Moving an old hard drive to an XP System
Greetings all. I recently purchased a used PC from work: XP Pro, 866MHz, 256MRam, 19G HD, Network Card, 17" Monitor. Total cost $35
This PC is for my son who will use it for games and homework primarily. His old PC is a dual-boot system with W98SE and W2000, running at 400 MHz. I would hate for him to lose all his stuff so I would like to move the drive from his old PC to the newer one. I really don't care about the operating systems on the old drive but would like him to be able to access all his games and work on the old drive. Because of the size of the new system drive (19G), he could use the added storage space.
Will I run into any problems moving the drive?
What hardware/software changes will I have to make?
What is the proper sequence to do everything?
I am hoping that once it is moved, I can copy everything he really wants to the new system, then re-format the old drive and use it fully.
What is the best way to re-format the slave drive once it is working so that it can be used fully?
I am probably forgetting something so I will answer any questions as they are asked. Please help and thanks to everyone.
Frank
This PC is for my son who will use it for games and homework primarily. His old PC is a dual-boot system with W98SE and W2000, running at 400 MHz. I would hate for him to lose all his stuff so I would like to move the drive from his old PC to the newer one. I really don't care about the operating systems on the old drive but would like him to be able to access all his games and work on the old drive. Because of the size of the new system drive (19G), he could use the added storage space.
Will I run into any problems moving the drive?
What hardware/software changes will I have to make?
What is the proper sequence to do everything?
I am hoping that once it is moved, I can copy everything he really wants to the new system, then re-format the old drive and use it fully.
What is the best way to re-format the slave drive once it is working so that it can be used fully?
I am probably forgetting something so I will answer any questions as they are asked. Please help and thanks to everyone.
Frank
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>> will I need to get another 40 pin cable << Yes. And you will probably need to make sure it is an 80 wire/40 pin cable.
That being said, a couple of thing to consider:
1. Is the new DVD and HD atleast ATA-66? You might have a problem if the DVD is ATA-33 and the HD is ATA-66 or higher. ATA-33 does not usually like 80/40 cables.
2. The drives that you will do the most copying between should be on different channels for best results. But you must also take into account the ATA speeds of all the drives for pairing on the same channels.
3. It usually does not matter how you plug HD's and Optical drives into the cables (Master - Slave), the OS's will give them the correct letters.
But best pratice is :
HD as Master on Primary IDE cable. and make sure the DVD does or does not prefer the Master setting. If it does, make it master on the secondary IDE cable.
That being said, a couple of thing to consider:
1. Is the new DVD and HD atleast ATA-66? You might have a problem if the DVD is ATA-33 and the HD is ATA-66 or higher. ATA-33 does not usually like 80/40 cables.
2. The drives that you will do the most copying between should be on different channels for best results. But you must also take into account the ATA speeds of all the drives for pairing on the same channels.
3. It usually does not matter how you plug HD's and Optical drives into the cables (Master - Slave), the OS's will give them the correct letters.
But best pratice is :
HD as Master on Primary IDE cable. and make sure the DVD does or does not prefer the Master setting. If it does, make it master on the secondary IDE cable.
ASKER
There is one other thing I forgot to ask about that I hope one of you can also answer. The system I will be working on also has a CD-ROM. I have a new DVD/CD-RW that I also want to install in the system. It has two open bays so they will both fit. I had originally planned on replacing the CD-ROM with the new one, but was advised that I should keep the original so that I can copy from the player and write to the new one for faster copies. Anyway, I am not sure about something....
I have been reading up on installing hardware and it sounds like both units (hard drive and CD-ROM) are probably running on one IDE Channel.
When I install the second hard drive and the new DVD/CD-RW, will I need to get another 40 pin cable?
Will I be plugging them into a different IDE connector?
Are the CD-ROM and the DVD/CD-RW also configured as master/slave?
Do I need to do anything in BIOS?
I am probably forgetting to ask something important. IF you can think of anything else that I should do or should know, please explain it.
Thanks,
Frank