switching C: drives - can I do this?

Hi folks. I want to remove my C drive, reconfigure my existing E drive to become my new C, and install a brand new E drive.

I have a fair bit of media data on my existing E drive that I want to keep, but I can make enough room for windows. Once I have made the switch and loaded windows onto it I will transfer the data onto the new E drive.

I'm worried that installing windows (XP pro) and making the drive bootable might wipe all my data - will it? I have loaded windows a few times in the past but I've never been in this situation before. I don't have a way to back up all my data unfortunately.

Will the windows installation process recognise and respect existing data on the drive? From memory I can choose whether to format the disk etc which obviously I will avoid, but I'm not sure how I will go trying to make a previously non-bootable disk into my main C drive.

Please give me the benefit of your opinion / knowledge!

 

Oh, also a second quick question - I am planning to ultimately create a separate 'clean' windows partition - how does 6Gb sound? That looks to be plenty big enough for windows and my program files, does anyone have any input to the contrary?

Thanks in advance!

 

Wow, thanks for the quick answer Tim.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean - currently my C drive has nothing important on it, other than the OS.

Are you suggesting I install the new drive as C, load windows AND all my data onto it, then just switch them over? I guess that way I can then do a clean install on the 'new' C drive. It sounds a bit safer, the only downside is I would have to load windows twice and mess around inside the box a bit more.

 

OK that's interesting - I was just going by my current folder sizes, but I guess it must also use a fair whack of space for installation and general operation. I will take that on board when I work out my partition sizes.

FWIW this computer is kind of my backup machine and print server etc but it also hosts some media that I don't have room for on the laptop (which is my main machine). The plan is to split the C drive on this machine into 'windows' and 'other', and then use the separate physical drive to store full backups and windows ghosts from both computers.

 

Just for further clarification, the 3 drives concerned are 40Gb, 80Gb and 200Gb. I want to get rid of the 40Gb, make the 80Gb (currently E) my main C drive, and install the new 200Gb as the new E drive.

Do you think my first plan is no good? I would prefer not to have to do it all twice if I can help it, but do you think I do risk losing my data if I try to install windows straight onto the existing drive?