Do you still disconnect other drives when installing windows?

sgoaty · 14 Oct 2021 at 09:27

I've done it this way for years after being unable to get windows to load after upgrading a non boot drive in the past.

I was upgrading my boot drive today and did the same. It's a bit of a nuisance I just wondered is it still necessary?
Thanks
Scott

Glanza · 14 Oct 2021 at 09:40

Still do it just in case

Trig · 14 Oct 2021 at 09:42

I always do it just in case, formatted the wrong drive once, never again lol

Nanobot · 14 Oct 2021 at 10:43

Still do ever since Windows put boot loader on a different drive years ago.

MR_Punk · 14 Oct 2021 at 11:09

Trig said:
I always do it just in case, formatted the wrong drive once, never again lol

I still remember the tears when I did it - luckily I could recover a lot of stuff.

Terminal_Boy · 14 Oct 2021 at 11:12

Yup. Formatted the wrong drive 30 years ago and will never trust Windows to get this right again.

Trig · 14 Oct 2021 at 11:20

MR_Punk said:
I still remember the tears when I did it - luckily I could recover a lot of stuff.

yeah same, was a pool drive so data was elsewhere, but still was a headscratch which quickly turned into an OMFGWTF! moment...

Trig · 14 Oct 2021 at 11:20

Terminal_Boy said:
Yup. Formatted the wrong drive 30 years ago and will never trust Windows to get this right again.

Windows' fault you formatted the wrong drive?

Fluffybob · 14 Oct 2021 at 12:15

Still do it, can't break some old habits at my age

MissChief · 14 Oct 2021 at 12:29

Have to say I still do this too. Only had the NVME installed when putting windows on it then reconnected the mechanical and SSD.

Orcvader · 14 Oct 2021 at 14:50

Still do. Learnt from the first lesson when the boot partition went on the second drive.

Deleted member 77746 · 14 Oct 2021 at 15:34

I do, always done this. If you format the wrong drive you got more chew on recovering data than it would be worth it by just removing the power cable.

Marzipanogram · 14 Oct 2021 at 20:47

Instead of removing a NVME drive and dragged the PC case out from under the desk.
Is there a a way of disabling any secondary drives in the BIOS, so you don't need to physically remove it, and make Windows think there's just a C drive?
I've not looked in my BIOS for about 3 years, so I'm a bit rusty on the subject.

Thanks.

Mcnumpty2323 · 15 Oct 2021 at 01:47

@Marzipanogram
That's a good question mate
Especially if got 3 X m2 all with heatsink on them
Its a real pita
Can't 100% answer it for you though as too many different motherboards
Can only say the motherboards I have tried no you can't
Disable the nvme drives either en masse
Or individually
Sata 2.5 ssds yes you can

Edit I can't even raid 2 X m2 and have the 3rd as a separate drive
It basically becomes invisible
So definitely not as flexible as sata in some regards
With the bios control

smogsy · 15 Oct 2021 at 09:49

no dont see why you lot take extra steps to disconnect drives. this has not been needed since xp..

1. Have your OS drive be a different total size than all others.

2. when installing windows

you will see:
drive 0: 250GB
drive 1: 1TB
drive 2: 1TB

just use your eyes job done... not exactly rocket science

KompuKare · 15 Oct 2021 at 10:02

Marzipanogram said:
Instead of removing a NVME drive and dragged the PC case out from under the desk.
Is there a a way of disabling any secondary drives in the BIOS, so you don't need to physically remove it, and make Windows think there's just a C drive?
I've not looked in my BIOS for about 3 years, so I'm a bit rusty on the subject.

Thanks.

Well, AFAIK the problem is that you can indeed disable it in the BIOS but once a full OS is installed it loads the driver for the controller and finds the drive anyhow. That is what used to happen with SATA or PATA anyhow. Unsure if any BIOS can totally turn of a NVMe slot.

wiiija · 15 Oct 2021 at 10:18

Never have never will.

this_is_gav · 15 Oct 2021 at 10:31

You only format the wrong drive once (in the DOS days for me).

But yes, on my motherboard at least you can disable individual ports, so I just do that these days, not that I reinstall Windows often anymore anyway.

Marzipanogram · 15 Oct 2021 at 11:44

Mcnumpty2323 said:
@Marzipanogram
That's a good question mate
Especially if got 3 X m2 all with heatsink on them
Its a real pita
Can't 100% answer it for you though as too many different motherboards
Can only say the motherboards I have tried no you can't
Disable the nvme drives either en masse
Or individually
Sata 2.5 ssds yes you can

Edit I can't even raid 2 X m2 and have the 3rd as a separate drive
It basically becomes invisible
So definitely not as flexible as sata in some regards
With the bios control

KompuKare said:
Well, AFAIK the problem is that you can indeed disable it in the BIOS but once a full OS is installed it loads the driver for the controller and finds the drive anyhow. That is what used to happen with SATA or PATA anyhow. Unsure if any BIOS can totally turn of a NVMe slot.

Thank you both

something daft already!! · 15 Oct 2021 at 11:45

I never do and have never had an issue.