HDD Move From XP x86 To Windows 7 x64

[Stoner81]

Ok folks here is my possible problem...

My desktop is like mega old and needs upgrading, I will be buying a new motherboard and CPU ready to install Windows 7 Ultimate x64. Now my C:\ drive (IDE) will obviously get wiped in the process which is not a problem but, my desktop also contains 2 other HDD's (SATA) which have a lot of data on them. They are only used for storage purposes so no applications or anything are installed, will these drives be fine or will they not be usable until they are formatted under Windows 7 in which case I lose all my data?

Thanks for your help.

Stoner81.

[CoffeeFiend]

It won't affect your other drives whatsoever. Your data will still be there and ready to use, no reformatting necessary. Just make sure you pick the right drive when you're installing Win 7 though (you can always unplug them first if you're worried).

[cluberti]

I usually go for B, just in case - the data will be fine, and assuming you formatted them in Windows XP they're already likely NTFS 3.1 volumes, so nothing should need to be done once Win7 is installed other than plugging the drives back in and checking that you can get to your files (you may need to tweak permissions if you had anything esoteric configured under XP).

[Stoner81]

Thanks for your help guys much appreciated, I have nothing configured as such from what you describe under XP so I should be ok from the sounds of things. The only reason I asked is because last time I moved the drives I lost all data on them due to how they were formatted I think. Under Disk Manager they showed as green for some reason but they are now blue I can provide screenshots if that does not make sense.

Stoner81.