Hard Drive Upgrade
- Thread starter Azen
- Start date
Nortons Ghost is one product that will do this for you.
I bought a hard drive and it included software to copy the old drive to the new one, not 100% sure but it may have been Maxtor
I had to delete AV software to do the copy and then reinstall it on new HD when I made it master
I bought a hard drive and it included software to copy the old drive to the new one, not 100% sure but it may have been Maxtor
I had to delete AV software to do the copy and then reinstall it on new HD when I made it master
Azen said:
Use the software that came with the new drive or download it from the drive manufacturer's web site. (i.e. Maxtor=Maxblast)
1. Mount the new drive as a secondary drive.
2. Boot the drive manufacturer's software (comes with it's own OS)
3. Format the new drive
4. Copy the old drive's contents
5. Change the new drive to primary and pull the old drive
6. Boot the new drive
Another idea, if your computer came with a 15Gb drive, then it is likely quite old. You can buy a newer used P4 computer with licensed Windows XP for $200 - $300 that will come with a larger drive. Install the 15Gb drive as the secondary drive, and you are done.
If you are trying to transfer the operating system from the existing 15Gb drive to the new drive, without having the Cds, then you could expect to have problems.
If you are trying to transfer the operating system from the existing 15Gb drive to the new drive, without having the Cds, then you could expect to have problems.
KBear said:
I'm thinking of doing something similar. I have an external 120Gig HD that I partitioned into roughly 4, 30Gig partitions (F, G, H, I) and moved over all I wanted to save.
Does it matter which partition the OS is installed onto with the OS CD?
The original HD is 8.5Gig and old and this way I would have more storage space and still be able to use this old PC as a second system.
Figured I could do that and then just swap HDs letting the 120Gig HD replace the 9 year old 8.5Gig HD before it dies.
WoodPeckr said:
Some programs demand to be installed on the C drive, otherwise they don't function the way they should.
I recommend using Symantec Ghost for your HDD cloning, or you could install the 120GB as a secondary/slave drive, copy all the contents of you 8.5GB drive over which shouldn't take long, then swith the newer drive to make it the master.
One thing that is of concern to me is how old exactly is your PC? If your running an old version of windows you will not be able to take advantage of the bigger drives anyway.
loco2.0 said:
The 120 Gb drive could be a partitioned slave, but could the new drive be a master without having the operating system properly installed? I would take the computer in to someone that does these things daily and pay the $30. Or if money was really tight, leave the 120Gb drive as a slave. things like this can go smooth, but most likely it will be a long drawn out mess if you dont really know what you are doing.
I did the upgrade to a nice used P4 with some extras and am very happy. The performance difference is significant, and it was not very costly.
KBear said:
Well obviously you need the OS installed, otherwise you won't be able to boot into Windows. Send me a Pm and I can refer you to a friend that could do this type of thing for a very good price. Much better than the Geek Squad at Best Buy, since he will not charge you $200 to format your HDD like Best Buy would. LOL More money for the hobby that way.
If using windows, it might be worth your time to reinstall. Despite the hassles involved, windows builds up useless lines of code over time that start to affect your computer's performance. You could also get rid of a lot of the junk on your hard drive.
Attaching the new drive as a slave is the simplest but will affect your performance - sorry - your computer's performance.
Attaching the new drive as a slave is the simplest but will affect your performance - sorry - your computer's performance.
Thanx for the tips so far
Just found some time to respond.
It's a 9yr old PII, 400 MHz, w384 SDRAM mem., running XP PRO right now.
Yeah, yeah it an antique and a bit slow, but with a cable modem its still pretty quick in the internet.
Gateway suggested the External HD option which is plugged into the PC via USB 2.0 port, saying I could go up to a 200 Gig HD this way no problem on this PII. Gateway said this PII couldn't handle anything over 30Gig if added as a master or slave drive, so that's the reason I partitioned it off into 4<30 Gig partitions.
First thing I did to that 120Gig HD was format it in FAT32, then create 4 partitions, F, G, H, I. Only using G & H now, F & I remain empty. Thought of installing XP Pro on F, then swapping HDs, making it the master and removing the original 8.5Gig HD. Assumed that 'swap' would convert the F drive partiton into the C drive.
Was thinking along those lines, to do a clean install of XP PRO. This way all that junk that accumulates in windows over time would be eliminated.
That's why I just wanted to put the OS on 'F' drive along with whatever other programs I wanted to save.
Was even thinking of putting Linux on the 'I' drive, to give Linux a try.
Geeks at Best Buy & CompUSA say it's do-able but both said you can run into problems.
Just found some time to respond.
loco2.0 said:
It's a 9yr old PII, 400 MHz, w384 SDRAM mem., running XP PRO right now.
Yeah, yeah it an antique and a bit slow, but with a cable modem its still pretty quick in the internet.
Gateway suggested the External HD option which is plugged into the PC via USB 2.0 port, saying I could go up to a 200 Gig HD this way no problem on this PII. Gateway said this PII couldn't handle anything over 30Gig if added as a master or slave drive, so that's the reason I partitioned it off into 4<30 Gig partitions.
First thing I did to that 120Gig HD was format it in FAT32, then create 4 partitions, F, G, H, I. Only using G & H now, F & I remain empty. Thought of installing XP Pro on F, then swapping HDs, making it the master and removing the original 8.5Gig HD. Assumed that 'swap' would convert the F drive partiton into the C drive.
basketcase said:
Was thinking along those lines, to do a clean install of XP PRO. This way all that junk that accumulates in windows over time would be eliminated.
That's why I just wanted to put the OS on 'F' drive along with whatever other programs I wanted to save.
