Yet Another Computer Question...

[RogueIce]

I'd like to be sure before I do this, so...

A long time ago, in a Gateway store far, far away, I took in my computer to get fixed (the CD-ROM was being funky). So they fixed it, and added some more memory, and I went from a C: and D: drive to a C:, D:, and E: drive machine.

Now, the E: drive held all the stuff my former D: drive held, the D: drive was, by all accounts, an exact duplicate of my C: drive, and my C: drive was, well, my C: drive. So, included with all the stuff on my new D: drive, was a copy of the Windows folder, and all that fun stuff, as well as all the Autoexec, Command, and those files.

So my question is...since I've got all that crap on my C: anyway, and my D: is seemingly just a straight copy of whatever was there when Gateway did it's thing, would there be any ill effects of formating my D: drive? The reason I ask is because it's still giving me some problems with programs being dual-installed on both drives, and it wouldn't hurt to have the extra space (though since it now resides in my room with no Net connection, I probably won't need it, unless I want to get really organized or something).

So, would it adversely effect the operations of my computer to format this D: drive, with all it's copies of the C: drive stuff, or not? My initial gut reaction is no, it won't, but I want to make absolutely sure before I do something I can't take back.

[Shadowhawk]

Make sure that none of your programs are actually pointing at D: when they're running. Check the shortcuts and check the registry (search for all instances of D:)

Are C:, D:, and E: all separate physical drives on your computer?
If so, unplug D: and see how your computer acts. If it acts fine, you can wipe D:

Is D: actively mirroring your C: drive (in other words, if you save something new in c:\my documents, does it also appear in d:\my documents?).
If so, Gateway might've installed something to dupe your drive on the fly for safety purposes. Find the software and disable it, then wipe.