StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I just got me a new harddrive (YAY!), but I have a tiny problem.

I handle day to day software care around home, keeping the PCs updated and running, however, my "job" is to handle the software side. My brother usually handles the hardware. Unfortunately he's not available right now, so I'm left with doing the dirty work on my own.

So basically I want to add another HDD to my system making the new one drives C (small partition for Windows) and D (big partition for games and such). The old one is to be collapsed into a single drive E (for backup and misc stuff) with the DVD and CD drives as F and G. Only, I'm not really sure where to begin (after opening the case).

Anyone have any useful tips on what to do and especially what NOT to do? I'd rather not mess this one up.

We have to start with the question: Are you willing to reinstall all software?

If you want the new drive to be C: you will have to "clone" the old one or reinstall the Operating system and other programs from scratch.

I am making backups of the important stuff to a network computer as I type. The software is under control, it's the hardware that scares me. I'm going to reformat and reinstall after this little operation.

The winXP cd has everything you need on it, once you're done with the old drive, take it out, and check the jumpers are right on your new one(they usually have stickers showing the config for primary/secondary master/slave on), plug that in where the old one was, boot, winxp cd, format, then press enter repeatedly until done. Voila.

If you are willing to resinstall then the hardware part is not all that tough. With a little practice you will be up to speed.

You will have to set your new drive to be a "Master" drive. Look at the back of the drive. You should see some jumpers and a little sticker that tells you how to set it as a master.

Im going to assume the second drive will use the same ribbon cable. So the second drive should be set as a "Slave".

The XP CD can format the drives for you and install Windows. As long as you back up your data there is not much to worry about when it comes to the drives. Just handle them carefully like any electronic component.

The IDE ribbon cable should be notched so there is only one way to put it in, but if its not. Always remember. The red stripe on the ribbon cable should face the red cable on the power cable.

So I set the new drive as Master and the old drive as Slave? And then it's pop in the WinXP CD and let it do its stuff? I think WinXP can change around the drive letters, too. Somewhere within the Administration tools, right?

Hmm... Doesn't sound as hard as I feared.

You can change all the drive letters and crap via Disk Management.

Well, it's done now. I didn't destroy anything and Win XP is currenlty downloading a lot from Windows update. Thanks for the tips I got here. Next step is formatting of the old disk and program installation, but I've done all of that before. Kind of fun in its own way.

McNum, if you download the full installers for Service Pack 1a, Direct X 9.0b, and Media Player 9, you can knock your download size down to around 32MB....if you're only getting stuff like critical updates, misc optional updates, and security fixes.