Do I need an OS on a secondary hard drive?

[jphelmstadter]

A friend of mine recently switched to the Mac camp and let me strip his
PC for parts. I took the memory and the hard drive and installed them
into my computer (they are both from Dell). Everything works fine and
I can access the new F drive no problem. I'd like to wipe his hard
drive clean (there's lots of his programs/files/etc. on it) and use it
as storage for media (music/pics/etc.)

My questions are these. Do I simply format the drive to clean it, and
then, do I need to install an OS (I have the discs for Win 98SE and XP)
in order to use this drive? It seems like a waste of space to install
an OS when all I want to do is save and access media from said drive.
And if I don't install an OS, is there some other program I should
install?

I welcome any advice that might be offered and I'll clarify what I'm
trying to do if necessary. I just want to keep my primary drive as
uncluttered as possible so as to not slow down any programs I might be
using.

Thanks,

JPH

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

A friend of mine recently switched to the Mac camp and let me strip
his PC for parts. I took the memory and the hard drive and installed
them into my computer (they are both from Dell). Everything works
fine and I can access the new F drive no problem. I'd like to wipe
his hard drive clean (there's lots of his programs/files/etc. on it)
and use it as storage for media (music/pics/etc.)

My questions are these. Do I simply format the drive to clean it,

Yes, if you dont want anything that is on it.

and then, do I need to install an OS
(I have the discs for Win 98SE and XP)
in order to use this drive?
Nope.

It seems like a waste of space to install an OS when all
I want to do is save and access media from said drive.
Correct.

And if I don't install an OS, is there
some other program I should install?

Nope, just format it.

I welcome any advice that might be offered and I'll
clarify what I'm trying to do if necessary. I just want
to keep my primary drive as uncluttered as possible
so as to not slow down any programs I might be using.

That wont happen. All that matters is
that there is enough free space on it.

 

[wolfgang schneider]

into my computer (they are both from Dell). Everything works fine and
I can access the new F drive no problem. I'd like to wipe his hard
drive clean (there's lots of his programs/files/etc. on it) and use it
as storage for media (music/pics/etc.)

as usual .

My questions are these. Do I simply format the drive to clean it, and
then, do I need to install an OS (I have the discs for Win 98SE and XP)
in order to use this drive? It seems like a waste of space to install
an OS when all I want to do is save and access media from said drive.
And if I don't install an OS, is there some other program I should
install?

just format it and use it as any other disk ( floppy for example ) ...

I welcome any advice that might be offered and I'll clarify what I'm
trying to do if necessary. I just want to keep my primary drive as
uncluttered as possible so as to not slow down any programs I might be
using.

go on .

 

[Iago]

My questions are these. Do I simply format the drive to clean it, and
then, do I need to install an OS (I have the discs for Win 98SE and XP)
in order to use this drive? It seems like a waste of space to install
an OS when all I want to do is save and access media from said drive.
And if I don't install an OS, is there some other program I should
install?

Just format the new drive as NTFS and start using it. During format
will ask for a letter use E, F or whatever is next in your machine)
and a volume name (Datavol?).

Also, don't do a quick format this time. it will take a little longer,
but will check the drive more thoroughly.

To speed up things I would move the page file to the new drive. Find
that in My Computer Properties Advanced Performance

Have fun