How to format used hdd that I put into my pc build?

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Brutal-Riot-Girl

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Feb 8, 2017
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I just built my first gaming pc, I already have everything up and running. My issue is that I decided to install 2 new hard drives, they are used, one is from my ps4 and the other is from an old pc I had laying around. My operating system is installed in a new ssd so that is all fine and well. I don't know how to format the two used ones, they are showing up on my device manager disc management disk 1 465.76GB, and Disk 2 298.09GB and it shows them having various partitions from the used devices I pulled them out from. When I right click it the only options it gives me is Convert to Dynamic disk, offline, properties and help. The other options are grayed out and cannot click on them. How do I erase all that old stuff and make the old little partitions go away so I can use the full memory space? When I right click on the volume I can delete it then it becomes unallocated but how do I make it one big stor age device? (Windows 10 Pro
 
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Let's just be sure we understand. You do NOT want to save anything on either of these HDD units. You want them completely wiped clean, right?


Assuming the answer is yes, it looks like the path forward is hinted at in your post. Your last sentence says you can RIGHT-click on a Volume and Delete it so that it becomes Unallocated Space. Is that true of ALL of the volumes on both of those old drives? If yes, then that is what you do. Delete every one of those "volumes" on each of those drives, until each drive is only one block of Unallocated Space.

Now you have drives with no data or structure, just like a new empty HDD. For each of those two old drives, RIGHT-click on its Unallocated Space and choose to Create a New Simple Volume that...
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Paperdoc

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Let's just be sure we understand. You do NOT want to save anything on either of these HDD units. You want them completely wiped clean, right?


Assuming the answer is yes, it looks like the path forward is hinted at in your post. Your last sentence says you can RIGHT-click on a Volume and Delete it so that it becomes Unallocated Space. Is that true of ALL of the volumes on both of those old drives? If yes, then that is what you do. Delete every one of those "volumes" on each of those drives, until each drive is only one block of Unallocated Space.

Now you have drives with no data or structure, just like a new empty HDD. For each of those two old drives, RIGHT-click on its Unallocated Space and choose to Create a New Simple Volume that uses all of the space on that HDD unit. In one operation this will do a two-step process: first, create a Partition that will be recognized as a "drive" with its own letter name, and then Format that drive for you. Since you are re-using old drives, I encourage you to have it do a Full Format (not a Quick Format) of each drive. This process will take a while - at least half an hour, likely more, for each unit. When one unit is finished, do the same process for the other. When both are done, back out of Disk Management and reboot to ensure that Windows has all this correct in its Registry. You should now find those two units as empty drives with their own letter names, ready to use.
 
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Brutal-Riot-Girl

Commendable
Feb 8, 2017
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Yes, it worked! Thank you for your time and knowledge. I just was scared to mess something up, I am a complete novice. I just built my first gaming PC last week. I really appreciate your help, now I have 2 healthy hard drives :)
 
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