Installing a used hard drive for extra storage

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Scrublrd

Commendable
Apr 3, 2016
13
0
1,510
So I recently got a new computer, an upgrade from my old one. It's great, but my old one is not at all being used anymore and I was hoping I'd be able to take the hard drive from that one and put it in my new one.

Obviously the problem is that all my stuff is still on that hard drive.

I obviously want to just get rid of everything and use it as extra storage, but I'm not entirely sure how to do it. In a nutshell, I want to get rid of everything on my old hard drive so that I can use it in my new computer as extra storage. Thanks
 
Solution
coozie7
Depends on how paranoid you are but the easiest way is to just plug it in, boot the system and format the drive from within Windows.
If you're more paranoid or have sensitive data on the drive you can use a data scrubber to fully trash the drive contents, but be aware, it'll take some time, particularly if it's a large drive and you opt for a multi pass overwrite of its contents.

It is possible Windows will not recognise the drive, or fail to assign it a drive letter, in Win 10: Click the 'start' icon (bottom left corner), scroll all the way down to 'Windows system', click on that then 'control panel' click on 'system and security' then, under the 'Administrator tools' select 'create and format hard disk partitions'. It should be there.
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offroadguy56

Honorable
Apr 3, 2013
450
1
10,960
Just get a SATA cable at your local computer shop. Plug everything in and turn the PC on. When you get into windows go to My Computer and format the old drive. If it doesn't show up in the list do a windows search for Disk Management and see if its in there. You can format and mount the drive from that window as well.
 
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coozie7

coozie7

Champion
Jun 2, 2007
10,015
10
59,215
Depends on how paranoid you are but the easiest way is to just plug it in, boot the system and format the drive from within Windows.
If you're more paranoid or have sensitive data on the drive you can use a data scrubber to fully trash the drive contents, but be aware, it'll take some time, particularly if it's a large drive and you opt for a multi pass overwrite of its contents.

It is possible Windows will not recognise the drive, or fail to assign it a drive letter, in Win 10: Click the 'start' icon (bottom left corner), scroll all the way down to 'Windows system', click on that then 'control panel' click on 'system and security' then, under the 'Administrator tools' select 'create and format hard disk partitions'. It should be there.
 
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