How do I remove the second hard drive on my XP machine?

[signmeup]

I have a second hard drive installed in my computer. I want to remove it. Is there more to it than simply pulling the plugs and taking it out?

I want to remove it because when I start the computer up it wants to check this second drive for errors and when it does it goes into an endless scroll of files that never stops and the machine never boots. If I cancel the disc check in time it boots fine.

 

[ddarlak]

you can just take it out.... or leave it in and just unplug the power to it...

 

[choucove]

I would suggest before completely pulling it out of your computer to just unplug it from power. If your XP installation is wanting to come up to do a disk check I would recommend that after you have unplugged the hard drive and booted into Windows XP that you still perform a full disk check on your OS primary hard drive to be sure that there aren't errors with that hard drive as well before going further. If your computer boots into Windows XP and passes the disk check without the second hard drive, and you can work for a couple days without having any issues, missing file errors, or system hangs then you should be fine to yank out the hard drive.

I just have a hard time telling anyone to pull a hard drive out of their computer without knowing exactly what is stored on the hard drive as you don't know how it could affect the rest of the system if Windows has tied some necessary files onto that other hard drive.

 

[Sign Eagle]

When I started in the sign business 23 years ago I had an XP computer with programs running in DOS on a 20 meg hard drive and a 7-1/4" . I ran that machine for ten years with Letter Art and a hot tip Iolon plotter. Can't believe there are any XP series computers still in production.

 

[wes70]

When I started in the sign business 23 years ago I had an XP computer with programs running in DOS on a 20 meg hard drive and a 7-1/4" . I ran that machine for ten years with Letter Art and a hot tip Iolon plotter. Can't believe there are any XP series computers still in production.

Windows XP operating system.

 

[jiarby]

23 years ago I had an XP computer with programs running in DOS on a 20 meg hard drive and a 7-1/4"

Windows XP came out a little more than 10 years ago...

You are probably thinking of an IBM XT machine... with the 20mb HDD option it came out around 1986

 

[Sign Eagle]

Nope, MS-DOS, don't believe Windows was out yet.

 

[signmeup]

I would suggest before completely pulling it out of your computer to just unplug it from power. If your XP installation is wanting to come up to do a disk check I would recommend that after you have unplugged the hard drive and booted into Windows XP that you still perform a full disk check on your OS primary hard drive to be sure that there aren't errors with that hard drive as well before going further. If your computer boots into Windows XP and passes the disk check without the second hard drive, and you can work for a couple days without having any issues, missing file errors, or system hangs then you should be fine to yank out the hard drive.

I just have a hard time telling anyone to pull a hard drive out of their computer without knowing exactly what is stored on the hard drive as you don't know how it could affect the rest of the system if Windows has tied some necessary files onto that other hard drive.

Thanks Choucove. That seems like good advice. The hard drive I want to remove (disconnect) has been backed up onto a portable hard drive, some DVDs and a thumb drive so my data is safe. The drive came out of my old comp and is only connected so I can transfer the files I need to work with onto the new machine. My repair guy just stuck it inside the box so I wouldn't have to worry about cords or dropping the drive or whatever.

 

[GAC05]

"....so my data is safe."

In that case see if you can locate the drives vent hole without removing it and jam a paperclip in until it contacts the platters......

wayne k
guam usa

 

[signmeup]

"....so my data is safe."

In that case see if you can locate the drives vent hole without removing it and jam a paperclip in until it contacts the platters......

wayne k
guam usa

That sounds technical. Can't I just hit it with a hammer? I have a really big ball-peen one.

 

[choucove]

If you're wanting to destroy the hard drive for security reasons, that's fine, but I wouldn't recommend doing it for at least a month. If there's one file that didn't get backed up somehow, and you find out a week down the road it will be too late. It never hurts to let a hard drive just sit outside the computer on a shelf, in a safe, wherever out of the way for a while just to be sure you don't need the data.

Then, when the time comes, you can destroy the drive. When I need to destroy a hard drive (though it takes time) I go ahead and disassemble the hard drive. First, there are a couple of rare earth magnets in there that can be very handy to use in the shop, and second the platters make nice art projects or in my case nice cup coasters!

 

[phototec]

When I started in the sign business 23 years ago I had an XP computer with programs running in DOS on a 20 meg hard drive and a 7-1/4" . I ran that machine for ten years with Letter Art and a hot tip Iolon plotter. Can't believe there are any XP series computers still in production.

Not Windows XP, it wasn't released until August 24, 2001.

Windows XP is an operating system that was produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, and media centers. It was first released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001,[3] and is the most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base. The name "XP" is short for "eXPerience."[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP