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[CountryBumkin]

Is there any problem with removing a full hard drive used for storage (not OS), then later reinstalling it in the same (or different SATA port) to access the data? The drives are storage only (OS is on a different drive) .

Say I remove "full" drive1 E: (1TB) to store, and then install a new "empty" drive2 in the same SATA port and it gets assigned drive letter E:, then later I want to access some data on drive1, so I remove drive2 and reinstall drive1.

Will I have any problem accessing the data on drive1 later when I reinstall it? Will Windows 7 recognize the reinstalled disk as if nothing changed?

Does it matter if the drive letters assigned by Windows get changed during reinstall?


I tried to Google this but can't figure out to describe it well enough to get any searches on it.

[6233638]

I'd check that auto-import has "Fix Broken Links" either disabled, or set to "protect files on missing drives" though I'd prefer to use the former.
Otherwise, I don't anticipate any problems.
 
If you have spare SATA ports, I'd just add the drive rather than replace the other.

[mwillems]

In my experience "protect files on missing drives" doesn't always work as expected.  I'd advise turning off fix broken links and/or turning off auto-import entirely until the operation is complete.

If the drive letters change, MC may not see the data because it's expecting it to be at the old letter drive location; that can be fixed easily by telling windows to change the drive letter back to the original letter, or if that won't work (for some reason) using find and replace in the "Rename, Move, and Copy" tool to change the path JRiver is expecting.  There's no guarantee that windows will assign the same drive letter with unplug and replug, but it's relatively easy to specify a drive letter in modern windows: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/change-add-remove-drive-letter#1TC=windows-7

[rudyrednose]

I do it constantly.

I use a central JR Media Server and several JR clients. JR Server holds all media but movies and runs 24/7.

My movies are on a separate Linux file server that holds only the movies, nothing else.  As we do not watch movies every day, there is no point in keeping an armada of disks spinning uselessly, for both power and wear reasons.  We WOL the Linux machine just before a movie night and shut it down afterwards.

On the JR Media Server, the UNC path of the Linux server is mapped to the V: drive letter and all movies are under V:\HD1, V:\HD2 etc...
I have "Fix Broken Links" set to "protect files on missing drives".  When the Linux server is off, I can still browse my movies but cannot access them, obviously.

So my V: drive is similar to what you want to do and it works beautifully.

I do suggest you map your physical drive to a mapped drive (with a high letter).  This way, you will not have to constantly tamper with your library because the physical drive has changed letter.

Cheers !

[CountryBumkin]

Thanks everyone for your replies.
My question is not about using the data with the MC program.

I have a drive full of old stuff (like scanned mortgage papers and old bank statements/bills, downloaded User manuals and repair books, etc..) that are wasting space on my (non-HTPC) computer so I just want to remove the old drive and save/store it. If I ever want or need to access that stuff, I want to be sure I can just plug the old drive back in (which means I temporarily remove the new drive) and access the old drive's data again.

I want to know if I can just pull the old drive out and save it or do I need to do something special (like use some type of backup software) to it so it is recognized when I plug it back in.

What if I upgraded the OS to Win10 - would the "old" drive created under Win7 still work when I plug it back in?

[mwillems]

You should be fine, I do it all the time.  You might want to pick up one of these though: http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-SuperSpeed-Lay-Flat-Docking-ASM1053E/dp/B00APP6694/ref=pd_cp_pc_3

That way you could just plug the drive into a usb port and not have to take your computer apart to access it.  I bought a stand up version a while back and it's made my life much, much easier when swapping drives or restoring from backups.

[CountryBumkin]

You should be fine, I do it all the time.  You might want to pick up one of these though: http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-SuperSpeed-Lay-Flat-Docking-ASM1053E/dp/B00APP6694/ref=pd_cp_pc_3

That way you could just plug the drive into a usb port and not have to take your computer apart to access it.  I bought a stand up version a while back and it's made my life much, much easier when swapping drives or restoring from backups.

Thanks for the link. That docking station is a good idea. However, since I won't be using thus drive often (maybe less than once a year, if ever) I was asking about how to do it without spending any money. So I'm glad to hear that I can just remove the drive store somewhere safe and out of the way, and if I ever need to access the drive I should not have any problems.
Thanks

[mwillems]

Thanks for the link. That docking station is a good idea. However, since I won't be using thus drive often (maybe less than once a year, if ever) I was asking about how to do it without spending any money. So I'm glad to hear that I can just remove the drive store somewhere safe and out of the way, and if I ever need to access the drive I should not have any problems.
Thanks

I've kept some old drives for years and they still worked fine when plugged in;  the normal caveats about storing electronics/magnetic disks apply: e.g. store it in a cool, dry, static free place, but (knock wood) I've not yet had a drive "go bad" sitting on a shelf, but they will eventually. The oldest such drive I have around is 6 years old, and has the old PATA headers