If I need to reinstall win xp or the motherboard drivers, on a harddisk which already contains data, is it possible to reinstall it in partition c:\ (where win xp was previously installed) and without losing data on all other partitions? Will only partition C:\ be formatted and reinstalled by win xp?

Hello okeee and welcome.

Yes the only space affected by a reinstall is the partition that you select to put the operating system unless you begin to delete partitions and reformat the whole hard drive.

Left alone the data on other partitions will be fine.

Also during the reinstall procedure you will get to a window in the process that shows you the existing operating system and the partition it resides on.

How about the programs on the other partitions, do they still work or do i have to reinstall them?

When you use your operating system disk to reinstall you have two ways that you can go.

One is to do a "repair" installation (often called a dirty install) which is when you basically install the operating system on top of itself in the hopes of curing some problem be it corruption, missing files, etc. and such an install makes it necessary for you to reinstall any Microsoft updates/service packs that you may have had but it does not affect your personal data or installed programs.

The other method would require deletion of the partition containing the operating system currently in place and a subsequent reformatting of said partition along with reinstallation of your operating system. This method (called clean installation) provides you with an operating system that has not been affected by time and other influences that impact its functionality/performance however it DOES require reinstalling any programs that you have/had as well as the motherboard drivers.

*Note this method erases all your personal data that you had like emails if you were using Outlook Express, any login/password info that you may be taking for granted where some sites are concerned, anything in your My Documents folder would be lost etc. Whenever possible a clean installation requires good preparation and taking the time to note any data that is important to give yourself an opportunity to burn it to disk or save it in a safe place.

I've just done precisely that in fact and for the most part if you reinstall the programs to the exact same location many of the settings are retained though to what extent depends on the program in question.

ok thanks.

Happy to help.

Let us know how it turns out.

Another question: if I had to replace the motherboard and drivers, and windows xp as well, would the data on other partitions still remain?