Hard Drives

[Jamie2939]

how can i format my hard drive,without using windows as it always leaves something after the format,as in the dos screen during reboot it shows two drives

i bought a replacement back up drive,after last one went belly up.

using windows 7 pro 64 bit

 

[perkydj]

The partitioning will show a large partition which is where you boot the computer from and a very small partition which windows uses. Its only a few meg so you shouldn;t be concerned

 

[Jamie2939]

i cant get windows to pick up the drive,yet it shows up under BIOS

 

[perkydj]

Use Control Panel - Administrator tools - Computer Management - Disk Management, You should see the Discs that you have installed in the computer. _ BE Careful. You need to know which HD you are addressing. You see one which has not been formatted - Your Boot disc will state Healthy ( Active Partition). - What do you have in your computer (ie HDs, CD ROMs) and what OS are you using

 

[perkydj]

Missed the Win 7 bit - the way in is - Control panel, System Security Admin tools Computer Management, Storage, Disk Management
You will see DISK 1, DISK 2 etc and CD ROMs, The boot disc will sow Healthy, the new disc will show Unallocated. Right Click the new disc and select format or shrink of expand the partitions as needed

 

[Jamie2939]

after doing the above,when i use the windows disk,it wants to install its self

i dont want another copy of windows,as during the reboot the dos-screen shows two boot disks

as the disk is the new cables version,i been told i can connect it when powered on with NO dame

 

[perkydj]

The POST screen which shows during Boot up will always show the installed HD. You select which drive is to be the Boot in the BIOS setup. YOu can have Windows on both HD, but only the listed Boot HD will be used to boot unless you have a failure of that HD in which case the system will try the second HD ( if it has a windows system installed. I' not really understanding what you are trying to setup with your HDs and what you have installed in your machine - can you provide a list of a) what you have connected ie HDs and CD/DVD and what shows up in your Boot POST list. Then what shows in the Computer Disc Management list