Format HDD with second PC

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by BILLMCC66, Aug 14, 2009.

  1. BILLMCC66

    BILLMCC66 Bionic Belgian

    I have been having a lot of problems with my second PC (see attached post)

    http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=196042

    What it is i can not get it to load from disk because the HDD is corrupt (i think:confused) so what i would like to do is put the HDD into my first PC and format it then replace it back in it's original PC and re-load the OS (hopefully)

    Can this be done ??
    thanks
    Bill
     
    BILLMCC66, Aug 14, 2009
    #1
  2. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Hi Bill

    yes that's no problem, if IDE just make sure you hook it up as a slave if data then youre fine, can then check in bios that it's recognised, then format either in disk managment or my computer ( right click context menu)
     
    DavidGP, Aug 14, 2009
    #2
  3. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    just hope it's not a hardware error in the hdd going bad, so do also after formatting checkdisk it
     
    DavidGP, Aug 14, 2009
    #3
  4. BILLMCC66

    BILLMCC66 Bionic Belgian

    Thanks i was hoping it could be done.
    A short explanation.
    If i connect the HDD (sata) to the PC the bbot loader is missing and it will not let me load from disk and if i use an IDE HDD the PC will not start at all.
    If i have no HDDs connected i can load from disk but not connect to internet.
    I suspect the Mobo is the fault but i can not get out for a few days so i will try even the most bizarre things.
     
    BILLMCC66, Aug 14, 2009
    #4
  5. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Hi Bill

    Is the above info on from the PC not working? not sadly had time to read your thread on that issue, but if this is the 2nd PC and you have hooked up the drive, then booting to the main drive for that PC should allow access to the faulting one.

    But one thing you could try is to in your 2nd PC is to remove the main drive and add this one then boot to a Windows CD/DVD and delete partition and reformat the drive.
     
    DavidGP, Aug 14, 2009
    #5
  6. augiedoggie

    augiedoggie The Canadian Loon - LocoAugie (R.I.P. 2012)

    I'm not too clear here Bill, do you have both IDE and SATA drives in your main PC? I don't know about others but I had humungous boot issues with both installed as it would always boot to the IDE with no recourse in BIOS to change that. I finally replaced the recycled IDEs with SATA only and have never had a problem since.
     
    augiedoggie, Aug 14, 2009
    #6
  7. BILLMCC66

    BILLMCC66 Bionic Belgian

    @ Halo yes this is the non working PC

    @ Augie I have both IDE and Sata on the Mobo and it worked perfectly before untill the major overheating problem.

    I will shut the good PC down later tonight and switch the hard drives if what i am doing right this moment does not work.

    I called my PC guy and explained what had happened and he sent a freind who lives near me with a copy of Spotmau, he suggested i try first to use the "unformat" feature to see if i can recover enough to boot from it.
     
    BILLMCC66, Aug 14, 2009
    #7
  8. BILLMCC66

    BILLMCC66 Bionic Belgian

    Well it tried the HDDs in my other PC and it won't even recognize them so i suppose new HDD is on the list and hope that is the problem.
    Thanks for the help and input.
     
    BILLMCC66, Aug 15, 2009
    #8
  9. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Hi Bill

    Did you try that faulting HDD on its own, and boot to a Vista or Win7 DVD and see if it can delete partitions and reformat.
     
    DavidGP, Aug 15, 2009
    #9
  10. BILLMCC66

    BILLMCC66 Bionic Belgian

    Hi David
    No i did not try that because i am :eek that i will corrupt this one and then i am only left with the laptop and that needs a million updates :-D
    I will just have to bring forward the new build and salvage what i can from the old PC.
    I am not a happy camper but these thing happen and life must go on.
     
    BILLMCC66, Aug 15, 2009
    #10
  11. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Hi Bill

    If you remove the main HDD from that PC its safe, as your not changing any data on it, just adding a different HDD to be like a new PC, BUT I do see that trying this if your first time can be scary!! so dont blame you.

    Actually try it back in its original PC and do the same try and boot to a Windows DVD and see if you can reformat there?
     
    DavidGP, Aug 15, 2009
    #11

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