Hi -

first off, i'm not all super techy so be patient if i sound clueless (sure you're all used to that)

ok, i ordered a new barebones system online, they put it together and tested it and stuff and i got it today, i have 2 hard drives from my old pc that i put in there and its not recognizing that there are drives...so 2 questions, how do i get it to recognize there's a drive there, and do i have to reformat the drive to add it in (please please say no, i've only got about 1/2 the stuff on there backed up).

getting a brand new pc and not being able to use it is like getting a new corvette and having no keys!! help

yes you need to reformat the whole drive. heres a tutorial right here @ d-a-l.com http://www.d-a-l.com/format-hard-disk.html im not sure if you can but try installing a fresh copy of an OS and only that installed and put that as a primary (actually i forgot that most bios can boot from CD so you can install from there). so after you format you need to make partitions on the disk (ie: 60 gig HD to 2 30 gig HD or 1 59 gig HD) then the computer will recognize it. try using a freebee program to partition it which makes it 1000x easier. if im wrong, please correct me other users.

Is this all sorted now Skelletona?