installing old hard drive in newer computer.

I bought a refurbished Dell Pentium II (400mhz) with a 6.5gb hard drive. The hard drive needs an operating system, which I can do.

However, what I would like to do is take my old hard drive (Maxtor 5.0 gb) from my old computer and intall it in the refurbished computer as the primary, since it has it is already configured with Windows98 (FAT32) and all my other files and it is working perfectly. And use the 6.5gb that came with the refurbished computer as the secondary hard drive.

Please help.

1. RE: installing old hard drive in newer computer.
waddy Jul-28-01 12:49 PM
In response to message 0

6.5GB - Set the jumper to Master - put it on the IDE1 cable on the end connector (as the only drive on the PC)
boot with win98 boot disk --- at the dos prompt type - fdisk
delete all partitons , then make a new primary partition... when it asks to use all space and to make the partiton active - choose NO...
That basically wont make the partition active.. so the pc wont try to boot from that drive...
reboot -- with boot disk - go to dos prompt type format c: ..when thats done
Take the drive out of the PC .. set the jumper to Slave 6.5GB ... and put it on the second connector on the IDE 1 cable...
On the maxtor 5GB -- ... set the jumper on the drive to Master... put it on IDE1 on the last connector on the cable..
Check the bios that its set to autodetect in the CMOS......
and off ya go.....

3. RE: installing old hard drive in newer computer.
lbyard Jul-28-01 02:43 PM
In response to message 1

More advice…
I would back-up critical data on the existing hard disk first.
To reduce the possibility of an error, I would not install my old drive on the Dell until after the drive that came with the Dell is fdisk’d and formatted.
When using ATA/33 hard disk drives and a 40-conductor flat cable, it makes no difference what connector on the cable is connected to what. For example, one can plug the connector at the very end of the cable, where the two drive connectors are closer together, into the motherboard, and plug the middle connector into the Master drive—if it will reach that way. It does make a difference what connector is plugged into what with an 80-conductor ATA/66/100 cable and drives.
One can change which partition is active after the fact with fdisk.
You may have to go into the CMOS Setup and set the drive parameters. If it has an Auto setting for drive settings, try using it.
If your existing drive has a disk overlay installed such as Disk Manager of Easy Drive it probably should be removed before installation on the Dell.
Larry

4. RE: installing old hard drive in newer computer.
qqdawg Aug-06-01 05:43 AM
In response to message 0

The advice of "waddy" and "lbyard" were very helpful. However, my skill level is not that great and what works on one computer may not necessarily work on another. With help from the NOTE 1 below I was able to get Windows to boot. However, the hardware conflicts and problems were overwhelming.
I took the advice of a friend…..reformat and reinstall. See NOTE 2 below. It wasn’t that difficult and the frustration factor remained low. And the reinstall of Windows98 was flawless.

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NOTE 1
It is possible that command.com or another bootable file may be missing from the hard disk drive. Follow the below steps to possible resolve your issue.
1. Boot from a bootable floppy diskette.
2. At the A:\> type fdisk <press enter>
3. If you receive a message no fixed disk present read Hard Disk drive is bad or not connected properly.
4. If you are able to get into fdisk, choose option 4 to display the partition information. In the partition information, if the System is listed as FAT16 or FAT32 then continue to step 5. If you have a message indicating no partitions defined, no information is on your hard disk drive and you will need to create a new partition. See our fdisk page for additional information.
5. If you see FAT16 or FAT32 in fdisk press the ESC key until back at the A:\>
6. Once at the A:\> type, sys c: <press enter> (only do this command if you are using the same operating system that this diskette was created on).
7. This should return a message 'System Transferred', if you receive bad command or file name and have verified you have type the command properly you will need to obtain a bootable diskette with the file sys.com on it.
8. If system was transferred successfully, reboot the computer and issue should be resolved.
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NOTE 2
Just reformat the old drive and reinstall everything!

I've never done exactly what you tried. I've taken a drive and moved it to another computer and made it a slave and was able to access all of the data. When you take a drive with an operating system from computer A and transfer it to computer B, the drive (operating system) is expecting to be in the computer A. I'm not sure technically why it didn't work in your case, but I'll bet it's a hit or miss proposition. It would be great if it worked, but...

Actually, Here's what I would do:

For about $120 you can buy a 40 gig drive. Put that into the Dell and install Windows. Then put in your old 5 giger as the slave. and simply copy the entire contents to the new drive onto the new one into its own folder. Then remove the old drive. Reinstall your software from the original disks and take whatever information you need from the old drive (folder). Then delete the folder. If you don't want to buy a new drive just use the 6.5 gig drive.

I know you don't want to do this, but in the long run you will be better off. Here's why: You will have a clean install of Windows which will allow the system to be stable. You will have only one drive in the case. This will make the computer run cooler and it will be much quieter. It's really not as bad as it sounds.
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Thanks Larry..........Great Board!!