reinstalling Vista, how do i save the parition of the HDD?

[Wildside]

im helping my gf's PC by reinstalling the HDD. Problem is, it is paritioned 9.69GB n i dont want to lose that when i format. How do i save it? What must i do or use?

EDIT:

i want format the main parition, btw.

 

[carnageX]

Just choose to install to the primary partition during Vista's setup. It will only write to that partition, and not the whole drive.

 

[Wildside]

Just choose to install to the primary partition during Vista's setup. It will only write to that partition, and not the whole drive.

will i be able to select that parition to format? Last time i formated my HDD when reinstalling Windows Vista Ultimate, i lose 3GB because i tried using bitecryption protection but i didnt have this one chip required. I cant get it back.

 

[carnageX]

Yes you'll be able to choose which partition to format. Look up a guide on google if you want to see screenshots / aren't sure.

 

[Wildside]

Ok, im reinstalling Vista in the main parition now. Now i got another problem. I tried putting my 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 2.2v Crucial Ballistix RAM in this PC but it screwed things up. Turns out the chipset doesnt support 800MHz speed, only 667/533MHz. However, BIOS did show that my Crucial RAM was being read, the PC just wouldnt boot to login screen. I put back in the old ones (2 x 512MB DDR2 533 Samsung) and the error "hardware or software has been changed" Windows error keeps on showing up. How do i fix it? Do i need to unplug the PC or something?

 

[KSoD]

You could try that. It should work.

 

[Wildside]

^^ fixed! The PC is fixed now! I'm using my gf's family PC to report back that it's fixed. I wont have a computer for a couple of weeks. I took apart n clean my whole computer. I just need to wait until tomorrow to send in my mobo to get it exchange hopefully for a new one.