I want to erase my hard drive on dell e520

SOURCE: dell dimension 4600

check in the bios that it is your new hardrive it is seeing, and not your old one still sitting in thr bios memory, as taking out the battery doesnt always delete the cmos memory.

There shoul be an option in the bios to auto recognise the drive

SOURCE: Dell System DV051 Not working prop. after storm

I believe this is due to Media Direct requiring a 2G hidden partition and entries in the MBR. As I understand it you have to boot from the Media Direct disc first for it to recreate the partition assuming it has been deleted then install your OS. If you do not want the Media Direct then you should be able to use the OS disc recovery console to repair the MBR.

More info can be obtained from the Dell Forum

SOURCE: Dell dimension e520 reinstalling the XP Media center

Hello,

connect your hard drive to other computer and then have it clean by scanning with antivirus. and then copy the important files on it to the working computer. after copying the files thats the time to return back the original hardrive to the dell dimension and then reformat and reinstall the system again again. please use original operating from dell or what ever is applicable.

mlenavz

SOURCE: Dell 2350 Won't boot up without cd

Check the jumper on the back of your drive. Chances are that the jumper is either on "slave" or "cable select". Change the jumper to master, and try rebooting.

SOURCE: Hard Drive Upgrade

Yes, the motherboard should support that size drive with no problems. You will have to reinstall windows using the discs that dell sent you originally. Be aware the drivers for dell can be tricky to reinstall.