I has a hardrive

[Dizzle229]

So, I have a hardrive, but don't know what to do with it. It's an old one, only 80 Gb, but the extra space couldn't hurt.

 

The problem is, it has stuff already on it that I also have installed on my current HD. On top of this, it has Windows XP installed, while I'm on Vista. Any way to wipe the drive without putting it in my comp? Or am I screwed?

 

Thanks for any help.

[TyrantElf]

go here: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php and follow the directions to make a gparted usb or cd. then put the 80GB harddrive into your computer and, just in case, remove the data cable for your current drive. boot into the gparted disk and wipe the disk (it should be either an sda# or hda# drive, and the only one in your computer now besides the usb or cd. look at the sizes, it'll tell alot.) then either format it to NTFS or plug in your other harddrive and boot into vista and use it's disk management (right clock on Computer in the start menu and click manage) to format it to NTFS.

 

Hope it helps!

[Dupin]

I think it should also be mentioned that even if you think you know what you're doing, you probably shouldn't go poking around inside the physical computer. If you've opened up and worked on a computer before, get someone to stand by, and if you haven't find someone who has. One slip of the hand and you'd be fried, to put it bluntly.

[Sbrideau]

As long as you have anti-static or that you touch the case all that time, there shouldn't be much danger of frying a part. There's also no danger of putting the old HDD in simply like that, it'll still boot in Vista.

[indy500fan]

I think it should also be mentioned that even if you think you know what you're doing, you probably shouldn't go poking around inside the physical computer. If you've opened up and worked on a computer before, get someone to stand by, and if you haven't find someone who has. One slip of the hand and you'd be fried, to put it bluntly.

 

The enclosed part of the PSU should be the only part that might have capacitors that are still live if the computer is unplugged, which it should be if you are going to work in it. Not really much chance of getting shocked.

 

80gb? Destroy it and get the magnet out of it, that's all it is good for anymore.

[Will H]

I think it should also be mentioned that even if you think you know what you're doing, you probably shouldn't go poking around inside the physical computer. If you've opened up and worked on a computer before, get someone to stand by, and if you haven't find someone who has. One slip of the hand and you'd be fried, to put it bluntly.

 

The enclosed part of the PSU should be the only part that might have capacitors that are still live if the computer is unplugged, which it should be if you are going to work in it. Not really much chance of getting shocked.

 

80gb? Destroy it and get the magnet out of it, that's all it is good for anymore.

 

I don't think you've understood what Dupin said at all. You won't receive an electric shock, but you can easily damage motherboards or other components by letting them either build up static electricity, or being clumsy and letting them hit each other with enough force. 'You'd be fried' clearly means you'd damage it beyond repair, in this context.

 

Also, are you seriously saying that 80GB isn't useful storage? I put an 8GB one in mine, simply because there's virtually no drawbacks to adding them if they work. 80GB's useful for putting backups of your documents and pictures folder.

[Dizzle229]

Thanks for the advice guys! I'll be careful.

[Mr_Adam]

When you put the HDD in, your computer should still boot Vista. You can change the order of boot attempts in BIOS, so if it doesn't work, or you want to switch to XP, you should be able to do it and keep all of your files I would imagine. Anyways, if you have two OSs on a hard drive you have to select the one you want to boot.

 

Then just open it and delete the extra stuff, I guess.

[jasignhagj]

Don't worry, just make sure the computer is unplugged, and that you ground yourself by touching the case. You are probably 1000x more likely to hurt yourself by cutting your hand on the case than you are to fry yourself.

[indy500fan]

I think it should also be mentioned that even if you think you know what you're doing, you probably shouldn't go poking around inside the physical computer. If you've opened up and worked on a computer before, get someone to stand by, and if you haven't find someone who has. One slip of the hand and you'd be fried, to put it bluntly.

 

The enclosed part of the PSU should be the only part that might have capacitors that are still live if the computer is unplugged, which it should be if you are going to work in it. Not really much chance of getting shocked.

 

80gb? Destroy it and get the magnet out of it, that's all it is good for anymore.

 

I don't think you've understood what Dupin said at all. You won't receive an electric shock, but you can easily damage motherboards or other components by letting them either build up static electricity, or being clumsy and letting them hit each other with enough force. 'You'd be fried' clearly means you'd damage it beyond repair, in this context.

 

Also, are you seriously saying that 80GB isn't useful storage? I put an 8GB one in mine, simply because there's virtually no drawbacks to adding them if they work. 80GB's useful for putting backups of your documents and pictures folder.

 

It wasn't clear at all, how you describe it makes more sense but I still don't get that feeling from the post.

 

80gb is 80gb, if you really need that extra space then go for it. It just really isn't all that convenient to store anything on 80gigs. You'll soon run out and need more anyways (depending on what you do). I had an 80 gig hdd in my server for a while because I thought like that as well, 80 gigs extra was 80 gigs extra. I ended up wasting a lot of time finding what collection of files fit on that small of a hdd, moving them around as the collection gets too big ect... Eventually you'll end up in my situation which is around 5 hdds all less than 500gigs with stuff randomly around on them (because they are there, and hey, 320 gigs is 320 gigs), and it just gets to be a pain. I have two 1.5tb hdd that I can keep my biggest collections on so those aren't quite a problem any more.

 

EDIT: Plus the magnet is fun to play with.

[jasignhagj]

^ It would make a decent backup drive for important files though.

[Laura]

I have an 80GB SSD in my laptop. I wouldn't say that it's inconvenient; it stores all of my data and still has free space. Many consumers don't use 100GB+.

[OldJoe]

Buy an anti-stat band if you're worried.