Format old OS hard drive

ROCcomputerguy said:

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

try this Free Hard Disk Copy/Clone Software for PC & Server Hard Drive. Disk clone, disk backup, disk image and partition copy freeware.

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

Who is the OP here?

TVeblen said:

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?

By that I meant I did a clean install on another drive

Were both drives connected during the install? Also, please post a screenshot of your disk management expanded to show the top and bottom sections.

They were both connected on install yeah, I'll have to post a screenshot in a couple of hours when I'm home from work :)

Ok, I added the disk management, the highlighted disk is the one I want to format but it doesn't show properly because I tried to use the disk part command on it. Is there any way I can access it to get something off it before its formatted?

Cheers

I would suggest before doing anything else, shut down the computer, remove the power cable from the hard drive and start back up. That should show you whether there are ant needed system files on the drive. If you get a good startup with that drive disconnected, there should be no problem with wiping it. I don't know what you did in diskpart, but the drive appears empty. You may try Recuva to see if it can recover any data from the drive. Of course it begs the question, if there was needed data on the drive, why use diskpart to wipe it. Also, You may have better luck if you put your OS on port 0. After making those changes, reconnect the drive, go to disk management, right click the drive, and see if you have the option to delete partition. If you do that, then just create a new simple volume.

Yeah I thought there wasnt any data on it at the time then I realised there was something I needed, I fixed it, just gave it a drive letter and I can see it again.

I'll disconnect the drive now and see if it boots in.

Ok, I disconnected the drive and windows won't boot without it plugged in, what do I do next?

Go you have the repair disk? if not go to control panel, backup your computer and select create system repair disk, or you can use the installation disk and click on repair on the 2nd screen.
Boot into the repair disk and follow this tutorial on Boot manager is missing.
You can also try to restore MBR
Someone who knows better than me may need to help, but I am pretty sure you will have to set your C drive as active using diskpart.

Yes, the old hard drive is marked System and Active, so it contains the files needed to boot.

You will need to Use Diskpart to set that Disk with the C: drive to Active, then run Startup Repair 3 or more times to create the correct files in the correct place.
Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times
Startup Repair

Important: Be sure to disconnect all the other drives before doing this! When you run Startup Repair you should only have the Disk with the C: drive connected.

If you are game, and you haven't got too far with installing all your programs, you could just reinstall Windows again - this time with all the extra drive disconnected.

Partition - Mark as Active
Partition - Mark as Inactive