Does my second SATA drive need formatting?

[jt83]

Some time ago I was installing Win7 when the PC started showing errors (ended up being faulty RAM.) The hard drive I was using got put aside to rule it out as the issue.

Now I'm using that drive for more internal backup. It shows up as having all its memory free, but there were two folders present - WindowsBT and Windows WS. Not much in them except for some .dat files that wouldn't delete without permission.

Would these have been left behind as a result of a partial Win7 install? Should I format the drive just to make sure everything is fine? Error checking found no errors.

 

[samuria]

Those folders are normally from a win10 update formatting the drives is the best option to ensure its all ok

 

[mrjimphelps]

If you have never had Windows 10 on your computer, then these folders were probably sneaked onto your computer by Microsoft when they were doing their Get Windows 10 (GWX) campaign. You could download and run the GWX Control Panel and tell it to delete all Windows 10 stuff on your computer:

http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/

I would suggest doing that rather than formatting the drive, because GWX Control Panel will eradicate all remnants of Windows 10 that Microsoft may have snuck onto your computer. It will also prevent future "infection". Although it is doubtful that you will ever need that protection in the future, you never know...

 

[jt83]

Definitely never had Win10. I just plugged the drive in for more space yesterday. When I tried to install Win7 on it years ago the RAM issue aborted the install very early, so it's very strange that the only files found are associated with Win10 - for them to be there you'd think Win7 would have to finish installing, connect to the Internet and download the Win10 stuff.

The drive appears fine, I'm only considering a format because I thought an aborted Win7 install might not be good for it, but the only things found were those Win10 folders. Would a storage only drive benefit from a quick format if there were no errors found?

 

[RoasterMen]

As long as there are no errors found on your hard drive, it's fine. I can't believe M$ is still sneaking GWX during installation :0

 

[looked]

Anytime I install Windows I always only have one active drive, this to avoid mistakes regarding drive's letters, partitions, OS's installation path and the risk of deleting data on secondary drives.