HDD question

[Corporate Thug]

i have an old maxtor 40 Gb hd that i want to use as a backup HDD for mp3's and such. right now i have windows xp pro on it, so what am i supposed to do? format it? thanx

 

[Yossarian]

yeah, just format it. iirc you can do it from your regular win xp install, no need to mess around in dos.

 

[Corporate Thug]

so just use a blank HDD w/o the OS?

 

[fell8]

Just leave it. The OS doesn't take up that much space, and it won't conflict with the OS on the master. That way if the master fails, you'll have a spare ready to go.

 

[Corporate Thug]

cool, so i dont have to do anything to the harddrive? just plug it right in?

 

[fell8]

Yup, the computer I'm using right now has two HDDs with OSes on each. Remove any installed software, files, etc. before the switch if you want the extra space.

edit: files can be removed after the switch

 

[MasterFlash]

Yeah, but it's easier to uninstall and delete files if you boot from that drive. I'd leave the OS, but ditch everything you don't need before using it as a slave, or secondary master drive.

 

[LbJustinTime]

I would first check the jumpers on the hard drive.
Plug it in. Boot up.
Go into My Computer -> Right Click the newly installed Hard Drive -> Format -> Then start the process (Most likely format it in NTFS).

Then your set.