Howdy brilliant folks,
Universal Audio's latest software update knocked my system out (again) and after a week of dealing with this I need to do a complete reinstall of Windows 10 Pro. I have several internal drives set up in my system for samples, storage, and audio data. Do I need to disconnect these drives before I do the reinstall from a USB drive? The way this last week has gone I would hate for the install to overwrite one of the other drives. I don't think this has been a problem in the past but I'm a bit gun-shy at this point.
Not sure if the general forum is the right place for this but I thought I would start here.
 
Thanks for the help!!
Tommy

I always do, for any windows OS.........

So long as you can identify the drive you want to install windows on there is no point in doing so. If you are doing a repair installation, you can just install over the old installation, and that may fix your system without as much of a problem as a full bare metal install of windows then everything else. In any event you will be given the option of where to install windows prior to making any changes, but if you are paranoid or think you might install it to the wrong drive you can just disconnect the data cable from the drives you want to protect.
 
https://neosmart.net/wiki/windows-10-repair-installation/#Repair_Installing_Windows_10
 

On June 2, 2017 I had an innocent message of from Win10 Pro that updates were pending.  That Win10 had been dormant in my Mac Pro for about 6 months, and the update was the Anniversary Edition (AE) update. The AE update behaved like a cross between a full system reinstallation and a virus. 
 
It sought out my one of my HFS partitions, obliterating the drive, and touched two NTFS data-only drives (the primary and backup, of course) trashing the directories in things younger than 6 months. That's why I remember the date; it was truly traumatic.  It took me four days to run variety of data recovery utilities to get everything back.  
 
The takeaway from that experience is that you should install Win10 with only the target drive connected.  It's not a matter of choosing a wrong target, it's the unpredictable behavior of the install routines that can wreak havoc. (Is anything else ever wreaked?) 

Thanks guys, my paranoia about everything with my rig at the moment has led me to disconnect the other drives, just in case.

GaryMedia
(Is anything else ever wreaked?) 

As well as havoc, mayhem and destruction definitely can be wreaked.

Back on topic, I disconnect every drive but the target one for OS installations, and I don’t care what that OS is. It may even really have a perfect install routine, but I am not perfect so don’t take chances.

When the OP is finished with the clean install of Win10, use Acronis True Image or similar to create a backup image file of the boot drive.
Once you have all software/plugins installed, create an up-to-date backup image file.
Keep both backup image files (the first is a clean/tweaked OS install, the second is a full backup).
In the future, this will save many hours of potential lost time/frustration.
 

If you're concerned about the new Win10 install effecting other drives, you can turn off the machine and disconnect the data cable at each data drive.

Jim Roseberry
When the OP is finished with the clean install of Win10, use Acronis True Image or similar

The "Similar" I switched to is Macrium Reflect (The Free Version).
Faster for sure and
Way better than Acronis IMHO.
 

The important part is that you're backing-up.
Lots of folks use Macrium Reflect.
 
FWIW, I've been using True Image (same manner) for many years.  It's never failed.
Booting from the "Rescue Disc" and running True Image directly from the disc (not installed).
It only takes a couple of minutes (tops) to backup a clean Win10 install.
Restore may take slightly longer... but not much.
 
I don't use imaging software to backup/restore data drives.