Preparing HDD for new install

[AerisFang]

TL;DR: I will be installing my external storage's HDD into my new PC in a few days, do I need to prepare anything (change file format, wipe it clean, etc) before plugging it in?

 

Here's the situation:

I've opened up the enclosure of my Seagate expansion external drive to find that it contains a regular 2TB barracuda HHD and a small interfacing circuit.

My plan is to remove the enclosure and interface (easy to do with screws holding everything) and simply use the HDD in my system as normal.

Currently, the hard drive contains random data I've accumulated over the years. All that will be backed up elsewhere, so no worries about formatting it.

Everything about the drive is as when it came out of the box, no special configs were added to it.

My install drive will be the 250GB SSD, so no worries there either.

 

Here's the parts list for my built:

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/XyCXTW

 

Here's the External drive's page:

http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_ext_desktop.pdf

 

Do I need to change anything to the drive before plugging it in? Will the data already on it stop it from working correctly with the new windows install?

 

Thanks!

 

[RedWulf]

technically no as long as its a usable format. But you can always just wipe it to ensure everythings working and copletely clean, mabe eve a zero fill

[suicidalfranco]

data won't give problems, widows will just see it the same way it saw it when it was in it's enclosure

[blueballs]

you don't have to do anything, just plug it in ^.^ 

[paddy-stone]

The most I had to do when a similar thing happened to me. I think I can remember occassionally having problems with permissions, so had to mark the disk as belonging to me now, but can't remember exactly how I did it right now, it's V.late and tired and a little drunk, so probably wouldn't be best for me to adbise you right now. It'll most likely be OK, I only ever encountered a few problems when trying to view files/save etc until I got tired of it and just adjusted the permissions of the drive.