I need to re-install Vista but i also need to back up about 200-250GB
before i do that.

Rather than transfer all of that over my home network to another
computer, it would be easier to copy over the things i want from my D
drive to my E drive (those are the only 2 drives with things on that i
want to backup)

Windows (Vista home premium 32-bit) is currently installed on C drive.

If i just put everything i need on to my E drive and disconnect that
from my computer, will i then be able to re-install vista (located on C)
and, once that's done, just re-connect my E drive. If i do this, will
all of my files be visable to me and available from E drive or will
Vista not recognise it? i.e. does E drive need to be connected during
installation of windows for vista to recognize the files that are on it?

I don't want to leave E drive connected during the vista reinstall
because i did that once a few years ago (with XP) and it wiped all data
off all of my hard drives (recovery programs could still find most of
the files but windows didn't acknowledge them).


--
hypnoticstate

Hello, Hypnoticstate,

I assume you are talking about backing up user data, Documents, images,
etc, if so then your scenario should work OK , Although you should not
-have -to disconnect you backup drive I can understand why you would
want to go that way, experience is a useful thing

The only possible problem you may find is security permissions when you
try to access the data from the new install. The old data will have
permissions set for the user(s) on the old install, and even if names
are identical, the security id's that vista uses will have changed. what
you will need to do is take ownership of your new files and set the
permissions that you want for your "new" user(s).

hope this helps


--
barman58

Regards,
*Nigel*
the beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not
understand.,- frank herbert

barman58;852404 Wrote:
Hello, Hypnoticstate,

I assume you are talking about backing up user data, Documents, images,
etc, if so then your scenario should work OK , Although you should not
-have -to disconnect you backup drive I can understand why you would
want to go that way, experience is a useful thing

The only possible problem you may find is security permissions when you
try to access the data from the new install. The old data will have
permissions set for the user(s) on the old install, and even if names
are identical, the security id's that vista uses will have changed. what
you will need to do is take ownership of your new files and set the
permissions that you want for your "new" user(s).

hope this helps

Thanks for the info. You're right, it is just my user data. Finally,
some peace of mind.


--
hypnoticstate

glad it helped


--
barman58

Regards,
*Nigel*
the beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not
understand.,- frank herbert