Q&A for How to Wipe Clean an External Hard Drive

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I have an old computer to dispose of, it is not connected to anything, so can I remove the hard drive before I dispose of it? If so, how can I do this?

Community Answer

Open the computer case. There's usually 4-6 screws on the back and/or bottom. Simply remove them and lift or slide the case away from the internal, locate the hard drive and remove the covering. Locate the internal hard drive (about the size of an old 8-track, connected to the board by a data "ribbon"), unplug it, squeeze the (usually bright green) clips that held it in place, and slide it out.

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Question

Can I format an external hard drive with one computer using Windows and use the hard drive on a different machine?

Community Answer

Yes, as long as the other machine supports the file system.

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Does reformatting the external hard drive eliminate any computer viruses in the external hard drive?

Community Answer

Formatting a drive or a partition on a drive will totally erase anything and everything stored on it. So, if you have a virus on your external HDD, formatting it will definitely kill the virus.

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How do I erase an external hard drive without messing up my computer I'm using to erase the drive?

Kayden CH

Community Answer

If you format an external hard drive, then everything on that drive is removed. That means if you have files you don't want on the external drive, you are okay to remove it, usually the operating system (basically your computer) is stored on the internal hard drive and you can check this by unplugging the external drive and seeing if the computer still functions. If the computer functions, then it means the operating system is on your internal hard drive and if you don't have files on your external drive that you want to keep, then you can safely format the external drive (this is the disk that does not end in (C:)) and your computer should be fine.

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