Was even thinking of putting Linux on the 'I' drive, to give Linux a try.
Geeks at Best Buy & CompUSA say it's do-able but both said you can run into problems.
basketcase said:
I found something similar but I didn't have to re & re Windows XP to get it sorted out. I'd accepted a free upgrade offer from McAfee for some kind of site advisor software but it had a flaw which made my system slow and unstable. It kept installing the same Windows update over and over which was weird. I'd also (studidly) let McAfee clean out all my restore points. So my solution was to uninstall every windows upgrade all the way back to (and including) Service Pack 2. I also uninstalled McAfee Virus Scan and SpySweeper etc. Just trying to peel away as much as I could without doing anything too drastic. Then I let Windows update reinstall all the updates and a nice clean SP-2. Problem solved. If my system starts going sideways again, I'll be sure to try that before I go to all the trouble of a complete Windows reinstall.
slowpoke said:
One of the things you can do with Norton/Symantec Ghost is create exact images of a HDD, so that you can restore your system to that point at any time. Much better than doing a Windows System Restore, or going through the hours of pain tha tyou had to go through, or in the worst case scenarion doing a dreaded formatting of the HDD.
It's a 9yr old PII, 400 MHz, w384 SDRAM mem., running XP PRO right now.
My head becomes light at the sight of people still using this type of crap.
At this point it all depends on the BIOS. You may require a BIOS upgrade so that your computer will be able to recognize these kind of drives.
I'd say you may want to buy a new computer. With falling computer parts prices, I'm sure you can get a decent machine with quality parts for a sub-300 price. If you don't care about quality, I'm sure you can get it for less than $250.
Why buy a new hard drive and hassle over it when you can get a new machine? Hook that old hard drive up as a slave and toss the rest off a bridge (just be sure there is nothing underneath of course)
My head becomes light at the sight of people still using this type of crap.
At this point it all depends on the BIOS. You may require a BIOS upgrade so that your computer will be able to recognize these kind of drives.
I'd say you may want to buy a new computer. With falling computer parts prices, I'm sure you can get a decent machine with quality parts for a sub-300 price. If you don't care about quality, I'm sure you can get it for less than $250.
Why buy a new hard drive and hassle over it when you can get a new machine? Hook that old hard drive up as a slave and toss the rest off a bridge (just be sure there is nothing underneath of course)
You either need a new Windows to install the new operating system or Partition Magic. With new windows you can copy your information over using the directions below and with Partion Magic you can copy the whole hard drive onto the new one and your system will transfer also.
First, you will make your new hard drive jumpers set to Primary Master.
Looks something like this.
http://support2.jp.dell.com/docs/storage...
On most hard drives it says what the master setting is.
Then, you set your old hard drive to slave. The same way you set the one to master.
From here you either use partition magic and copy your whole hard drive or you install a new version of Windows.
If you use partition magic you just need to take your old one out. If you use Windows you will be able to go My computer on the new Windows and you will see both hard drives and manually just copy any folder from the old hard drive and paste it in any folder you want in the new one.
First, you will make your new hard drive jumpers set to Primary Master.
Looks something like this.
http://support2.jp.dell.com/docs/storage...
On most hard drives it says what the master setting is.
Then, you set your old hard drive to slave. The same way you set the one to master.
From here you either use partition magic and copy your whole hard drive or you install a new version of Windows.
If you use partition magic you just need to take your old one out. If you use Windows you will be able to go My computer on the new Windows and you will see both hard drives and manually just copy any folder from the old hard drive and paste it in any folder you want in the new one.
Seagate Hard Drive's Rock!
Everything I needed to solve my capacity problem came in the box of a retail version of a 120 Gig Seagate HD that only cost $49 at Best Buy.
The Seagate 'DiscWizard for Windows CD' that comes with the HD did the whole conversion seemlessly, as it guides you through the install. It's easier than using the Windows XP program.
Basically you put the new HD in as a slave drive then sit back while DiscWizard makes a mirror image of your old HD and OS. When done you switch jumpers making the new HD master drive and your are done!
Windows XP Pro was transferred over to the new HD intact with no problems in about 90 minutes.
Any partitions you may want are very easily done with DiscWizard, no need for any other programs.
I chose 4 <30 Gig partitions because of a BIOS 33.32 Gig limitation on that old PII. No need for a BIOS upgrade.
Seagate provides a newer high speed interface cable and recommends using it and the results, along with the faster 7200 RPM HD, are amazing.
You are given plenty of choices on how to configure. I chose to make the new HD the boot drive (master) and pull the old HD but it could be left as a slave if desired with just a jumper change.
Everything I needed to solve my capacity problem came in the box of a retail version of a 120 Gig Seagate HD that only cost $49 at Best Buy.
The Seagate 'DiscWizard for Windows CD' that comes with the HD did the whole conversion seemlessly, as it guides you through the install. It's easier than using the Windows XP program.
Basically you put the new HD in as a slave drive then sit back while DiscWizard makes a mirror image of your old HD and OS. When done you switch jumpers making the new HD master drive and your are done!
Windows XP Pro was transferred over to the new HD intact with no problems in about 90 minutes.
Any partitions you may want are very easily done with DiscWizard, no need for any other programs.
I chose 4 <30 Gig partitions because of a BIOS 33.32 Gig limitation on that old PII. No need for a BIOS upgrade.
Seagate provides a newer high speed interface cable and recommends using it and the results, along with the faster 7200 RPM HD, are amazing.
You are given plenty of choices on how to configure. I chose to make the new HD the boot drive (master) and pull the old HD but it could be left as a slave if desired with just a jumper change.
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