Throwing in an old 5200RPM HDD as a backup...?

Sidious

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Jun 11, 2005
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Name says alot.. I have a crappy 40gb 5200RPM HDD just sitting around in a 2 year old HP. I know I can hook it up, thats no problem. What I am wondering is, what should I do to install it?

Do I:

Format before taking out of old computer?
Format when I put it in the new one?

Also... do I need to install Windows on the second HDD if I am only using it for extra storage, and not running a seperate O/S instance?

Thanks guys.
 

michaelahess

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make sure it isn't before your primary drive in boot order or it will try to boot from it! Keep it as slave on the secondary controller until it's formatted and you should be safe :)
 

Sidious

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I just threw in the drive...

My main drive is a Maxtor DiamondMax 120gb SATA150
I am formatting the crapper right now... Its a WD400EB. ATA100 or something.

The drive originally had 2 partitions on it. One is the main partition, the other is a HP Recovery partition. I think I have to format both partitions seperately. Is there anyway to recombine the 2 partitions into one big one after I format them?
 

michaelahess

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Right click MY COMPUTER, select manage, click disk manager down the left side, right click the drive you put in and delete the partition, right click and create the new one.
 

Sidious

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Ahh, been a long time since I have used the manage command, silly me forgot about it.

Thanks for the help Creating the el grande partition now.