Installing my old HD to my new comp

Scarlet · 08-12-2005, 06:21 PM

I recently built a new computer and would like to use the old HD as the secondary (slave?) drive for it. Right now I have a 120gb HD as my main. When I tried to connect the two together using the IDE ribbon cables, my computer didn't detect either HD. Maybe I'm not suppose to do it like that? It was pretty hard getting both of them connected because the part of the cable that attaches to the Motherboard is so close to part I'm suppose to plug into the HD. Had to place the HD at just the right spot on the tray.

I hope my question wasn't too confusing

Maybe I could of worded that better.

edit: Oh I forgot one more thing. If I manage to get it to work, how would I remote the old HD? I used Win98 on it and I'm running WinXP currently.

CJJohnson · 08-12-2005, 06:31 PM

It sounds as though you may have your IDE cable round the wrong way. The short stretch should be between the 2 HDDs. You need to change the jumpers on the back of your hard drives to master(for the main one) and slave, or Cable select if your drives/motherboard supports it.

It sounds as though both Drives are configured as master, and that will confuse the **** out of the motherboard.

CJJohnson · 08-12-2005, 06:36 PM

As for the second question, do you mean dual boot? so that you can use XP or 98. It is possible and it is easiest to set up on installation of an operating system, which it sounds as though you have already done. Not too sure how to do it after but there must be some utility like partition magic that can set this up for you.

Scarlet · 08-13-2005, 01:06 PM

Omg I'm such an idiot. Yea I had the cables on the wrong way. It was so obvious once you pointed it out -_- Thanks lol

On the HD's I don't want dual boot. I just want the second one to be a place where I put junk on it. I guess I'd have to reformat it, since it has Win98 on it from my older computer.

Thanks alot ^_^

icemakr · 08-13-2005, 02:59 PM

You said you were hooking it up as secondary slave, was that a typo. Are they still not detecting after you fixed the ide cables? Try all the jumper settings, even configurations that aren't listed in the specs. If anything hook them up as primary master and secondary master.

CJJohnson · 08-13-2005, 04:09 PM

Don't mention it. I've done worse things...but I ain't telling you any of mine ;-)

Probably best to format it once you've got everything you need off of it. If your running XP format as NTFS rather than FAT32 as it is more efficient and secure.

CJJohnson · 08-13-2005, 04:17 PM

icemakr, you can connect the second where you want. Sometimes it is an advantage to have it on the secondary if both drives are being used at the same time, as they don't have to share the same IDE bandwidth. ie. You could have the Windows swapfile on a second disk while windows is running from the first, more efficient.

icemakr · 08-14-2005, 02:28 AM

CJJohnson, I do understand all the logistics. I merely posed the question about drive placement because he had said he was hooking it up as secondary slave, but he was having complications with the IDE coming up short when hooking up both drives together, which means it would have been the primary slave.

Nitestick · 08-14-2005, 04:48 AM

i find it better to have a storage drive on the primary channel because i always put burners on the secondary channel. that way the transfer rates are faster if burning from the hdd. just mentioning that in case you have a burner in that rig, which you probably do

CJJohnson · 08-14-2005, 06:02 AM

I see what you mean icemakr, probably a typo.

Main HDD and Optical Drive (CD/DVD) on Primary and DVD/rw and second HDD on secondary. This way if you are going optical to optical they are not on the same channel.

The only downside with this is the DVD may drag down the speed of the HDD.

Personally, I have a PCI IDE controller that gives me more connections. A bit more complicated but worth it.

08-12-2005, 06:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
Scarlet Newb Techie Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 15	Installing my old HD to my new comp I recently built a new computer and would like to use the old HD as the secondary (slave?) drive for it. Right now I have a 120gb HD as my main. When I tried to connect the two together using the IDE ribbon cables, my computer didn't detect either HD. Maybe I'm not suppose to do it like that? It was pretty hard getting both of them connected because the part of the cable that attaches to the Motherboard is so close to part I'm suppose to plug into the HD. Had to place the HD at just the right spot on the tray. I hope my question wasn't too confusing Maybe I could of worded that better. edit: Oh I forgot one more thing. If I manage to get it to work, how would I remote the old HD? I used Win98 on it and I'm running WinXP currently.

08-12-2005, 06:31 PM	#2 (permalink)
CJJohnson True Techie Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 147	It sounds as though you may have your IDE cable round the wrong way. The short stretch should be between the 2 HDDs. You need to change the jumpers on the back of your hard drives to master(for the main one) and slave, or Cable select if your drives/motherboard supports it. It sounds as though both Drives are configured as master, and that will confuse the **** out of the motherboard. __________________ If it wasn\'t for Electricians you would be using your computer by candle light Computer: Athlon 64 3500+ ASUS A8V-E Deluxe Motherboard 2x512MB 400MHz DDR Dual Channel Gigabyte X800XL - 256MB Mem Maxtor Y160M0 - 160GB SATA Maxtor 80GB PATA Xaser III Case Win XP Pro SP2 ViewSonic VX924 19\"LCD 4mS(ish)

08-12-2005, 06:36 PM	#3 (permalink)
CJJohnson True Techie Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 147	As for the second question, do you mean dual boot? so that you can use XP or 98. It is possible and it is easiest to set up on installation of an operating system, which it sounds as though you have already done. Not too sure how to do it after but there must be some utility like partition magic that can set this up for you. __________________ If it wasn\'t for Electricians you would be using your computer by candle light Computer: Athlon 64 3500+ ASUS A8V-E Deluxe Motherboard 2x512MB 400MHz DDR Dual Channel Gigabyte X800XL - 256MB Mem Maxtor Y160M0 - 160GB SATA Maxtor 80GB PATA Xaser III Case Win XP Pro SP2 ViewSonic VX924 19\"LCD 4mS(ish)

