I want to try Windows 7 and I have the RC, now I think I know the answer to this question but I want to ask it anyway for my own peace of mind.

I have 2 HDD's once contains all my data etc the other the OS and program files. If I pop in to Win 7 disk and set it to install on my C drive will it format and write to the C drive without effecting my data disk at all? So when windows 7 boots I will show 2 HDD's with the data disk working straight away?

Hobgob.

simple answer yes.

I knew that.....I just had to ask it anyway, I don't know why.

Infact I knew it so much that im already typing this from Win7, I like it!

always better to question then realise afterwards that youve just done something really silly.

If in doubt, unplug the 2nd drive until after you've installed, then plug it back in.

I've done that before now, especially when doing late night installathons!

I'd also still make a backup.

Upgraded mine to the release version of Windows 7 last week, took about 20 minutes for a nuke, format and complete install, including patching (Q6600, not overclocked). There are also reports that the install (upgrade?) can take hours if you have a lot of data visible to the install process!

My current setup consists of XP Pro SP3 on an EIDE 160gb Caviar and then 500, 750 and 1000gb SATAII Samsung Spinpoints chock full of data. I also have an external enclosure with a 400gb Samsung SATA and a 250 WD My Book external.

I'm planning on removing the EIDE as it's probably a bottleneck, or is it worth using as data storage? I was gonna shift some data of the 500 onto the 400 external, then partition that with say 100gb system and whatever's left for data. Should I unplug everything then and just have the 500 hooked up when installing 7?

Also, will 2gig of DDR ram be ok, do you think (I fancy 64bit)?

64-bit will only really bring an advantage when you go over 4GB RAM. If you are planning to stick with 2GB, then there isn't much point. If you are planning on upgrading 8GB or so in the future, then it is worth getting it now.

The data - videos and streamed music just need space, it is irrelevant what bus they are on, as apart from the initial copy operation, they are going to be streamed at a fraction of the theoretical capcity of the drives...

But Windows 7 upgrades will try and index all data by install, which can really delay it.

I intend to upgrade my whole system at some stage, but I won't be putting more than 2gig in the current one. It's a waste of money as the motherboard and CPU are too old. Surely 64bit won't do me any harm? After all, I have both versions in my retail box

It won't do any harm... But if you are upgrading, you can only upgrade like to like (32-bit to 32-bit, 64-bit to 64-bit).

If you have 32-bit and buy 64-bit Windows 7, you will have to do a clean install and you will need retail or OEM versions...

I thought that if you were "upgrading" from XP to Win7 you had to do a fresh install and couldn't actually upgrade your current installation.

In any case I'm fairly certain that when I installed the Win7 RC onto my XP machine it would only allow a clean install either onto a separate partition or by formatting C.

I have exactly the same setup. I got my shiny new DVDs of 7 goodness through the post today, and installed as a fresh install (complete wipe) of the primary disk. During the install process it detected the 2 HDDs and just asked me where to plonk the OS, I chose the primary disk and it left the second drive alone.

It even didn't really believe me when I said I wanted a fresh install so it kept the entire previous contents in a folder called "windows.old" on the C: drive.

I initially tried installing the 64bit version, but my USB wireless adapter refused to work even with a manual install attempt of the driver software. I went back and did 32bit instead. I'm also not convinced my computer games would work on 64bit.

Precisely. I've got a full retail box, so no probs there. That said, I ran the MS tool to see if my machine's ready for 7 and it appears not. My version of Acronis is incompatible, my GPU is too old for Aero and there were a bunch of other things that I can't remember right now.

Which games? I've yet to find any of mine that won't work with Vista x64 SP2, SP3 should be fine.

Erm, C&C Tiberium Wars, Red Alert 3, Civ III, Civ IV, COD MW, Fallout 3, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, MOH Airborne, Red Faction, Far Cry, couple of others.

I have these, they all work perfectly on x64 Windows.