New hard drive...Old hard drive ?????

[pickel]

If I were to install, format, etc. a new drive and set it up with all the necessary drivers, would I be able to set the old hdd to slave and copy the files I wanted to keep, on the new one ??? Then format the old one to use in another computer??? Any advice greatly appreciated !!!

Yep, no probs. You can actually copy the whole partition from the old drive to the new drive, if ya want.

Just make sure you set the jumpers for master slave when you put the drives in the one machine, and then check that the BIOS has detected them correctly.

Easy one.

Any more questions?

Cheers
mick

[BobOmega]

i dont see why not. as long as its set to slave and the computer dosn't try to boot to the old one.
oh if you make the new on fat32 and the old one is ntfs i dont think you can get the files.
thats the only confilict i can see happening.

Originally posted by BobOmega
oh if you make the new on fat32 and the old one is ntfs i dont think you can get the files.
thats the only confilict i can see happening.

Good point, Bob. If the old drive has an NTFS partition, then it is also a bit more difficlut to copy the partition - some copying tools just won't do it.

I'd check your new HDD manufacturers website for the latest drive installation software, which should be able to copy partitions for you. If a floppy came with the drive, use that if it has partition copying tools.

Cheers
Mick

[MDS]

I would unplug the current drive first to make sure you don't erase anything important. Then partition(if needed), format, and install your OS. When you get it all set up just put the old drive back in as a slave and move what files you want to keep over to the new HD. You could copy the whole partion but if you are like me and end up with a bunch of unneed junk just copy what you want.

[pickel]

I plan to setup the new drive with XP home ( upgrade..installing second edition first , then upgrading. Still work?? Or should I transfer the files first ( very few..just some documents) then do the upgrade?
Thanks for the replies

What OS is on the current drive? If it's win9x (including ME), then just set up the new OS on the new drive, then attach the old drive and copy the few files over to the new drive. While it is still attached, you could then format it (the old drive), before taking out to install in another system.

WinXP will take care of the partitioning of the new drive during installation.

Cheers
Mick

You don't need to install the old win98SE first. Just start the XP Home install, and it'll ask for the old OS disk at some stage.

Cheers
Mick

[Telexen]

I would just Install XP on the new drive, then put in the old drive, copy over whatever files you want, format the OLD drive so you don't have OS residue on it, and use the second drive for whatever.

[pickel]

Thanks for the info....my wife would disown me if I lost her stuff !!!