reformatting

[numaari]

I'm planning to reformat my computer for the first time, and I have a fairly detailed set of instructions.  However, I had a friend install a dvd drive several months ago, and I'm wondering if I'm going to have problems.  He set it up to be the "master" of my original drive, and he said he had to fiddle quite a bit to get it working correctly.  (He's also unavailable for "tech support" right now...)

Am I going to reformat my 'puter, only to have my main drive FUBAR'ed?  Nothing else on the machine has been altered except software, but I'm still askeered.

[ZiggyDoodle]

Master/slave drive designations are used for hard drives, not DVDs.

If you are not completely certain of what you are doing, spend a few bucks and take it to a local repair shop - not a box store type, but to your neighborhood geek.  Or the head of your local high school computer lab.

[Jelenedra]

Most IT guys (at least ones that actually know what they're doing) will work on personal PCs on the side if you ask them. I took mine to the IT guy at the bank I work at and he fixed it for like 50 bucks.

[witch]

Master/slave drive designations are used for hard drives, not DVDs.

Actually DVD or CD drives do hang off the controllers and are generally secondary or slaves to the HDDs.

ETA FYI I read that someone in the US was going to take a case to court because they found master/slave in computer jargon to be offensive.

[numaari]

I'm confident about everything except the secondary dvd drive.  He just couldn't explain to me exactly what he did to my computer and why...

It seems like a fairly straightforward procedure, and I have all my installation discs in order.

[miros]

ETA FYI I read that someone in the US was going to take a case to court because they found master/slave in computer jargon to be offensive.

I call that excessive political correctness.