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Cyric
03-06-2002, 07:39 PM
Hey everbody got a question for you. Sorry if this has been discussed a lot. Well here goes. I'm getting a new computer for a good price and I want to use my old harddrive in the the new computer so I don't have to transfer it, too much stuff. I've heard of people running more that one harddrive. So how can I add my old Harddrive to my new computer?

Thanks Cyric
sbp
03-06-2002, 09:31 PM
Your motherboard has 2 IDE connections (primary and secondary). Each IDE connection can support 2 peripherals {like hard drives, cd-roms, dvd-roms, cd burners) using the appropriate cable. One of the peripherals has to be the master and the other peripheral has to be the slave on the IDE connection.

What you will have to do is make your old hard drive a slave. You'll do this by changing the jumpers (little plastic tabs) on the back of your old hard drive.
Ladogaboy
03-07-2002, 07:54 AM
One more thing...

Many prebuilt systems I've seen use IDE cables that are meant for only one device. You might need to go out and buy another IDE cable that supports 2 devices. It's no big deal, and if you have to pay more than $3-4 for a new cable, someone is taking you to the cleaners. ;)
Cyric
03-07-2002, 08:18 AM
Thanks guys for all the help. Some morre questions?

Here's what I know the new computer uses Windows ME and my older one uses Windows 98. Will this be a problem? If I made the older HD a slave then would I still be able to run programs from it when I needed them without installing them to the new HD? Because some of the programs I don't use often but I still need and like you said they take up space. Thanks again.

later Cyric :D
Cyric
03-08-2002, 04:28 AM
Thanks again chosenfool. One other thing. So I can set up the harddrives anyway I want with either being the master and slave. But the one that will be used to run the system will be the master drive on C:/drive and the slave will be for example the g:/drive, right? SO if I will be using programs from my old drive more then set it up as the master and the new drive as the slave and just transfer the programs I'll use a lot from the new drive to the old. Why I'm asking about this way is that I'd like to keep the new drive like it is because it not mine and I'll be getting my own new system shortly but I can't live with my old computer anymore, way too slow. Also how will I know if the IDE cable is for one or two devices?
Thanks again.

later Cyric
Cyric
03-08-2002, 12:14 PM
I just hooked-up my old hard drive as a slave. This is what I did unhooked old drive tehn hooked it up to new computers secondary IDE. Did I do something wrong because I can't seem to find the old HD so I can bring programs over form the old to the new to try and run them from the old drive? What am I doing wrong? Any help out there?
thanks.

later Cyric
Markel
03-08-2002, 01:24 PM
You probably have to set a jumper on the back of the old drive to the "Slave" position. Also, check that the setting of the jumper on the other drive is "Master".

You may have to go into your BIOS IDE settings and set the detect for IDE1 to Auto.
Cyric
03-08-2002, 06:25 PM
I don't see any jumpers on the hard drives? What do they look like? Also can one of you gurus explain how to do this?

thanks again and hopefully for the last time on this :)

later Cyric
Cyric
03-08-2002, 06:55 PM
I think I found the jumpers, they are small "plugs" in the slot next to the IDE port, right? My old drive looks like this :::.: with two jumpers in it. The new drive looks like this ::::: with on jumper in it. What I need to know is what are the positions the jumpers need to be in to have the old drive as the slave and the new drive as the master? Or where I can find this info? Thanks a lot guys.

later Cyric
sbp
03-08-2002, 08:08 PM
Yes those are the jumpers Cyric. On the hard drive there may be a label showing the positions jumpers should be to be master, slave etc. If its not there go to hard drive maker website and see if the information can be found.
Cyric
03-09-2002, 01:33 PM
Got my old hard drive out and this is what it says on it.

Jumper Master/Single Slave
J50 On Off

Does it mean if I take the jumpers out then it will be a slave? I'm going to go to the Maxtor website and see.

thanks Cyric
Cyric
03-09-2002, 02:05 PM
Think I got it. But if not I'll post.

thanks a lot.

later Cyric
Cyric
03-09-2002, 02:50 PM
:eek: I just tried to start up my computer with the new drive set as the master with the jumpers and my old drive as the slave with the jumpers. I went to start up the computer and it said primary drive failure. So I go into the bios and try and set the drives up and it wouldn't. Help please, I had to dissconnect the old drive to get the computer to work again. Help please :eek:

thanks Cyric
Cyric
03-09-2002, 03:02 PM
Got my computer to work with the new drive set as master and the old drive set as slave. I went to the BIOS and no slave HD. WHat's up????? Once i get this working right how do I go about getting stuff off the old drive? Also how do I save stuff to the old drive?

thanks again,
later Cyric
Cyric
03-10-2002, 01:28 PM
Anybody?? :confused:

thanks Cyric
Markel
03-11-2002, 08:00 AM
Originally posted by Cyric
Got my computer to work with the new drive set as master and the old drive set as slave. I went to the BIOS and no slave HD. WHat's up????? Once i get this working right how do I go about getting stuff off the old drive? Also how do I save stuff to the old drive?

thanks again,
later Cyric
Cyric,

Go into your BIOS setup screens and find the list of IDE drives. It may only show one for IDE 0. You will likely have to set the column for IDE 1 from NONE to AUTO so that the second drive is recognized by the BIOS. Save and Exit from the BIOS setup and let the system reboot. I usually like to go back into the BIOS setup to verify that the second drive has indeed been detected.

Once you are up and running, the second drive will probably be identified as your D: drive. You can save to it, copy from it, and try creating shortcuts to applications you want to try to run off of it.

Once you add a second drive, your CD devices usually get bumped up by a letter. This can cause some problems in applications that have saved the drive letter of the CD drive. Sometimes a retail hard drive comes with an application that will help remap these. Other times I have gone through the registry searching for references to the old CD drive letter (say "D:" and replacing it with the new CD drive letter (maybe "E:"), but you need to know what you are doing if you are going to start hacking around in the registry.
friscokydd
03-11-2002, 10:42 AM
You're getting a lot of great feedback in this post. I'd say one of the easiest, and rather inexpensive routes is to buy a hard drive selector. It's super easy to install and even easier to use. You can run up to 3 hard drives too. It was posted in the Deals section on March 5th. There's even a link to a review there. GotApex rules!

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?SRCCODE=BEFREE&SKU=R75-1000&sourceid=00383663995194890869
Markel
03-11-2002, 10:50 AM
Originally posted by friscokydd
You're getting a lot of great feedback in this post. I'd say one of the easiest, and rather inexpensive routes is to buy a hard drive selector. It's super easy to install and even easier to use. You can run up to 3 hard drives too. It was posted in the Deals section on March 5th. There's even a link to a review there. GotApex rules!

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?SRCCODE=BEFREE&SKU=R75-1000&sourceid=00383663995194890869
It appears that that hard drive selector will only permit one drive to be active at a time, however.