Formatting a secondary drive. Is it needed?

[MrDitorix]

In my computer I have two hard drives, a 128 gb SSD and a 1 tb hard drive. The OS, windows 7, is installed on the SSD and my computers drivers are also installed on the SSD. Everything else is installed on my 1 tb hard drive (games, software, etc.) I would like to upgrade my OS to Windows 8. Well over time I have accumulated almost 500gb worth of data and obviously it would be a pain to re-download all of that data so I was wondering if a format of the 1tb drive (without the OS) is needed or can I just install the OS on the SSD re install the drivers and such and still have all of my hard drive's data ready to go. Or is a fresh hard drive needed as well?
Thanks.

 

[PhatLloyd]

Well it doesn't actually matter where you install it. When you install W8 there will be a new folder call windows.old. All documents, pics, drivers, installed programs will be there, and you can just cut and paste what you like into the new program files and you wouldn't need to download anything again. Although the drivers will have to be reinstalled again yes, depending on which hdd it was installed on.

 

[spooky2th]

Remove the HDD and install win8. Then after drivers and etc are installed and your comp is running right, install the HDD. All your data and games will be there for the most part. You will have to redirect documents & downloads etc to the hdd again. Also you probably want documents & pictures on the hdd too, so you will have to redirect them again to the hdd. You will have to reinstall games and other software you use for win8. Anything on your ssd that you do not want to lose, save it first.