Windows 7 Reformating old hard drive...

[melissarose]

Hi ,
I have a older hard drive that has win xp pro on it and I want to install it as a slave drive in my Win 7 ultimate computer. I was going to install it as a slave and make sure that none of the boot devices point to it in my bios. I will then reformat it. Will this cause any issues with my Win 7 install!!! I just got win 7 installed and working perfect and don't want to mess it up !!! I could really use the extra space for my art though!!! Thanks for any help !!!
Best Regards Melissa Rose

 

[patcooke]

It shouldn't affect your Win 7 install but it would eliminate any possible problems with any existing op sys software on the new drive if you could format it before installing. If you want to make life easy for yourself in maintaining the win 7 installation you have got just right you should consider using something like Acronis True Image Google for a fulll working trial download) on a regular basis to keep a sequence of backup images of your op sys from which you can run a complete recovery including all your op sys, settings, updates, applications etc in a matter of minutes. This is most easily achieved if you keep the size of your system drive to a minimum by ensuring that all user data is stored on another drive or partition (which you should soon have of course!).

 

[melissarose]

This is a great suggestion - the Acronis!!! How would I reformat a hard drive without installing it? It's not in a computer. It has already been removed from the old computer. I would have to put it in or connect it somehow wouldn't I? Thank You so Very Much for your time and help!!! This forum and all of you little window elves ROCK !!!
Best Regards Melissa Rose

 

[patcooke]

Thanks for your feedback - that's what we're here for, that's what we do and we enjoy - specially when somebody says nice things about us

If the drive is no longer in a pc then just install it as a slave drive and see if Windows 7 will let you reformat. If it doesn't there are other things we can do. And the copy of Acronis you want to be looking at is the Home edition which you can download here: (it's a fully working trial with a few weeks time limit on it):

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There are other products on the market which do a similar job, some of them free, but I've always used Acronis, find it does everything I want, it's not expensive and when it comes to backing up my system I like to think I'm using the best solution. Do get back to us if we can help further.