Trouble with external hard drive

[dmount]

Hey guys, it's me again.

I have three laptops, but use only one. So i bought two external drive cases for the HDDs from my old laptops. I made a mistake and bought cases with USB 2.0s, but I've ordered new ones which should be delivered soon enough. This will allow me to get much better read/write speeds, but I won't be satisfied. Both the hard drives are full of program files, the stuff from the operating stuff(windows) they had and other important stuff which I do not wanna lose.

I googled the stuff, and the best stuff I could find was how to remove the partitions and delete the system reserved partitions. But I wanna know how do I delete the huge chunks of data that I do not need such as useless programs, unrequired files and most importantly the operating software(again, Windows XP and 7) quickly and have most of the space to myself, without losing the vital files and data.

[nuttytechy]

May I make a suggestion. Instead of trying to delete huge chunks at once. Copy the data over which you want keeping then do a full format then put the data back. Yes it will take time as your copying and pasting over etc but at least it will give you the space you want without deleting all of your vital software and files you need. 

[astrosheen]

19 minutes ago, dmount said:

Hey guys, it's me again.

I have three laptops, but use only one. So i bought two external drive cases for the HDDs from my old laptops. I made a mistake and bought cases with USB 2.0s, but I've ordered new ones which should be delivered soon enough. This will allow me to get much better read/write speeds, but I won't be satisfied. Both the hard drives are full of program files, the stuff from the operating stuff(windows) they had and other important stuff which I do not wanna lose.

I googled the stuff, and the best stuff I could find was how to remove the partitions and delete the system reserved partitions. But I wanna know how do I delete the huge chunks of data that I do not need such as useless programs, unrequired files and most importantly the operating software(again, Windows XP and 7) quickly and have most of the space to myself, without losing the vital files and data.

WinDirStat will give you a visual breakdown of any drive and allow you to delete the appropriate blocks you want. A better option IMO than a full format. Make sure you copy any important files first so mistakes are not made

[Captain_WD]

52 minutes ago, dmount said:

~snip~

Hey there

 

The guys gave you some excellent advice! 

 

A couple of notes from me:

- Since you can't really use the applications and games from these drives (due to the different registry on the computer) you could only keep the other data that you have access to and simply delete the rest. you can do this by copying over what you want to keep from one drive to another, wipe the first drive, copy everything you want from the second drive (the data from both drives should be there) to the first one (that is now empty) and then wipe the second drive clean. 

 

- Wiping each drive is a good idea as this way you would get rid of any potential errors, broken partitions, malware and whatnot. You can do this by writing zeros to each drive. Mind that this erases everything from a drive with little-to-no chance for data recovery. I would also check the health of those drives just to be on the safe side that they are still safe to store data. A good way to do this is by running Diagnostic tools from the manufacturers and see if the drive pass all tests. What are the brand and the models of those drives?

 

Captain_WD. 

[dmount]

On 8/18/2016 at 5:23 PM, Captain_WD said:

Hey there

 

The guys gave you some excellent advice! 

 

A couple of notes from me:

- Since you can't really use the applications and games from these drives (due to the different registry on the computer) you could only keep the other data that you have access to and simply delete the rest. you can do this by copying over what you want to keep from one drive to another, wipe the first drive, copy everything you want from the second drive (the data from both drives should be there) to the first one (that is now empty) and then wipe the second drive clean. 

 

- Wiping each drive is a good idea as this way you would get rid of any potential errors, broken partitions, malware and whatnot. You can do this by writing zeros to each drive. Mind that this erases everything from a drive with little-to-no chance for data recovery. I would also check the health of those drives just to be on the safe side that they are still safe to store data. A good way to do this is by running Diagnostic tools from the manufacturers and see if the drive pass all tests. What are the brand and the models of those drives?

 

Captain_WD. 

I'm not sure about the models, but one is from WD and the other from Toshiba. 

I will check the model names/numbers and get back to you.

 

Thanks, though!

 

[dmount]

On 8/18/2016 at 4:53 PM, astrosheen said:

WinDirStat will give you a visual breakdown of any drive and allow you to delete the appropriate blocks you want. A better option IMO than a full format. Make sure you copy any important files first so mistakes are not made

Cool. I will not trouble you by asking how to do that, and will stick to google!
Thanks!

[Captain_WD]

13 hours ago, dmount said:

~snip~

No problem

Did you manage to get the drive's model number? Do you have any success with running the drives and achieving what you wanted? 

 

Captain_WD. 

[dmount]

On 8/22/2016 at 0:42 PM, Captain_WD said:

No problem

Did you manage to get the drive's model number? Do you have any success with running the drives and achieving what you wanted? 

 

Captain_WD. 

Hey, sorry for the late reply. I was out of town.
Okay, the first one is a 160GB WD Scorpio Blue. The model is: WD1600BEVT-22ZCT0.

And the other one is a 320GB Toshiba. The model is: MK3265GSX.

So what do I do next?

 

PS, the usb 3.0 enclosure will be delivered 'morrow, hopefully it speeds stuff up!

 

[Captain_WD]

23 hours ago, dmount said:

~snip~

What are you trying to achieve? 

Once you get the drives recognized by the system and see them in Disk Management you can pretty much delete all partitions that you don't want and then manage the remaining unallocated space. With the applications and the data it really depends on what you have on those drives and what you want to keep and what to do with the drives.  

 

Captain_WD. 

[dmount]

FOLLOW UP:

I know I posted this a long time ago, but I had bought a couple of new external hard disks(WD elements) and my old ones weren't bothering me.

 

So I was working on one of the drives. I took all the data i wanted. Went to disk management. I first deleted the pre-existing volumes, and deleted the partitions. Then I created a new simple volume. I gave it a format, but during the format i nudged my laptop and drive disconnected. Now on connecting it, even though I hear the alert of a device being connected, and the LED blinking on the drive's case, it isn't showing up on MY PC, but it is showing up on disk management. What do I do???

[Captain_WD]

On 5.10.2016 г. at 5:25 PM, dmount said:

~snip~

Hello again

 

Which drive did you use? 

Since you already have the data from the drive and it is showing in Disk Management you can simply delete all current partitions and start over with partitioning and formatting the drive. 

 

If you knocked the drive from the table I'd also check its health with a tool from the manufacturer. If that was the WD Blue I would use WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic.

 

Captain_WD.

[Matt_98]

On 10/5/2016 at 3:25 PM, dmount said:

FOLLOW UP:

I know I posted this a long time ago, but I had bought a couple of new external hard disks(WD elements) and my old ones weren't bothering me.

 

So I was working on one of the drives. I took all the data i wanted. Went to disk management. I first deleted the pre-existing volumes, and deleted the partitions. Then I created a new simple volume. I gave it a format, but during the format i nudged my laptop and drive disconnected. Now on connecting it, even though I hear the alert of a device being connected, and the LED blinking on the drive's case, it isn't showing up on MY PC, but it is showing up on disk management. What do I do???

assign a drive letter