Windows Install Q

[Finnkc]

Ok I have this 80gb Maxtor I just got for a 3rd drive on my PC however I now picked up anouther PC I want to setup as an FTP. So I want to take the 80gb drive and install Windows 2000 on it but it has like 10gigs of files on it that I want to keep.

Should I:

- Just install Windows on that drive and leave the file system in tact.

- Transfer the 10 gigs of data to anouther HD and format the 80 gig for a clean drive for the Windows install.

The HD has never had any operating system installed on it before.
Will Windows install properly on a drive with info in it already?

 

[CQuinn]

- Transfer the 10 gigs of data to anouther HD and format the 80 gig for a clean drive for the Windows install.

Normally I'd say you can just install windows on the drive and it should be fine, but with that much data on the drive, you run a risk of installing the boot files on a sector past the 1024 cylinder boundary.
Which can give you problems booting the drive later.

 

[Budman]

Since the hd NEVER had an OS on it there's no need to transfer any files,just install windows as usual,just dont format the drive.