Combining computer parts.

[joxley1990]

My friend is giving me a second HDD from his pc. I plan to put it in my machine as well as the one I have got at the moment, so I plan to have two hard drives. My question are as follows:
1. The HDD I am getting has alot of data on it, including an OS. Can I completly wipe thst HDD so I can use it in mine to store music etc?
2. The cable that goes from my HDD to my mobo has only got one socket, can I buy another cable, which goes to both of the HDD'S and the mobo.

And will any of this put my primary HDD at risk...because I literlly can't afford to lose it. I am not sure what to do with the jumpers once i get this HDD, something about primary and secondary.

Please help me.

Thanks

 

[ndsbass]

1. yes all you need to do is format it, or delete all the files if you want
2. it depends on the cable. if your using sata (which i dont think you are) you need to have an open sata port on your mobo and get another cable. but if its ata (long 40 pin ribbon cable) you simply need to buy another ata cable that has two terminations.

as far as jumper settings you have two options. either make one primary and one secondary or set them both to cable select. to find out the jumper settings either check the label on the hdds or go online to the manufacturers website, look up both models and find jumper settings.

 

[joxley1990]

No im not using SATA. How would I delete everything off it, just like boot it up, delete the partition.. i haven't done it before, only reinstalled. The cable itself is very short. So do I just need to buy a new one?

 

[ndsbass]

i would recomend formatting it. you can do this through windows as long as it doesnt try to boot the os on your friends hdd. or if you have the xp cd you can put it in your cd drive, and restart the computer (make sure your bios is set to boot from cd before boot from hdd) and it will launch the windows installation stuff, which you could use to format. no real advantage here except you can reformat before you get to windows.

as for the cable unless you have one lying around my advice would be to buy a new one. try www.newegg.com

 

[joxley1990]

Ok, thanks for the good quick response.

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Or just use FDISK. It will boot directly to the floppy you setup and you can go from there to wipe that hard drive clean.

 

[CJ1]

Just make sure you wipe the correct drive. Have a look at the assignment letter of your current drive and make a note of it. It's easier to format in Windows. Doesn't FDISK create a virtual partition called C: which is potentially confusing?

 

[TRDCorolla1]

I have no idea if it does that or not.