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Install another hard drive

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by mrspeters14

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I would like to install an old hard drive into a (relatively) new machine. This would relieve the hassle of copying all information over to the new machine(??). Do I set these up as separate hard drives, slave and master, or another configuration. Is this a difficult task?

11 replies

by drb63

Set the jumper on the new drive (current working drive) to Master and set the jumper of the old drive to slave. Don't forget to check your BIOS settings to make sure that Master/Slave for the IDE controllers are enabled (generally to Auto).

by mnewland

You did not state if it was an IDE drive and if
your PC has unused IDE interfaces on the
Motherboard or cables running to devices. If
so, look for jumpers on all IDE devices (hard
drives and CD ROM) each device on an IDE
interface must be jumpered master (MA on
Jumper block) or Slave (SL).

by thechas

Assuming the old drive is an old small capacity IDE device. (less than 8GB)
I would install the drive temporarily, and copy the files I wanted onto the new system.

Just choose an open IDE slot, and set the jumpers accordingly.
Note: if the harddrive in the new machine is the only device on the channel, it may be jumpered to "single". Many hard drives have different jumper settings for single vs. master with slave present.

Then, boot up and copy over the files you want.

After you arefinished, shut down, remove the old drive, and set the jumpers back as they were.

Why?
1. The old drive have a lower access specification than the new drive, and may cause slower performance.
2. I assume the there is an operating system on this drive. Windows has a tendancy to recognize the presence of system files and combine the folders. I know for a fact that it will combine the favorites folders from multiple drives.
3. Depending on the age, and how hard the old drive has been used, it may be approaching it's end of life. Do you want to have to deal with it's failure down the road?
4. You may not have enough power supply to handle the extra drive long term. If your PS is 250W or less, and you have a CD-RW drive, you will need to upgrade the PS if you want to leave the old drive in the system.
5. Unless you are running XP, your CD drives will be assigned new drive letter(s) after installing the second drive. In fact, if the new drive is partitioned into multiple drives, drives D-X will now be E-Y.

The task is not difficult. Just make sure that the BIOS settings for the IDE channels are set to auto-detect.

Chas

by pinoy_teknik

Well, it may help because hard drive have a fast transfer rate, and no hassle....In setting up the old hard drive... Its up to you, co'z if you want to setup it in the same cable (slave/master configuration), we can say that it will affect the system speed of your hard drive....Why don't you set up it in different cable (IDE2 or Secondary Cable if it is available co'z if you have a lot of drive, you have no choice, you should put it in a Primary Slave Cable.

Note:
1.Make sure your old harddrive have a compatibility to your new system hard drive. co'z if you're hard drive is using ATA133 cable and your old hard drive is like a PIO mode equivalent....i don't think it may work properly...some how...
2.Be specific to the jumper settingsof the hard drive....sometimes it can co'z problem.

by trippin

put it on the secondary master, it will automatically set to master if that the only hD there , making sure that the Bios settings are set to auto for IDE devices...in the primary and the seconday.
you got to have another ide cable.
just remove the jumper for the old hardisk, it will then be master
just boot up your pc
there you go

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