How to check a hard drive?

[mibaup]

Hello,

I found a hard drive somewhere is my house, a Seagate barracuda 7200 RPM, 250 GB and I wanted to know if there is a way to check if it's working , I don't even know what's in it, so I wanted to know if I can do something with it,assuming it does work, for example combine it with my current hard drive for some extra storage, or maybe install my windows 7 on it if the hard drive I'm using now fails in future (like a backup or something-is it possible?)

Thanks all!

 

[linnemeyerhere]

mibaup,
I'll assume that the drive is a sata drive and not IDE please confirm. If it's a sata drive then all you need is a free power connector off your PSU and a spare sata cable. With these two cables connected to the drive and the other end if the sata connected to a free sata port on the mobo then all you will need to do is boot up the system as normal and then locate the newly added drive and have a look around. If it doesn't show up you may need to have a look in disk manager but lets take this one step at a time. Please report back when you install and boot up.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yep linne too mate he could use one of those gadgets I keep one IDE and one SATA for just this purpose.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

I have both 3.5" and 2.5" hot swap bays for just these situations, they come in very handy.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yep my HAF has two at front too I agree very handy for this. But depends on OP's case eh?

mibaup soem specs would be nice my friend.

 

[mibaup]

I'll assume that the drive is a sata drive and not IDE please confirm.

yes it is a SATA.
what happens if it has a windows installed in it already from another computer? do i need to format this hard drive in order for it to work? can a generic psu support another hdd?
ty

 

[ICIT2LOL]

If you are going to re use it yes.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/168358-format-hdd-usb.html

you can use the diskpart option too.

 

[mibaup]

I have a last question before I actually plug the hard drive : if the hard drive I'm going to connect has a virus/malware , can it affect my main hard drive or somehow harm my computer? if so can I avoid this ?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Well at the very minimum mibaup make sure the security is up to date and scan the things as oon as you plug it in.

I think I gave you two on call scanners do it with them to.

Th alternative is to scan the dirve on another machine but if that is not a possibilty then you really can'r avoid it completely.

 

[mibaup]

I plugged the second SATA hard drive with Power and Data cables but when I turn on the pc , everything is the same,
I dont see on Computer another drive or extra storage added. btw I entered BIOS and it did recognized a 250 GB hard drive, maybe I should do more things in the BIOS settings or somewhere ?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

That second drive mibaup has it got anything on it? If not then it is worth formatting it using DISKPART get back to me if you don't know that route.

 

[mibaup]

You're quick
I have bad news: I did eventually find the drive in Disk managment after refreshing the page, but I did another boot and now the pc is stuck on windows logo at boot when the 2nd hard drive is connected so I had to unplug it , does that mean the hard drive was working and decided to break after a few minutes ?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

No mate it suggests to me there is something not quite right with that drive. Any chance of plugging t into another port or better - machine to check to see if it causes any problems there or even do a test on it (the drive)?

 

[mibaup]

sorry I wasn't here a few days, I am going to plug it again and I have a question : in order to see the second drive as a letter in Computer you must format it? or I can see what files are on it before formatting?