I'm planning to factory reset my PC, but I want to keep one of my hard drives that contains important data. Is it possible to unplug that drive, reset the computer, and then plug the hard drive back in once the reset is done?
4 Answers
Definitely, you can do that. Just double-check that you don't have BitLocker activated on that drive, or it could complicate things later.
Yes, just make sure it's not your boot drive. I always disconnect all my non-OS drives when I need to reinstall Windows, so I don't risk accidentally formatting any important data. After reinstalling, you might need to use Disk Management to set your drive letters back the way you want them.
I did a similar thing last month when I reset my PC using a USB. I was able to choose which drive to reset, and the other drive remained untouched, so I just had to re-add some shortcuts afterward.
Absolutely! If the drive you want to keep doesn't have your operating system on it, you can simply disconnect it before performing the reset and then reconnect it afterward.
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