Hey guys. Jist of the story is I need to format my friends PC, but can not enter the BIOS. The installation throws a wobbler whenever I try installing it through Windows, but tbh I would rather do it before boot to make sure it's clean anyway. I have tried searching, and have tried hitting all the keys possible when it is booting up, and nothing. So, am I right in assuming I shouldn't have any problems hooking up my friends old (read: ancient) computer's HDD to my motherboard, and installing it through my hardware? I know Windows can be a prick aout these things, so want to make sure. Failing that, can I simmply plug it in to my computer, wipe it whatever way, and then plug it back in and boot. Since nothing is on it, it will be forced to boot from disk, right? It's IDE, whereas I am running all SATAs. Is that an issue?
If you have an adapter like this that goes IDE/SATA to USB, then you can use the drive the same way as any portable storage drive and do with it anything that your heart so desires.
I'm not entirely sure what it is doing. Sometimes it says a file cannot be copied, other times I can't tell if it's taking too long or if it's simply frozen. Either way, would rather not do it through Windows if possible. It does seem to offer the choice between upgrade and clean install, but without doing it from a boot, who knows. It's XP btw. The computer is ancient. Simply wants it wiped so it will actually work between now and when I build him a much better one.
agree with nvlddmkm now try this DL Parted Magic http://partedmagic.com/download.html boot the computer from the Parted Magic Live cd Smart Control tells you everything about the harddisk,and Gparted can format the disk easily.Also you can wipe it sounds like hdd needs some testing
I agree with anticupidon, if you have time download the seatools boot image from seagates website and run two long hd tests. That'll let you know if the hd is bad.
I 2nd this .. During windows install if it says it cant read a file, it usually indicates the file is corrupted on the HD. I've replaced many an old HD from friends PC for this very reason. Good luck.
