Formatting and installing windows on one partition, doing backup on the other?

[Hammerdin]

Hello there ^^ I've got a question about formatting and taking back up on the same hard disk.

I'm using windows xp professional, and I'm going to switch to windows 7.
I've got one hard drive, that's split up into two partitions, one with windows xp installed, as well as all other important programs, and the other working as a slave drive with all my games, music, photos, etc.
I was wondering whether it's possible to format, and afterwards install windows 7, on the master drive, while leaving the slave drive as is, still containing all my backup files.
that way I could simply transfer any backup files from the slave drive, back to the master drive that would now have windows 7 installed.

is this possible? and if so, how do I do it? do I need a guide, or is it an easy part of the windows 7 installation process?

 

[tw0rld]

It is totally possible. Just format the master, the slave shouldn't be affected.

 

[CapnYousef]

Hello there ^^ I've got a question about formatting and taking back up on the same hard disk.

I'm using windows xp professional, and I'm going to switch to windows 7.
I've got one hard drive, that's split up into two partitions, one with windows xp installed, as well as all other important programs, and the other working as a slave drive with all my games, music, photos, etc.
I was wondering whether it's possible to format, and afterwards install windows 7, on the master drive, while leaving the slave drive as is, still containing all my backup files.
that way I could simply transfer any backup files from the slave drive, back to the master drive that would now have windows 7 installed.

is this possible? and if so, how do I do it? do I need a guide, or is it an easy part of the windows 7 installation process?

Windows 7 will show you a list of all of your partitions, with their name, size, and occupied size. From there, you simply choose your current working OS partition, hit Advanced (options), click format, and select that partition with OK. So long as it is large enough, windows 7 will install to it and all your other drives/partitions will be untouched.

I literally just did it on an Acer Aspire One

 

[Hammerdin]

alright cool, thanks for answering, both of you