I just bought my eMachine T3120 last month because my old computer Processor burned out. I am wanting to install the hard-drive from the old computer in the new one, format, erase, clean, and etc. I have a place for it inside the tower. There is wiring for a Slave drive. Do I plug that stuff to my old hard-drive?

Next, How do I erase, format, clean, etc the old drive once I install it? Do I have to find drivers for it? What is the next step after I hook it up.

I am planning on running dual-boot with Linux on my old hard-drive. I am a newbie at hardware so be easy and explain with great details. Thanks in advance for all your help.

You should be able to just plug the IDE cable into the HDD. Make sure that you set the HDD to slave manually on the jumpers on the side and in BIOS make sure that it is set as a slave or the computer will boot with that hard drive. You want have to find drivers for it as Windows will install anything it needs to run the HDD.

When the computer has booted up goto My Computer, right click on the drive and goto Format, select your file system and click ok.

After the HDD is formatted you might want to get a copy of Partition Magic or a similar partitioning software and create a partition for the Linux OS and keep all other files and programs seperate, but thats just personal preference.

Well wish me luck. I will be installing it tomorrow night after school. Also What settings do I change in the bios?

On my BIOS I have to tell it I have a new HDD installed. Well I don't have to tell it but if I do it makes life easier. Basically in the drives part of my BIOS there is a list of drives I have connected.

Just scroll down to the Primary Slave and press enter (normally) and it will find the settings, size etc of the drive just installed. Also booting the PC into Cmd prompt mode to format the old drive might be a good idea.

How do you access BIOS?

Hello Jason,

All you do tap DEL while your computer boots up. Now I'm guessing it's delete, because this differs from manufacturer to manufacturer... and what kind of BIOS they chose. You can find the list over here of how to access the bios for different types of OEM's and BIOS's.

And you don't necessarily need to tell your BIOS because most boards (especially new ones... like the one in your PC probably) use auto detection. Just formatting and partitioning your drive should do it.

Thanks RZ!

If for some reason it won't boot up after install... Can I remove it and the computer will work fine?

Well I installed it. The process was easy. The computer auto-detected it. I am erasing everything it as we speak.