New HD question

[ductonius]

Hi, tomorrow I'm getting a new HD and want to install it along with my old HD.

-I would like the new HD to be C: and the old drive to be as if it were D: or some other drive so I can access my old files easaly.
-I will be doing a fresh install of windows XP home on the new HD.

I have searched Google on this and what I come up with is stuff I already know.

Does anyone know of any tutorials of know what to do?

 

[RABIES]

OK, let me see if I can make this easier for you, because it can be a pain.

1) HD's can be easily set up to let the motherboard/cabling make the calls. I am unsure if cable type makes any difference but the newer IDE cables tend to work better. Your new HD should come with one, it will have a blue connector that goes onto the motherboard.
2) Set both hard drives to Cable Select, this will be done by changing around the pins on the back, refer to the manual for a specific hard drive config. If you are running a Western Digital, just look for a jumper setting labeled CS.
3) Place your main HD "C:" on the end of the cable, and the slave "D:" on the middle connector. So now your new drive is master "C:" and the old drive is slave "D:".
4) XP will help you manage your drives when installing, so that should be a snap.
5) Your old drive will most likely take a drive letter in windows after your CD-ROM/ROM's, i.e E: or F:, this can be changed easily, simply do a search in google or yahoo to get instructions on that.

Hope this helps....

 

[ductonius]

Thank you for the reply, however I just leaned some info that complicates matters slightly.

New HD = SATA
Old HD = IDE

Now, I know I must install the SATA drivers during windows inatall by pressing F6, but after it's installed and working I cannot plug the old HD to act as a slave to the new one becaue SATA dosent have the Master/Slave relationship.

I can get a SATA Dongle at a computer store. Would plugging it into the second SATA port (using the dongle) have the same effect as making it a slave. That is, will I be able to see/copy info from it as if it were setup in a master/slave relationship?

 

[RABIES]

That does complicate matters some, what you may need to do is force the drives into a Master Slave relationship. Basically, and I am unsure on the jumper status of SATA, but if it has any, set the SATA to master or plug it into the master connector. Now you will definitely have to set the other IDE HD to slave, this will have to be forced on this drive. As for cabling, I would recommend the rolled ATA single device cables, that way it doesn't look shabby vs your SATA connection which will be smaller. And yes, you will have to push F6 to set up that drive. However if you have critical data on the older drive, leave it off until your setup has completed, just incase the mobo sets that to master and you accidentally format it... ;(

Have fun..... :naughty: