Hard Drive's & Formatting...

[Ash]

I know how to format a hard drive using a floppy disc. However, i am wondering if it is possible to format a SECOND (slave) Hard drive by just Right clicking then selecting Format??

I want to firstly plug it in (when i find 4 screws that will fit) and copy some files (movies and music etc etc) onto my new hard drive, its on 40 gig but better than by old 20gig one lol :P And once i have copied the required files from my old hdd to my new one , i want to format the second drive so it is completely blank and ready for files to be backed up onto it.

At the moment my old (second) hdd has all windows files on with a complete OS, thats why i wish to format it. I could just plug it into the computer as a main hdd (again), but i thought it would be much quicker and easier just to right click the drive and select format if this is possible??

I am fully aware that i could try it, but i don't want to mess anything up lol, also it's not plugged in yet and i would like to know before i set it up as my second hdd.

Sorry for the long post

Cheers

 

[Senture]

thats ok solong as the windows install is on the new hard drive aswell as the page file system

 

[Ash]

Oki cheers mate Yep, all the OS etc is now freshly installed on the new hdd ^_^

Hopefully it works hehe, i shall try later. I never thought it would work because i have always been told to format a hard drive (using floppy disc on bootup), then reinstall windows. Also, i never knew if i could use the backup hdd if it was fully wiped with nothing on it (no OS etc). Sounds Abit n00bish, but hey :P

 

[Zidio]

hmm just get the stuff off boot up a windows cd and delete the partition off it?

 

[Senture]

he wants the data off it zidio :P

the method you descrived will work ash, just rember to get the data off before you format lol

 

[Zidio]

lol plug it in a new drive will apaer in my comp go into it get the files u want copy n paste onto ur main 1 (C im guessing then boot cd delete partition probly easyest way tbh

 

[Ash]

Easiest way for me (now i know it should work) would be to just copy all files i need onto new hdd, then right click old/second hdd and select "Format.." ^__^

 

[Bacardi]

yup thats what i did. i then promptly dropped the new drive and lost everything id just transferred. naturally it was after id formatted the old one too so lost all my data.

 

[Ash]

Cheers. I am now formatting my old hdd ^_^ I shouldnt drop it because they are both now screwed into my tower (only just, got some dodgy screws that wont stop twisting to and dont fit the hdd properly lol, but they hold it in place :P )

EDIT:

I now have no windows files on my second hdd, so if anything goes wrong with my main hdd, i cannot boot up my pc from the second hdd (even if i switch it to the master).. Is it possible to copy the "WINDOWS" folder from my main hdd (with the OS etc) to my back up one? so that if my main hdd crashes or whatever, i can still switch the drives over and boot up from my backup drive? This saves me reinstalling windows on my seccond one lol