How do I delete protected windows files?

[Abaddon]

So I have added a second hand HD to my computer (vista)
It's filled with junk, when I try to delete the windows files it doesn't let me.

What do I have to change to allow me to delete all these files?

I don't want to format because there are lots of files I DO want on this HD... Unless I have to then I suppose I could move them then format... How do I format?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Move the files you want to keep, right click the HDD in My Computer, click Format. You dont even need to do a full format, a quick one will work just fine to get rid of all the files on it.

 

[Abaddon]

Thank yee!

 

[Tarkhan]

I had to do this to get rid of an old vista installation. Good riddance.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Just in the future, you dont need a new thread for every one of these little questions. The Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread thread is just fine for them.

 

[Abaddon]

How come my 500gb HD doesn't have 500 gb of space now?

There is a partision, but even with it added up the total is 416+ 48... where is almost 50gb gone?!?!?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

There are actually two naming conventions that are used (often erroneously) interchangeably when referring to HDDs. The manufacturers use the SI naming conventions, which you're actually most used to. Kilo, Mega, Giga, Tera and etc are all SI which means they are powers of 10, not 2.

The power of 2 system on the other hand uses the prefixes Kibi, Mebi, Gibi, Tebi and etc. These stand for 2^10, 2^20, 2^30 and etc respectively.

What you are seeing is the disconnect between the proper naming system and the numbers that get thrown around. When the manufacturer says they give you a 500 GB HDD, they give you 500 Gigabytes, which is correct. Windows on the other hand uses GB when it should be using GiB which means you see a lower number but with the same units.

In the future, you can multiply the GB advertised by .9313 to get the amount of GiB on the hard drive. In your case, 500 * .9313 is 465GiB which is exactly what Windows is reporting to you.

 

[Tarkhan]

I knew that actual size was different than advertised size, but didnt know specifics, interesting.

The SI system is probably used when marketing drives, because at least outside of the US, we're used to using it for everything else.

 

[Abaddon]

Thankyou geo