[SOLVED] Using a used harddrive in a new build

[anonymouscrypter13]

Hi so literally a month or two I purchased a gaming prebuilt from bestbuy and im rebuilding from the ground up pretty much, mobo, cpu , ram. since I had purchased the prebuilt I know its a oem windows so I cant transfer which is fine but I want to know if i can use the hardrive that the prebuilt came with on my new build once its finished with out wiping it (ie plug it in with out doing anything and installing windows on it)

Thanks for reading <3

 

[volkgren]

Yes, you can do that. Just be sure not to boot to the Windows that was installed on it previously. Be sure to boot to the Windows installation media to format and reinstall.

 

[anonymouscrypter13]

Yes, you can do that. Just be sure not to boot to the Windows that was installed on it previously. Be sure to boot to the Windows installation media to format and reinstall.

How can I make sure I boot into new windows?

I plan on installing windows to usb through the media creation tool thing then plugging it in and installing to my hardrive, will that override the other windows and work or do I have to format my whole hardrive

 

[volkgren]

To ensure you boot to the USB media you created, boot to BIOS (press DEL, F11, etc.) and ensure that the boot order has your USB drive as first in the list. You will format your drive including any small partitions that Windows created previously during the Windows installation process.

 

[anonymouscrypter13]

Will I need to do anything to format the hardrive? Or will it already do it when I boot using USB and install Windows on to hardrive

 

[volkgren]

It will be an option during the first few steps of installing Windows form your USB. You should format it then.