08-13-2005, 02:59 PM	#5 (permalink)
icemakr True Techie Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 169	You said you were hooking it up as secondary slave, was that a typo. Are they still not detecting after you fixed the ide cables? Try all the jumper settings, even configurations that aren't listed in the specs. If anything hook them up as primary master and secondary master. __________________ Intel PD 820; 3.36GHz, 31C idle 43C under load Thermalright Ultra 120 CPU Cooler 3 120mm Delta case fans each @ 146 CFM ASUS StrikerExtreme, WD Raptor 150Gb 4Gb Crucial Ballistix PC-6400 (5-6-6-21) @ 960MHz LIAN LI PC-V2100APlus II, Sony & BTC DVD Burners evga e-GeForce 8800GTX Superclocked 768MB Antec TruePower Quattro 850W Modular Power Supply

08-13-2005, 04:09 PM	#6 (permalink)
CJJohnson True Techie Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 147	Don't mention it. I've done worse things...but I ain't telling you any of mine ;-) Probably best to format it once you've got everything you need off of it. If your running XP format as NTFS rather than FAT32 as it is more efficient and secure. __________________ If it wasn\'t for Electricians you would be using your computer by candle light Computer: Athlon 64 3500+ ASUS A8V-E Deluxe Motherboard 2x512MB 400MHz DDR Dual Channel Gigabyte X800XL - 256MB Mem Maxtor Y160M0 - 160GB SATA Maxtor 80GB PATA Xaser III Case Win XP Pro SP2 ViewSonic VX924 19\"LCD 4mS(ish)

08-13-2005, 01:06 PM	#4 (permalink)
Scarlet Newb Techie Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 15	Omg I'm such an idiot. Yea I had the cables on the wrong way. It was so obvious once you pointed it out -_- Thanks lol On the HD's I don't want dual boot. I just want the second one to be a place where I put junk on it. I guess I'd have to reformat it, since it has Win98 on it from my older computer. Thanks alot ^_^

08-13-2005, 04:17 PM	#7 (permalink)
CJJohnson True Techie Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 147	icemakr, you can connect the second where you want. Sometimes it is an advantage to have it on the secondary if both drives are being used at the same time, as they don't have to share the same IDE bandwidth. ie. You could have the Windows swapfile on a second disk while windows is running from the first, more efficient. __________________ If it wasn\'t for Electricians you would be using your computer by candle light Computer: Athlon 64 3500+ ASUS A8V-E Deluxe Motherboard 2x512MB 400MHz DDR Dual Channel Gigabyte X800XL - 256MB Mem Maxtor Y160M0 - 160GB SATA Maxtor 80GB PATA Xaser III Case Win XP Pro SP2 ViewSonic VX924 19\"LCD 4mS(ish)

08-14-2005, 02:28 AM	#8 (permalink)
icemakr True Techie Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 169	CJJohnson, I do understand all the logistics. I merely posed the question about drive placement because he had said he was hooking it up as secondary slave, but he was having complications with the IDE coming up short when hooking up both drives together, which means it would have been the primary slave. __________________ Intel PD 820; 3.36GHz, 31C idle 43C under load Thermalright Ultra 120 CPU Cooler 3 120mm Delta case fans each @ 146 CFM ASUS StrikerExtreme, WD Raptor 150Gb 4Gb Crucial Ballistix PC-6400 (5-6-6-21) @ 960MHz LIAN LI PC-V2100APlus II, Sony & BTC DVD Burners evga e-GeForce 8800GTX Superclocked 768MB Antec TruePower Quattro 850W Modular Power Supply

08-14-2005, 04:48 AM	#9 (permalink)
Nitestick Super Moderator Join Date: May 2005 Location: Locked in a dungeon, Perth Posts: 7,810	i find it better to have a storage drive on the primary channel because i always put burners on the secondary channel. that way the transfer rates are faster if burning from the hdd. just mentioning that in case you have a burner in that rig, which you probably do __________________ Get FireFox Saxon's Blog\|Saxon's Forum - CHECK IT OUT! Fold for tech forums. MY COMPUTER HELPS CURE CANCER! "Sniffing Powdered Ubuntu CDs Cures Cancer!" - TuxMachines.org /Q6600@3.0GHz/2x1GB Kingston DDR2-800/Gigabyte P35-DS3R/XFX 7900GS 256MB/Antec TPII 480w/2x250gb+80gb WD Caviar/WinFast DTV-1000T/TT Soprano/ I'm sorry but I do not accept support requests via IM, email, or personal messages You can contact me for Forum related issues via PM only.

08-14-2005, 06:02 AM	#10 (permalink)
CJJohnson True Techie Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 147	I see what you mean icemakr, probably a typo. Main HDD and Optical Drive (CD/DVD) on Primary and DVD/rw and second HDD on secondary. This way if you are going optical to optical they are not on the same channel. The only downside with this is the DVD may drag down the speed of the HDD. Personally, I have a PCI IDE controller that gives me more connections. A bit more complicated but worth it. __________________ If it wasn\'t for Electricians you would be using your computer by candle light Computer: Athlon 64 3500+ ASUS A8V-E Deluxe Motherboard 2x512MB 400MHz DDR Dual Channel Gigabyte X800XL - 256MB Mem Maxtor Y160M0 - 160GB SATA Maxtor 80GB PATA Xaser III Case Win XP Pro SP2 ViewSonic VX924 19\"LCD 4mS(ish)

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