Hard drive question

[fknBalistiks]

i am wondering of theres a way of removing everything on a hard drive so that all there is available is space. i have 1 hard drive that has my OS and is currently hooked up. i have another hard drive thats sitting around because its kinda messed up (some kinda virus slows it down big time). this messed up hard drive has an OS in it but i just want to use it for storage now. is there a way to erase everything on it without using disks? ( sorry if this is a duplicate topic. and i dont have much knowledge for computers )

 

[kimsland]

Yes

You just need to format it

You can do this by first plugging it into a working Windows computer
Then open My Computer and right clicking on the drive and selecting: "Format"
You can also select "Quick Format" from selecting the above first.

 

[fknBalistiks]

an unexpected problem has occurred. i went and took out my current hard drive. then i hooked up my other hard drive ( the messed up one ) . i start it and it loads regularly. then i came up on the user log in screen. after typing in my password, it starts loading but it takes forever. then after waiting it out, it crashes. is the hard drive totaled or maybe some type of virus is doing it?

 

[kimsland]

i have another hard drive thats sitting around because its kinda messed up (some kinda virus slows it down big time). this messed up hard drive has an OS in it

If the OS was originally installed whilst the Hard Drive was in another computer
Then if you mount it in your current computer as the main drive > It will not work. (ie properly load Windows)

This is because the chipset (mainly) and all drivers loaded are different to the orignnal configuration and therefore Windows becomes all muddled up and then corrupts

You can either Repair the Windows that is presently installed on it
Or if it had viruses (as well) then you may as well go for the format option, either by mounting it as a secondary (not boot) drive. Or just format it (as you originally asked to do) by booting from the Windows Setup CD (as long as your original hard drive is not plugged in, ie you don't want to format that one, or do you?)

Does that make sense?