The OS in my old computer is totally hosed. I plan to reformat and reinstall, but first I need to transfer my valuable files from the old HD to the computer I’m currently using. I am thinking of taking out the old HD and slaving it to the new one.
I searched the SDMB for information on this, and seen a lot of discussions that mention doing this, but no clear, complete directions on exactly how to do it. Can anyone supply step-by-step instructions? I want to be careful to get it right and not damage anything.
There is a nice little tutorial with pictures here. And another here.
The basic requirements are: a free drive bay in your computer, an availalble power connector, a free IDE connection, and proper jumper settings on the drive.
IF what you want to do is to have a clean install on a new drive, then plug in the old one and copy across the files, there’s nothing to stop you. However, I’m not entirely sure that’s what you want to do.
Nonetheless, if that’s how you’re going - do the install, as per usual. (I’m assuming Windows here). Then, plug the old drive in - make sure the jumper settings are for ‘slave’, and those of the new drive are ‘master’ (which may be different to when it was the only drive). In my experience, Windows XP will automatically identify the new drive, so it’s click-and-drag to copy the files.
Just to mention what may not be obvious, but the two drives need to be running the same OS. You can’t slave Win98 to XP, for example. Also, if all you’re going to do is copy files from the old drive, I personally wouldn’t bother with actually installing the drive in a bay. I’d just bang it in anywhere that it wasn’t touching the motherboard. It all depends on the design of your case. Sometimes sliding the drive into a bay is the easiest way to go and sometimes not. Heck, I wouldn’t even close up the case.
Many people get intimidated by hardware, but my experience is that hardware stuff is pretty simple. The most likely scenario is that your ribbon cable already has two connectors on it and so all you have to do is open the case and look to see which connector is on the hard drive now and which is open. Since I always assume that I am going to screw up, I put a small piece of tape on the side of the connector that is currently attached to what will become the master hard drive so I know which connector goes to which drive. The hard drives themselves will be marked to tell you how to set the jumpers (no manual needed) so you are good to go there. The drives have a power connector (4 pins) and the ribbon cable connector so there isn’t much to them. Look carefully at the connectors and you will see that they can’t be hooked up wrong. The power connector is typically flat on one side and rounded on the other. Look at the drive’s connection to see its orientation and then at the connector, line them up and press it in. Ditto for the ribbon cable connector. It has a solid spot on one side only to help you align it correctly, as well as the red wire marking. Once you have connected the drives, check the connection of the ribbon cable to the motherboard as it is very easy to loosen it up while wrestling with the drives. Try to not touch the exposed electronics of the hard drives while handling them and be sure that nothing is touching those areas when you are ready to power up.
That is not true. A slave drive doesn’t even need to have an OS on it, since the computer isn’t booting from it. All that matters is that your OS can read the file system on the slave drive.
Cleophus is correct. I took the HDD out of my old machine with Win 98SE on it, disconnected the CD ROM power and IDE cables of the new puter, let it hang there, and copied files to the HDD on the new machine which is running XP Pro. The only change I had to make was moving the jumper from Master to CS or cable select. XP recognized it, called it E:, and life was good.
Thanks, everybody, I’m going to try it. Actually, my old HD doesn’t even have an OS on it any more; it can’t even boot up. I just want to grab the files off it.
Thanks for the directions, JKilez, and thanks for the tips, daffyduck. The main reason I started this thread is to get some warnings on what to watch out for so as not to break anything, as well as how-to directions.
Hardware install is really easy. Just do exactly what daffyduck said. That said, although they make no-force, one-way connectors now, if it doesn’t go, stop and make sure that you’ve got it going the right way. You can still bust something if you’re not careful and too forceful.
I’ve been trying to get the old HDD out, and it isn’t easy at all. I know it looks easy to those of you who handle hardware components all the time, but this is the first time I’ve tried to take out a HDD. I have even less idea how I will reconnect and reassemble everything later on. There’s something in back of the HDD that is blocking it from sliding out. Also, it seems to be stuck on something inside that I can’t see, even though I’ve removed all the screws holding it in. I’m afraid of breaking something if I handle it too roughly, but it isn’t coming out easy. I won’t be able to go any farther on my own. Guess I will just have to ask around if I can get anybody to come over and help with it. Either that or take both machines in to Best Buy.
It would be easier, but on this model (a Compaq), behind the front panel is a metal wall which is riveted into the entire frame of the whole superstructure. Can’t be removed. It has spaces through which the floppy drive and the two CD drives can be inserted and removed, but there is no opening in front of the HDD. I can’t see any way to get the HDD out without disassembling the entire shebang. Had no idea it would be this diffcult before I slid the case off.
Within the past 6 years ago, Compaq and HP started making these horrible modular case designs that cause problems exactly like what you’ve described.
Having suffered the same thing, the best advice I can offer is to look around the chassis for some sort of lever or button that releases the HD bay module. Or look around for imprinted sketches that might point you in the right direction. HP has both of those things… I took mine completely apart before I realized there was an easy solution.
If you have an older Compaq, most of the components are mounted on a riser board that plugs into the motherboard. You can remove it and get to things more easily.
Just to muddy the waters a bit furthur, whether a HD is recognized by an OS (assuming it’s correctly installed), is dependant on the file systems supported by that OS, and the file system type of the HD.
I just finished jamming a 3rd HD in my piddly P200 server. It was blank, but had it had information, I would have been able to read it, as there are few file system types Linux won’t mount.
XP understands NTFS, and the older FAT32 and FAT16 variants used by both 98 and 95, as does Win2k. If you’re moving up to a newer version of Windows, no problems.
The reverse is not true however - Win9x will not be able to read NTFS formatted HDs. (In fact, the NTFS type used by Win2k prior to SP4 is somewhat different from that used after that and in XP, so it’s possible to have issues there, but… my new ext3 filesystem is done formatting, so I’m done typing.
There are 3rd party programs that will allow you to read NTFS, ext2, etc. formatted drives in 9x, but I haven’t had much experience with those
Thanks for the warning. In this case, I want to use an XP computer to retrieve the files off one that had run 98.
When I put the HDD back in the formerly-98 computer, I will need to use a boot disk to start with. Can I use the boot disk that came with my new laptop which runs XP? (The only boot disk I actually have on hand.) Or will I need to seek out a 98 boot disk just to get the thing running so that I can reformat?
You know, you can also do ALL of this via a network. You don’t need to unscrew anything at all. Just put both computers on the same network, and take what files you need. You can also clone an entire hard drive across a network. If the new Hard drive is big enough, you can partition is, and then clone the old hard drive to it. Norton Ghost allows you to do this VERY easily.
