HDD factory reset

[Khaliq45]

Just got a quick question about resetting my drives. So I decided to restore my Windows 10 to factory default which is located on my SSD. However, I have around 1200gb worth of stuff on my secondary HDD which I would rather not install over again. So my question is if I removed the HDD and reset the OS with just the SSD could I plug the hardrive back in without any problems afterwards? Thanks

 

[CountMike]

Yes but some programs installed on it may not work until reinstalled. Data is safe otherwise.

 

[LordLuciendar]

Yes but some programs installed on it may not work until reinstalled. Data is safe otherwise.

Unless you specifically installed your apps on the 2nd drive (e.g. changed the options in Steam, manually changed the installation path during installation, etc.), you don't have to worry about this. It's always a good idea to unplug all but the OS drive when reinstalling, since it avoids Windows Installer confusion about where to place the system partition (and prevents the computer from becoming unbootable when you remove your data drive).