hello2007 Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 i have an extra hard drive and people say there is no point in installing vista on the extra hard drive if vista is on the first hardrive but what if i want to use the second hard drive, i wouldnt be able to i assume since nothing is installed on it so i would only be able to just store data on it but not open it from there or anything right? i would only be able to open it from the hard drive with vista installed on it avast, avira, malwarebytes, ad-aware, superantispyware, windows defender--------paragon, macrium reflect, ubuntu, terabyte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fireryone Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 The only reason you'd install windows or another OS on the second drive is if you want to boot into it (aka a new clean install without messing up your old one) Otherwise just use it for software installs and downloads. If that's not what you meant by it please clarify. fireryone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hello2007 Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 so without installing vista and leaving it as is blank i would still be able to play music and videos and install software on it? yes i just got an extra hard drive for the first time in my life and am totally new to this avast, avira, malwarebytes, ad-aware, superantispyware, windows defender--------paragon, macrium reflect, ubuntu, terabyte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators rridgely Posted August 23, 2009 Moderators Share Posted August 23, 2009 All you have to do is format the drive as ntfs so windows can see it and allow you to use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hello2007 Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 All you have to do is format the drive as ntfs so windows can see it and allow you to use it. yea but what if your first hard drive gets curropted(virus, user mistake etc) can you still access and use the second one untill you fix the first even though you didnt install vista on the second one? avast, avira, malwarebytes, ad-aware, superantispyware, windows defender--------paragon, macrium reflect, ubuntu, terabyte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aethec Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Place your pagefile on it PS : ...You're not using Avast! and Avira at the same time, are you ? Piriform French translator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fireryone Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 yea but what if your first hard drive gets curropted(virus, user mistake etc) can you still access and use the second one untill you fix the first even though you didnt install vista on the second one? No, you can only boot "vista" from the first drive as thats the one its installed on, The files on the second drive will still be safe even if you don't install vista on it, but you will need a working computer/bootable drive to view them. So for a backup bootable drive, you may want it seperatly installed on both, but its not necessary. fireryone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hello2007 Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 thanks few more questions. so i can download software, view videos etc on the second one even if i didnt install vista on it? something weird happened when i first put in my second hard drive, i formatted it to ntfs and then installed vista on it, thinking i needed to install vista on it to make it work. So when i did that my FIRST hard drive got formatted too? even though i only clicked on formatting the new drive, do you know how this happened? because im scared to format anything, anymore with that happening. I have to say though my first hard drive was corrupted when i put in my second one but i dont think that'll cause that at all and im sure i clicked on formatting my new hard drive, it wasn't a mistake by me. It's hard to mistake a hard drive that says 500gb with one that says 1tb avast, avira, malwarebytes, ad-aware, superantispyware, windows defender--------paragon, macrium reflect, ubuntu, terabyte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators hazelnut Posted August 23, 2009 Moderators Share Posted August 23, 2009 Have the external drive plugged in and then copy and paste a couple of your mp3's or pictures you have on your computer into it. You do not need vista to be installed on the external drive. You can do this by right-clicking and choosing copy on a mp3 file and then open my computer and double click on the external drive (it should be visible as a letter), to open it, and then right-click paste and your mp3 will appear. Then when you double click on it you should play. The external drive is just an extention of your computer really, more space. You can have copies there of all your pics, music, installers etc for backup in case your computer gets a problem, and then you wouldn't lose them. I don't keep my external plugged in all the time, only when I want to back up some documents etc to it. You can delete things off it just the same as you can with your c drive. Support contact https://support.ccleaner.com/s/contact-form?language=en_US&form=general or support@ccleaner.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fireryone Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 I'd say when you installed vista on you second drive it made the new drive the boot drive. but you should still be able to see the content of both drives via "Start" / "Computer" / open the letter (C: D: F: J: etc) fireryone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators rridgely Posted August 24, 2009 Moderators Share Posted August 24, 2009 How did you format the drive? If you just right clicked in windows and clicked format then it shouldn't have done anything to your main drive. However if you used the windows disc then your probably overwrote it when you installed windows on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hello2007 Posted August 24, 2009 Author Share Posted August 24, 2009 no my first hard drive was corrupted. So i bought a extra harddrive(internal) so i can transfer my data onto it through ubuntu and reinstall the first drive after that. So when i put in the extra hardrive i formatted it to ntfs through boot it cd and then booted up ubuntu but ubuntu didnt show my second hard drive for some reason so i thought maybe i needed to install windows or any os for ubuntu to regonize it so i installed vista on my second hard drive and then after installing vista it took me to create my username for my new account etc and when i logged into my second hardrive after setting up my logon details etc i right away went to start, computer and saw it saying 913 gb of 1tb(which is fine since i installed vista and normally harddrives come lower spaced than advertised) then on my d drive it says 436gb of free space from 500gb which meant that all my data on my first hard drive was gone? since i had only 252gb free space of data on that drive. So im wondering how can my first hard drive be reinstalled if i only clicked on installing vista on my new hard drive? avast, avira, malwarebytes, ad-aware, superantispyware, windows defender--------paragon, macrium reflect, ubuntu, terabyte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fireryone Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Since the fisrt drive is corrupted, it could be an actual hdd issue not just a corrupt vista install. Can you open the D drive and browse around it, if so try installing a few data recovery app like Piriform's recuva (see links at top of page) to try recovering some of the data. If you cant open the drive you may need to find/try some other apps. fireryone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hello2007 Posted August 25, 2009 Author Share Posted August 25, 2009 everything is fine now i can open all the drives. Im just wondering why both hd's got reinstalled when i only clicked on windows to install my new hd only-the second one avast, avira, malwarebytes, ad-aware, superantispyware, windows defender--------paragon, macrium reflect, ubuntu, terabyte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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