Removing(Western Digital 20GB) HD

If it is a slave on the current system, set the jumpers to master.

If you dell 8100 has an OS and other files you want to preserve, you will need to copy that disk to the 20gb. PowerQUest Drive Image (v4.0 or > for 20gb I think) or Norton? Ghostare reasonable tools to do this. They are about $50 or so each, well worth the $ (I use PQ Disk Image/Partition Magic, have heard good things about Ghost so ...). I think both work with Win 9x, NT, Win 2k, Linux, OS2, etc. (not sure about Ghost).
Be sure to disconnect (remove power and data cable) your existing dell 8100 disk until you get the 20gb going so you have it as a backup until you get it all going.

Both systems will be impacted by your actions. The first issue is the data stored on the extra drive. Will it be needed by the Dell system or is it expendable? If it is needed for the Dell, there are some important steps that must be taken. Before you begin, you must find out what parameters the CMOS Setup (in the old system) is using for this drive. You should write down the number of cylinders, heads, and sectors and the type of translation being used, just in case the settings are non-standard. Additionally, it is very important to know if a BIOS Extension (Drive Overlay), like EZ-BIOS is being used for the drive. If the old system uses a drive overlay, saving the data on the drive will get complicated. After the drive is installed in your Dell, you will have to re-install the drive overlay on your Dell to be able to read the data. If you do not care about the data on the drive and simply want extra space on your Dell system, the drive parameters and overlay issue becomes unimportant. Once you have determined what to do about the data on the drive, you can get down to the physical changeover of the drive. First, you must remove the extra drive from your old computer.

There are different scenarios depending on where the drive was connected in the system. If the extra drive is a SLAVE on the PRIMARY IDE channel, when you remove it, you may have to change the jumpers (Master/Slave/Cable Select) on thedrive that stays with the old system. If the MASTER was a Western Digital, you will have to change the jumper from MASTER to SINGLE. If the MASTER is a Conner, Seagate, or Maxtor, no change will be necessary. (These drives use the same jumper position for MASTER and SINGLE.) If the extra drive is currently on the SECONDARY IDE channel, when you remove it, you must make sure that you leave the jumpers on the remaining drive on that channel set correctly. Once the drive is physically out of the old system, modify the CMOS Setup so it will no longer be looking for the drive. Assuming that you leave the old system in a "running" condition after the drive is removed, you can now concentrate on the installation in the new Dell system.

Of course, I will assume that you have an empty drive bay to physically install the drive into. Typically, a new system has a single harddisk on the PRIMARY IDE channel and a CD-ROM drive on the SECNDARY IDE channel. I will assume that you plan on installing the 20GB drive on the PRIMARY IDE channel as a SLAVE. You will need to verify the jumper setting of the current MASTER drive. Once again, if it is a Western Digital drive, the jumper will need to be changed from SINGLE to MASTER. Most of the other drive brands will not require a jumper change. After the drive is mounted and connected, you will need to make sure that the new drive is recognized by the system CMOS Setup. This can be important if you plan on using thedata on the drive. If this is the case, you must make sure that the new Dell uses the same settings as the old system did. If an overlay was required, you will need to install it on the MASTER drive (to control the SLAVE drive only.) If the data on the drive is not important, I recommend that you simply use the automatic drive recognition in the Dell's CMOS. Then, you should re-partition and format the drive to eliminate any future partition problems, in case the new system's parameters aredifferent from the old systems parameters. Good luck.

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