Hi all. I posted not too long ago on April the 12th with a question on setting up and copying files from a "standard" EIDE drive to a SATA drive. (Thanks RTAdams89 & OtheHill for the replies!!) Well, I've got a Western Digital 320 Gig SATA drive and did as suggested and attached it while the "old" drive was still in there. Windows "detected" it (the SATA drive), and so on and so on. Western Digital drives come with software "tools" on a CD ROM. I put it in and partitioned my drive (I split up the 320 Gigs into a 1/3 and 2/3 for a "C" and a "D" drive). It then had an offering/ option of copying the files from my current "C" drive to make the SATA drive "bootable". I went ahead with this option, clicked "next", and then left the room for a bit while the computer and software did its stuff. When I came back, it was still in the process of copying, and I notice a "progress bar", and I see that it's copying EVERYthing from my current "C" drive. I thought it meant that it was just going to copy only the "necessary" files just to make the SATA drive bootable. I know I could have "canceled" this, but I let it run. Here's what I want to find out: I had originally wanted to format and partition the new SATA drive and then install the operating system of Windows XP Pro from "scratch". The SATA drive now has a "copy" of everything from my old drive. Yes, things were running fine, but I did want it to be "brand new", not just a copy from one hard drive to another. Some of you may be familiar with a piece of software out there called "Active KillDisk". This software supposedly completely erases ALL information on a hard disk. If I want to go ahead and really install the operating system from "scratch", I'd want to completely erase everything. Doing it with the Windows XP CD ROM doesn't really do this, even if you choose the option to do so (and NOT the "Repair" option). It will still leave traces of the previous installation. I've never used this "KillDisk" before. I read a little about it on their website. Anyone have any experience with it? Is it "safe" to use? It doesn't make your hard drive UN-usable, does it? Doesn't "damage" it in any way? Just completely erases, right? I'm asking this because I think I really want to go ahead and install XP on the SATA drive from "scratch" and not have any traces of the previous installation. By reading on the KillDisk web site, I see that people use it to remove "sensitive" information. I just want to be sure that if I use it that it doesn't make the hard drive "unusable". Thanks for any feedback, info, tips or suggestions. Pez

Couple of questions. Did you interrupt the "copy files" procedure? Does you computer still boot to the original drive?

Hi OtheHill; thanks for responding again. I did not interrupt the "copy files" procedure. I had considered it briefly when I saw that it was copying my entire "C" drive and not just the "essential" files need to boot the computer. But I let it run all the way through. And yes, my computer is still booting just fine to the original drive. I've disconnected the SATA drive for now until I decide what to do (whether to hook it up as the ONLY [master] drive in the computer with the files copied from my original "C" drive on it, or, to "erase" the disk and start from scratch). My decision will basically be based on the feedback I get here from you and any others that might happen along here on this message board and add their two cents. Even though my computer is running fine with my current drive, EVERYthing on it got copied over from the "C" drive over to the new SATA drive, and if there are any "minor" glitches on it or bad sectors and the like, I don't really want them on the new drive. That's why I'm really leaning towards erasing everything and starting from scratch. Plus, I want to find out about the other thing I asked about in my original post: If anyone has any info on that product by the name of KillDisk. Pez

Recap, Your new drive has files on it you don't want. Your new drive is currently disconnected. Your original drive, with Window running on it boots fine without the new drive connected. If all the above are correct then all that is needed is to reconnect the new drive. If the new drive doesn't show in "my computer" then go to disk managment and work with the drive there. No need for any third party programs.

Hi again. I'll try to make it a little clearer. Yes: the new drive has files on it I don't want (I really didn't want EVERYthing to be copied over; I wanted a "fresh" install. Bad sectors could also have been copied over). Yes: the new drive is currently disconnected. Yes: the original drive running Windows XP Pro boots fine without the new drive connected. But here's the thing: I don't want to leave the original drive inside the computer case. I want the SATA - and the SATA alone - to be the only drive in the case. The SATA will be the only hard drive I'll be using. I am NOT going to Master/ Slave anything (the SATA is the largest drive I have to date - 320 Gigabytes - and it has a larger cache of 16MB, and also is supposed to be "faster" than the old IDE drives). When that copying process was complete (from the old/ original to the new SATA), I checked the "My Computer" icon and both hard drives (original and SATA) were present. That third party software I mentioned of KillDisk was because I was interested in erasing everything completely so I could do that fresh install from scratch. So I wanted to find out here also if that KillDisk was a good product and safe to use. I hope I made things a little clearer. Pez

KillDisk is overkill in this instance. KillDisk overwrites the HD several times to destroy everything on the drive. All you need to do is format the new drive. The easiest way to do what you wish to do would be to repartition, if desired, and format at least the first partition. This can be done using disk managment right in WinXP. Then disconnect the old drive and connect the new drive to the first SATA channel. Boot to your WinXP CD and install onto the C: partition/drive, as the case may be. After WinXP is up and running, shutdown and reconnect the Old drive. Then you can retrieve any files you want from the old drive. If you wish, you can then delete the partitions on the old drive, just format, or leave all as it currently is. Don't know what your intentions are for the old drive so I can't advise further. Killdisk is a viable program but unforgiving. If you make a mistake with more than one drive installed and apply to the wrong drive there is no practical recovery. If you are passing the old drive onto someone else, then by all means use killdisk on it. Just be careful.