Windows 7: Format old OS hard drive

beagrie07 · 21 Jan 2012

Hi, I recently upgraded and moved the OS to a new drive. I want to format the old OS drive (now D drive). How would I go about doing this? I know you can't format a bootable drive too

Any help?

Thanks!

marsmimar · 21 Jan 2012

Make sure the drive is connected to your computer (internal drive should be, external drive needs to be plugged in.) Then click Start > Computer and find the drive in the list of drives. Ensure any data on the drive that you wish to keep has been copied to another drive, as formatting will remove all data. Right-click on the drive's icon and select the "Format..." option to bring up the Format window.

Select the required file system (you'll probably want to stay with NTFS) and give the drive a new name (called a "Volume label"). If you just want to erase a drive that has already been formatted, consider using the "Quick Format" option; otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click "Start" to begin the formatting process. A full format could take several hours.

beagrie07 · 21 Jan 2012

I tried that but it says "windows cannot format this drive" or something like that. It's because the drive has old windows files on it. I've deleted the boot path using easyBCD but it doesn't work still.

ROCcomputerguy · 21 Jan 2012

use gparted (GParted - Browse /gparted-live-stable at SourceForge.net), run from dvd or usb, follow instructions, format, make into primary partition and NTFS and ur done

if u wana keep ur old drive, dun format it cuz i did it before and had to install everything again

beagrie07 · 21 Jan 2012

That sounds good, I'll have to have a look later after work. Would formatting it affect booting into windows at all? The boot drive is now my new one but I'm unsure if booting into windows will be an issue.

ROCcomputerguy · 21 Jan 2012

Only if you format your OS drive, so don't format it

Boot will be okay

beagrie07 · 21 Jan 2012

Sounds good, I'll give it a shot later, I'll post my results

TVeblen · 21 Jan 2012

It might be a good idea to post a screenshot of your Disk Management window with both drives connected. You may have a system reserved partition on the old drive.

How did you "move the OS" to the other drive?

Other thoughts:
Run Disk Check on the drive to test for potential problems in windows, and run the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic program also before using the old drive as a data drive.

ROCcomputerguy · 21 Jan 2012

Oh, I use disk clone to clone from hard drive A to B since I have 2 hard drives

try this http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/

ummm TVeblen, my seagate hard drive never came with a diagnostic program, so I check it whenever I install a OS

essenbe · 21 Jan 2012

Seagate Seatools

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