Erase old HDD with a new motherboard

[Joris998]

Hey guys,

I'm planning on using an old HDD in a new build. It has windows vista on it and LOTS off garbage I don't need anymore. Is it possible to fully erase (as far as that is possible) my HDD with a new motherboard and thus a different BIOS?

Thanks in advance!

 

[genthug]

Assuming you go to win10--go grab a USB, and download microsoft's media creation tool to your stick. Plug the stick into your new computer with your HDD in there and force the USB stick to be the prioritized boot for startup. Once you're in there, you'll have the option to reformat your HDD and erase all the data on it. Reformatting there is going to change it to MBR instead of GPT, so you'll have to change that through the CMD prompt if you want to install the OS onto it, but that's fairly easy to do with a couple of steps.

 

[alexoiu]

Hi, Yes, just format it.

 

[Joris998]

Thanks for your quick reply
I dont get the part with the MBR and GPT though... I'm planning to install my os on a SSD/OtherHDD. Will it be enough to just format it?

 

[genthug]

If you're installing on a new SSD, just install the OS to the SSD then you can reformat the HDD from within your OS instead of going through the installer.

 

[Joris998]

That sounds pretty logical haha. Why didn't I think of that:'). Thanks for your help!

 

[mjslakeridge]

Don't connect the old HDD until you have completely installed the new OS on your SSD. Windows has a tendency to install some boot files on a second disk if it is connected while installing the OS.

 

[genthug]

True ^ good point.

 

[mjslakeridge]

Ya, this issue comes up a lot. Then when the HDD gets formatted, the computer won't boot into Windows and you end up having to re-install Windows again.