Preparing to format a hard drive... what to know?

[webmaster111]

This may be very simple, but I want to run it by the experts before I delve in.

The setup is I have a working WinXP computer (using it now) and it has a second hard drive inside it set to slave. I plugged it in because the old computer was fried, but the HDD is still good apparently.

So now, I basically want to use the second HDD as pure storage. What should I know/do beforehand before I format the HDD? I'm only trying to format the ADDED hard drive as well, I want the main one to stay the same as it is.

Also, should I format in safe mode or anything special?

[Midknyte]

the HDD is still good apparently.

I'm going to assume you ran diagnostics on the drive already.

Just use disk management to format the slave drive. you don't need to boot to safe mode.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000

make sure to choose quick format also.

[webmaster111]

ran diagnostics

what does this entail? lol... bad assumption I suppose, I have done nothing nor knew of what TO do.

[Midknyte]

I would test any part pulled from a "fried" machine before i would use it in another.

Download the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostics tool from their website or get UBCD5 from the link in my signature.

If you don't know how to burn .iso files, read the UBCD FAQ

[webmaster111]

Thanks ill check it out... just ran error and defrag. turned up good btw.

[webmaster111]

Im curious, Why do I need to look at this program for making a boot CD?

The HD that is added as slave right now is just a slave and the computer does boot up with it. Not sure what steps I need to do at the moment before I format JUST the new, slave hdd.

[Midknyte]

It's a diag disc so that you can diagnose your system, even if it can't boot to Windows.

You need the Ultimate Boot CD if you want to:

* Run floppy-based diagnostic tools from CDROM drives. More and more PCs are shipped without floppy drives these days, and it is such a royal pain when you need to run diagnostic tools on them.

* Free yourself from the slow loading speed of the floppy drive. Even if you do have a floppy drive, it is still much much faster to run your diagnostic tools from the CDROM drive, rather than wait for the tool to load from the floppy drive.

* Consolidate as many diagnostic tools as possible into one bootable CD. Wouldn't you like to avoid digging into the dusty box to look for the right floppy disk, but simply run them all from a single CD? Then the Ultimate Boot CD is for you!