Hi. I have two hard drives installed currently on my computer. I am using windows Xp, if this information is relevant. What i want to know is if it is possible for me to backup my files from my master onto my slave, then format my master. Afterwards, will i be able to recover my files from the slave or will i have to format it too due to it's drivers or whatever being erased. Please help because i need to format my computer soon, it's driving me nuts. Anyways, thanx in advance.

Well, I also have two hard drives, and I reformat my primary one VERY frequently, but I don't normally back up the entire drive, just certain files, when I reformat it, so I'm not sure if I can help too much.

I'd suggest looking up a program like Norton(Symantec) Ghost and backing up with that. It's quality software designed specifically for what you want. I've only used it once, but it did everything just fine...

Only problem is that it's not free. It's priced at $70 right now.

The link for it is http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/

Hope that gives at least some insight.

unless you're really sure of what you're doing, i'd suggest disabling EFS file protection (if you're running on NTFS) or make a copy of your certificate. As if you have protected files and reformat, you stand a good chance of not being able to open them again. --unless you're willing to shell out for a recovery program that might or might not help.
someone here just did that on their laptop, and voila!---all stuff unopenable, even with the recovery program.

Hm... so basically, in order to do this i would need a recovery program, a hdd image maker or an extra hard drive? man that sucks... the reason i bought the slave in the first place was so i can format my main one. Oh well, i'll just borrow an external from a friend... thanks a lot.

why not simply change jumper settings for each? make the master your slave drive, then make your slave the master drive. from there, you can reinstall your OS and applications in your NEW master drive (formerly slave), and then simply access the NEW slave drive (formerly master) for documents and files you might need for the NEW master drive. just a thought.

to do that, i would have to format the new master when installing the OS, which would already have files on it, so i don't think that it would work.

naw, that's not what i meant. basically just disable EFS protection. google a tutorial for it if u don't know how. then simply copy the files u want to keep onto your slave, and then format your master. that's the simplest way to do it.
or if ur not wanting to totally disable EFS, then all stuff you're backing up, right click on the main folder>properties>advanced, and make sure the box to encrypt contents is clear. Apply and you should be safe.

then clear the slave drive (transfer back to master), then swap master-slave settings.

You should only have to format one drive. Backup to the secondary, then format and reinstall on the primary. Simple enough, all you need is something to do the backing up for you.