Uninstalling Device

I just wanted to quickly confirm a procedure as being safe for the following
situation:

I have an internal 1 TB hard drive that is not being recognized by Windows
Vista (even though it is listed in the Device Manager (as working properly)
and is fully recognized by the bios). I have been informed by the computer
manufacturer that this problem should be fully resolved with the release of
Service Pack 1; unfortunately, I have data that needs to be accessed well
before the end of this month.

I have seen the following simple suggestion on many different forums
(including this one):

1. Within Device Manager, locate the drive, right-click on the drive and
select "Uninstall."
2. Restart Vista

After restart, Vista should recognize the drive.

(As it now stands, Vista doesn't recognize this drive after normal restarts.)

Because we have very sensitive data on this drive (a certain amount of data
that was not been backed up before the drive went missing) I just want to
make absolutely certain that going through this process is not going to do
anything to make this drive nonrecoverable if this procedure is not
successful.

Is this a completely safe procedure? Is this something that is recommended?

Thanks!

"husky86" <husky86.RemoveThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0C5F8530-4449-4DE1-A0D2-EEDC1F92BF03@microsoft.com...
>I just wanted to quickly confirm a procedure as being safe for the
>following
> situation:
>
> I have an internal 1 TB hard drive that is not being recognized by Windows
> Vista (even though it is listed in the Device Manager (as working
> properly)
> and is fully recognized by the bios). I have been informed by the
> computer
> manufacturer that this problem should be fully resolved with the release
> of
> Service Pack 1; unfortunately, I have data that needs to be accessed well
> before the end of this month.
>
> I have seen the following simple suggestion on many different forums
> (including this one):
>
> 1. Within Device Manager, locate the drive, right-click on the drive and
> select "Uninstall."
> 2. Restart Vista
>
> After restart, Vista should recognize the drive.
>
> (As it now stands, Vista doesn't recognize this drive after normal
> restarts.)
>
> Because we have very sensitive data on this drive (a certain amount of
> data
> that was not been backed up before the drive went missing) I just want to
> make absolutely certain that going through this process is not going to do
> anything to make this drive nonrecoverable if this procedure is not
> successful.
>
> Is this a completely safe procedure? Is this something that is
> recommended?
>
> Thanks!

As it appears that your OS is not on the 1TB drive, why not remove it and
put it in a different computer where it is recognized, then back up all your
sensitive data? You can then experiment with possible solutions without fear
of data loss.
FWIW, following the uninstall procedure you mention is unlikely to cause
loss of data.