Reformatting HDDs

[jamex101]

I am currently running windows vista 64 bit and it is basically clogged with lots of crap. i have run several registry cleaners and defragged it and it is still running slow. i am using the latest kapersky update so i probably dont have a virus. i also have one terabyte HDD and a 500 Gig HDD. i keep all my important data on the 1 tb and the crap + vista 64 on the 500 g. i want to format the 500 gig one.

two questions.
1. do i then have to reformat the 1 tb hdd after re installing vista? if so is there a way to get around this without making it an external hdd?
and is there a way i can save all the updates for vista on my 1 tb so i need not download them again?
Cheers.
James.

[mikeL]

No you don't have to reformat the 1TB drive, I don't think you can save your updates to the 1TB drive, your going to need to re-download them after the install.

To be safe you can disconnect the TB drive, so you won't reformat it by mistake, make sure to power down the computer first before disconnecting, and re-connecting.

[systempat]

Not quite clear what you are trying to do here. Which drive do you want to be the boot drive with the operating system?
And are you reinstalling the same Vista 64-bit or something else? If the same version of Vista, how do you think it will resolve the problems. One possiblity it that on your current setup you have ended up with driver issues. Have you installed and uninstalled more than a few hardware changes, like different video cards, sound cards, add-in controllers? If so it may be confused and be running not the best drivers or has left installed the wrong driver, forcing it to go to some kind of compatibility mode (low-performance). One example of this is switching from ATI to Nvidia video or vice versa.

I am not as familiar with Vista as with XP but one of the options with XP is to run a *repair reinstall*
which is to start from the Windows CD and install Windows again to the same folder. By deleting all the original definitions and going thru hardware identification again and installing drivers, it can clean up a lot of these issues. But sometimes a fresh reinstall is the only way.