Urgent Guidance Required!

[pawankumarpilli]

I've a powered external HDD which underwent repair and tat was solved by opening the case. I'd got my 600 GB data in HDD. I want to use HDD as an internal hard disk for one of my desktops. Now, can i install windows7 OS in that HDD without losing that 600GB data from it? Kindly, guide me. Thank you.

 

[LostAlone]

Yes, you should be able to do that without any major problems. It's been a while since I did a Win7 install, but as I recall you can choose to keep your existing partitions (including any data on them) when you stipulate your install location. I believe you need to run through the advanced install wizard, but it's not too taxing. Just take your time and don't click through anything until you are really really sure that you have it done right.

 

[hang-the-9]

If you don't have a backup of that data, don't use it in that laptop as a primary drive. Buy another drive, and use that ex-external drive as a backup drive for the laptop. Just get another external case for it. Because if you clik on the wrong thing, you will end up formatting the drive during setup or wiping the partition info.

One of the top things I stress to everyone is if you are that worried about your data, don't mess with it. Put the drive aside and use another one. Is saving $50 worth losing your files? If it is, go ahead and use the drive. If not, get a different drive or at least copy your data into anothe drive before you use this one to install Windows on. I have rebuilt my computers a dozen times, never lost any files. Simply because I put the hard drives aside when I work on the systems and use a different drive. I have probably 4-5 hard drives with backups of my files on it from different years, but I sleep well at night without worrying that I'll lose any of it unelss 3 different buildings burn down at the same time.