Ok for any of you know it alls. I have a computer with a 40gig HD and its full. I want to add a 80 gig HD. Now the problem. I am using W2000 and hate it. I want to install Windows xp home on the new HD but want to be able to access the data on my old hd. What is going to happen when I do this and will I be able to do it. Thanks ahead of time. Ed

 

No problem. But, first you must make the 80gig your primary drive and the 40 the secondary (slave) drive. This is done by means of jumpers on the drives. The 40 will need to be changed, possibly it has a diagram on the drive showing the jumper locations for MAster, SLave, and Cable Select.

Additionally you may need to set the BIOS to look for a second drive on the cable circuit. This really isn't too difficult if you have some knowledge of computers. Find someone at work, church, or a high school kid in the neighborhood to help out if you need to.

The 80 gig drive will become the "boot" drive and show up as "C:\" and the 40 gig will show up as "D:\" or possibly "E:\". All your data will then be available to you simply by clicking on the D: or E: drive and navigating to the My Documents folder.

I do this for a living supporting a school district and do not consider myself a know it all as it just happens to be something we do to extend the life of our computers. Also have done it on my own computer at home.

 

Fordication

What dont you like about W2k?

Equalizer
excellent write up (Sticky?)

I might add, that he needs to format HD using NTFS, and not FAT32.

Only area FTE is lacking.....a good compter tech support area.

What about Ken? this many users...im sure others out there have some questions

I volunteer Equalizer to write up some sticky's...hehehe

TrunkSlammer

 

More than likely you won't need to touch the BIOS, as practically every PC in the past 5 years is set to auto configure everything on all IDE channels.

Your next hurdle is booting from your XP disk, then make sure your tell setup that you would like to partition & format the unused drive and install to that. Leave your other drive alone, and you should be able to access it - HOWEVER - since you are running Win2k you might have it formatted with NTFS... and you *may* run into security issues...

You should be just fine..

 

Many programs that you are using will have to be installed on the new hard drive. Some may have to be de-installed from your present drive b4 you make the changes. Without the proper registry entries the programs on the old disk will not function. The data and files on the old disk will be available. You may have to work a little to get it to read the old files with the new programs.

BACK UP YOU DATA to a CD b4 you change things.

W2k would not set up my hardware interupts properly on the system I had b4 my present system. It stacked too many things on IRQ11 and crashed. Stupid program would not let me configure it properly. It said it was too "complicated" for a mere user to set up. I needed custom drivers from the HW vendors. Total hogwash, I have been setting up computers since b4 there even was a PC... I could trick the OS into working by disabling and then re-enabling the network card so it moved the IRQ, but I had to do that every time the machine booted.

W-XP will format the new drive when it installs, use NTFS. NTFS can cause problems if you ever have to reload W-XP on a multi-user machine. It takes some time to get all of the rights and permissions reset on a multi-user machine -PITA.

 

Can I jump in here,sorry fordication I dont mean to step on your post,but I have a computer related question.I am a mechanic not a computer guru and have no clue about the lingo you guys use,so bear with me.When I try to print something 1 time it works perfect,the next time it Q`s it,when I try to troubleshoot it says unable to communicate with printer.WHAT?I just printed something.But yet if I close all windows and disconnect my dialup then it will print.Does this make sense?And can I correct this myself or should I leave it to some one who Knows what they are doing?

 

KT, find that 14 yr old expert kid to fix it.

 

Thanks,That helped.

 

More info:

What OS (operating system) and how is printer connected? USB? parallel?

 

Thanks guys. I was hoping that was the answer. That is how I went from w98 to 2000 but I was not sure since 2000 is NT based. Win 2000 in my opinion is a PITA. I have had so may issues with it and other then lack of crash which I had with Win me every damn month, win 2000 is just not user freindly. NOt to mention that my wireless setup has a problem using my desktop as a base. I make it work but I have had to jump thru hurdles.


As far as the printer issue. Go into your printer preference and reset to default. If that does not work then uninstall your printer and reinstall using the instructions. Some tell you to install software prior to plugging in the printer and some say after you have turned it on and the computer sees it. That should fix it and do not use the drivers that come with windows unless your drivers do not work. Ed

 

KT- Those kids can fix it easier than you can and they will be sitting at your machine. Easier than trying to lead you thru every mouse click.

 

While I'll take 2000 over NT or Win Me... it's not the worst or best Ops sys Mr. Bill created....

But why can't you just put your new drive as a second IDE drive which your sys will recognize as a new D: drive, load XP over his current Win 2000, and go from there ????
No de-install and reinstall of programs... they run right whee they are ....

Evey Win install I've seen since the first has an upgrade path that leaves ALL your programs, folders, etc... in place...
Then you can selectively move some things off the smaller C: drive to your new empty d: drive...

I understand if you want your new drive as the boot device since it may (probably is) faster than your old drive... but the hardware part is a piece of cake when compared to the moving of ALL your programs...

Many a time I've left the boot drive as the boot drive JUST so I wouldn't have to move programs to a new drive...

Most programs ALLOW you to install them on different drives, but some REQUIRE that they be on your c: drive...

good luck...

 

Ive used XP Pro off and on on my systems, but always end up back to Win2K for one reason or another. When you are a hardware junkie you just tire of the activation and reactivation game. I recently installed a SCSI RAID array, and yep, a guaranteed call to MS is required for reactivation.... I just went back to 2K instead. Seamless and will run anything XP can. IMHO

 

How I would do things:

1) back up stuff
2) remove programs from 40GB drive to create space
3) put in new hard drive (mind the master/slave/cable select settings on the two drives), format it
4) turn off computer, remove 40GB drive from system, make new drive the master, turn on, install OS
5) turn off computer, plug 40GB drive back in as slave device, reassemble sides to computer
6) turn it on, install your programs on new hard drive

I strongly perfer 2000 to xp, but to each their own.