PC is started up..that is only a problem in the Compaq; my custom built config has no problems with 3 external HD's plugged in all the time!!
Lousy Compaq junk...