Adding an old HDD to a new computer: Dangerous?

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blyman94

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Jul 5, 2015
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Hey guys,

I just built a new computer, and I found an old 320gb hard drive in my parent's basement. My father said the drive did not have any viruses on it or anything of that sort. I already have a 100GB SSD and a 500GB HDD, but I thought that free, extra storage would be swell. Other than the lack of viruses, I have no real idea what kind of condition this thing is in. I know how to install it, and I know it has a SATA interface. Is there any danger in adding a hard drive like this to a new computer? What should I look out for if I decide to undergo this process? Thanks!
 
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McHenryB
There is no danger in installing it, just a possibility that you may lose anything you store on it. That, of course, is also true of a brand-new disk.

You can get a fair idea of its condition by checking the SMART data.
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McHenryB

McHenryB

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Jan 31, 2015
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There is no danger in installing it, just a possibility that you may lose anything you store on it. That, of course, is also true of a brand-new disk.

You can get a fair idea of its condition by checking the SMART data.
 
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blyman94

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Jul 5, 2015
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Thanks! So I have to install it in my system before checking the SMART data, correct? And if there's something blatantly wrong with it, putting it in and checking SMART won't bother the rest of my rig?
 
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McHenryB

McHenryB

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Jan 31, 2015
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You can partition and format the drive, using Disk Management, if you are worried about the possibility of viruses before doing anything else with it. After doing that you can use one of the free tools, as already mentioned, to read the SMART data from the disk. That will tell you how long it has been used for and how many, if any hard errors there are. A few errors is perfectly normal and nothing to be concerned about. The utility would warn you if there was a problem with the disk.

There's really no reason to suppose that it won't be good for a number of years yet.
 
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