Channel 9 Forums - Coffeehouse - Installing Vista without formatting drive http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/Dev/App_Themes/C9/images/feedimage.png Channel 9 Forums - Coffeehouse - Installing Vista without formatting drive http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums Channel 9 keeps you up to date with the latest news and behind the scenes info from Microsoft that developers love to keep up with. From LINQ to SilverLight – Watch videos and hear about all the cool technologies coming and the people behind them. http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums en Sat, 18 May 2013 14:45:07 GMT Sat, 18 May 2013 14:45:07 GMT Rev9 9 -9 -1 Coffeehouse - Installing Vista without formatting drive I have 2 NTFS partitions. I plan to do a clean install of Vista side by side with my xp installation.

However the drive i plan to install to (D: )  already has quite a few files on it. Is it possible to install vista on that drive without formatting it so that I dont lose all the files on that drive?

I read somewhere that this is indeed possible in Vista if your partiton is already NTFS formatted. Is this true?

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/252038#252038 Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:29:32 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/252038#252038 geeky123 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/geeky123/Discussions/RSS Coffeehouse - Installing Vista without formatting drive Yes.

In fact by default Windows Vista won't recommend formatting the drive. Assuming both Windows installations are on different partitions (or physical drives) running two copies of Windows shouldn't cause any problems.

Just make sure you direct Vista to the correct drive during installation.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/5ba8e05a981d44ee8a759dec00540d27#5ba8e05a981d44ee8a759dec00540d27 Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:49:02 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/5ba8e05a981d44ee8a759dec00540d27#5ba8e05a981d44ee8a759dec00540d27 Manip 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/ManipUni/Discussions/RSS Coffeehouse - Installing Vista without formatting drive where do i check the option to *not* format the drive, during the installation process.

This is what i did -
  1. Clicked on 'Clean Install'
  2. Selected the partition
  3. Clicked on 'Next' since no other option
  4. It started copying the files!
Thankfully I could still cancel the installation.

But where should i tell it not to format the partition.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/09fa361e8bcd4a8c9d569dec00540d4f#09fa361e8bcd4a8c9d569dec00540d4f Mon, 05 Feb 2007 10:33:33 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/09fa361e8bcd4a8c9d569dec00540d4f#09fa361e8bcd4a8c9d569dec00540d4f geeky123 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/geeky123/Discussions/RSS Coffeehouse - Installing Vista without formatting drive Note that the support page from MS says that a clean install *will* wipe out the entire contents of the drive-

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918884#

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/41339ee1472945ffb0739dec00540d77#41339ee1472945ffb0739dec00540d77 Mon, 05 Feb 2007 11:48:11 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/41339ee1472945ffb0739dec00540d77#41339ee1472945ffb0739dec00540d77 geeky123 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/geeky123/Discussions/RSS Coffeehouse - Installing Vista without formatting drive It won't format the partition by itself.

Provided you have 10+ GB free space on the drive it will just install Vista there and leave whatever was there before alone.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/af0420da7dda40fea13e9dec00540d9f#af0420da7dda40fea13e9dec00540d9f Mon, 05 Feb 2007 11:52:45 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/af0420da7dda40fea13e9dec00540d9f#af0420da7dda40fea13e9dec00540d9f eddwo 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/eddwo/Discussions/RSS Coffeehouse - Installing Vista without formatting drive hi,
is there any page that verifies this info.
Sorry but i am a little scared. The very thought of losing all data is pretty scary plus it just says everywhere to create a new partition from the free space or else the partition will be wiped clean.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/2bcc154db8ab4971befc9dec00540dc7#2bcc154db8ab4971befc9dec00540dc7 Mon, 05 Feb 2007 12:05:06 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/2bcc154db8ab4971befc9dec00540dc7#2bcc154db8ab4971befc9dec00540dc7 geeky123 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/geeky123/Discussions/RSS Coffeehouse - Installing Vista without formatting drive
geeky123 wrote:
The very thought of losing all data is pretty scary...


Backup?

If you're not doing any backups at all then you should always be on edge, not just because of a Vista install. There's nothing stopping your HD from going kaput at any time.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/adce59ff836a40069b4c9dec00540def#adce59ff836a40069b4c9dec00540def Mon, 05 Feb 2007 16:12:42 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/adce59ff836a40069b4c9dec00540def#adce59ff836a40069b4c9dec00540def Harlequin 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/Harlequin/Discussions/RSS Coffeehouse - Installing Vista without formatting drive i can verify that vista will not automatically reformat a partition. 

when i installed vista, i did it to my boot drive (which was running xp) and chose not to do an upgrade.  when the install was done, it moved documents&settings, windows, and program files to "windows.old", and left everyother folder alone.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/46642d12975442ee8c749dec00540e16#46642d12975442ee8c749dec00540e16 Mon, 05 Feb 2007 20:13:37 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/46642d12975442ee8c749dec00540e16#46642d12975442ee8c749dec00540e16 RamarC 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/RamarC/Discussions/RSS Coffeehouse - Installing Vista without formatting drive Hi,
 Just to let everyone know I did go ahead with the install and all my files are still intact Smiley

Thanks everyone.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/260c9cc1228e4c4eaa099dec00540e3e#260c9cc1228e4c4eaa099dec00540e3e Mon, 05 Feb 2007 22:31:20 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/252038-Installing-Vista-without-formatting-drive/260c9cc1228e4c4eaa099dec00540e3e#260c9cc1228e4c4eaa099dec00540e3e geeky123 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/geeky123/Discussions/RSS