To reformat, wipe or delete, that is the question

[SFGary]

I recently installed a bigger drive in my laptop and would like to user the older drive as an external drive (PCMCIA) just for an iTunes library. Since this disc was used as a boot disc it still has XP and all kind of software apps.

The question I had is can I just delete the files and write over with the music files or should I go for something hard core as wipe or reformat? I have inconveniently lost the XP restore/boot disc(?) so I can probably not reformat...any pointers would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Paul Komski]

Deleting all the files should be sufficient and that is basically what a quick format does. Which OS is running on the new bigger drive or have you not yet transferred the old system to it. If not then transfer the old system prior to any deleting/formatting.

Presumably you are using a USB or Firewire slot on a PCIMCIA card to attach to the old drive put inside an external caddy.

[SFGary]

Hi Paul

Thanks for yr. speedy response. I am running XP Pro SP2 on a Fujitsu Lifebook (3yrs old).

Yes, I did a disk clone using the software the vendor provided me and everything is running fine (has been for a few months now) even when I removed the old HD(in a caddy) from the PCMCiA slot. The new HDD came with the disk clone software the caddy and a proprietary interface card (not sure what interface)that I plugged into the PCMCIA slot. Not tech enough to know if the interface is USB or proprietary?

The Firewire slot is yet another connector and I did not use the external USB 2.0 pcmcia card.

[Paul Komski]

Since you are successfully running WinXP from the new drive and can see the old drive n its caddy. Just go into MyComputer and RClick on the Drive Letter(s) on the old drive and choose Format. If the partition is bigger than 32GB you will have to choose NTFS otherwise its up to you to choose FAT or NTFS. Checking Quick Format just deletes all the files, is quicker, and sufficient for your purposes. If you need to securely wipe the drive (so that noone can ever get at the deleted material) there is software that will do this for you.