System restore and secondary drives

So my setup. I have 2 drives in my computer an SSD and HDD. The SSD came shipped with my computer and I installed the HDD as a secondary drive. I've been using it as storage for all my pictures music etc. I've also installed a couple programs on there. My question is if I do a system restore can I do it without wiping out the secondary drive? How would I go about doing it? Step by step. What would happen to the program's installed on there after the restore?

Thank you.

First, make sure you have System Restore enabled (not a default setting in major Win 10 upgrades). Just disable or turn off the restore monitor for the HDD and restore will just run on the SDD where you have the OS. I have a similar set up where I have all programs needed for reinstall on a D drive in case I do a clean install on C. Not sure if your programs installed on HDD have registry entries on SDD though.

Ok quick question. What will happen to the programs already installed on the Secondary drive when I do a system recovery on the main drive? Will they need to be uninstalled first or reinstalled later due to the fact of the registry keys? ( I have Sims 2, Sims 3, Everquest 2 and some Steam Games)

As long as it doesn't erase the drive I'll be happy. lol Thank you for helping.

This is what mine looks like. It's that ok?

I have performed many System Restores on C drive and my D drive is not affected at all. If you installed the games on the S drive and you bring them up by accessing it vs C drive, they should not be affected. However, when I put a program on my D drive and install it, the install goes on my C drive in a Program File; my D is only for storing the orig exe files in case I ever wipe the C drive.

My gut feeling is that your games do the same but unless you're doing a clean install vs System Restore, the files and games on C should only be affected by changes since the last restore point. It's easy enough to check where your games are installed: r-click the shortcut to the game/click Properties and check if the Target is your C or S drive. Bottom line, a normal System Restore will only affect the C drive which, like on my system, is the only one it's enabled for.

Ok yes when I installed the games I purposely installed them on S Drive.

I'm thinking of just uninstalling the games and keeping everything else which is my original files like installers, pictures, music...etc.

I plan on doing an out of box state type recovery and then updating to Windows 10 again. I have the Windows 10 iso that Microsoft helped me make, which is something I'm storing on S drive.

So when I do out of box state type recovery the S drive (S for Storage lol) it will not effect that? Because my other option I was personally going to do was uninstall all games keep the files and then just unplugged the drive from the computer. It's internal but I'm the one that installed it so it would be no problem to just unplug it.

"I plan on doing an out of box state type recovery and then updating to Windows 10 again. I have the Windows 10 iso that Microsoft helped me make, which is something I'm storing on S drive."

So, did this computer orig have an OS other than 10 ? If by 'out of box recovery' you mean using the mfr's D recovery drive to restore to 7, 8 or 8.1 then unplug the S drive, to be safe, in case the partitioning wipes it.

The easiest thing, if you're concerned that something is corrupt with your 10 install is to move a copy of the latest ISO from S to your desktop, r-click 'Mount' (as a virtual drive) and hit the setup.exe. From there, you can do a repair or upgrade keeping files and programs or clean install and reinstall your programs from S.

Can I ask what your concern is with the current install ? Did you do a scannow that brought up issues or is something off that you can't fix with a driver or setting ? A System Restore vs a Reset or Recovery is a whole diff animal.

If there are minor problem with 10 doing the new upgrade may solve it as its a new o/s just upgrade Windows 10

The original was Windows 8.1. Had the computer almost 2 years without every cleaning it up or restoring it. This is the first time since I got it that I've done a restore and in my personal opinion it's nice to have a fresh start. I'm a little OCD and normally routinely do this once a year just to keep things fresh and clean. Don't know if it's right or wrong harmful to the computer or what but it's just what I like to do.

Thank you. I downloaded the Windows 10 iso maybe two weeks ago with microsofts help. Is that the most current version in your opinion?

Arily said:

Thank you. I downloaded the Windows 10 iso maybe two weeks ago with microsofts help. Is that the most current version in your opinion?

Teh link given you in post 7 is to the latest ISO. It can be used at any time in the future too. If you downloaded after 8/2, you already have the latest major update-10 Anniv. There was a cum update issued 8/9 but it will be downloaded during installation or update.

Again, if you are already booted in Windows, you can place the ISO on your desktop, mount and run the setup.exe, no need for usb or dvd burn.

Check version after install by Run command/winver. Should be version 1607 Build 14393.51.... Good Luck and mark topic solved, if you are happy.