Hard Drive Installation Question

[jokerman93]

My XP machine currently has two hard drives installed. The primary boot drive is partitioned into two virtual drives C:\ and E:\. Currently the C:\ doesn't boot - not even in safe mode and the XP install disk can't repair the problem. I believe the data directories are still intact however.

I've opened the machine and can't identify which HD is currently the primary boot drive and which is secondary.

I want to install a new 120G hard drive as my primary boot drive and (if possible) copy my personal files from the two current hard drives already installed. This will require changing out the drives and switching the jumpers on them from primary to secondary and so forth. I can't find a simple explanation of the correct jumper configs, how to identify them or how to change them.

Any tips, explanations, or leads to info would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks in Advance,
Jokerman

[bemildred]

1. Discussed in excruciating (and probably confusing) detail here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=242&topic_id=2495&mesg_id=2495

"Primary boot drive" means the first place the BIOS looks for a
boot record. So see what the BIOS says.

Assuming I was in your position and the machine has two IDE channels
and "modern" hardware, I'd do this:

1. Remove old drives, check that one is jumpered master and the other
slave and make it so if not.

2.) Jumper the new drive as master/only drive (see drive instructions)
and install with 80-wire cable in IDE channel one.

3.) Install XP. Verify it boots. Set BIOS to boot it as primary.

4.) Reinstall the old drives with an 80-wire cable on IDE channel two.

5.) Verify old partitions/drives can be seen accessed as higher drive
letters.

[landdaddy]

2. What drive manufacture?

Western Digital:http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_cat_lvl1=123&p_search_text=jumper+settings&p_new_search=1&p_search_type=search_fnl

Maxtor:http://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/maxtor.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_sid=BHNVjTCh&p_lva=&p_li=&p_page=1&p_cv=1.83%3B2.u0&p_pv=1.33%3B2.u0&p_prods=33%2C0&p_cats=83&p_hidden_prods=∏_lvl1=33∏_lvl2=0∏_lvl3=&prods4=∏_lvl5=∏_lvl6=&cat_lvl1=83&cat_lvl2=&cat_lvl3=&cat_lvl4=&cat_lvl5=&cat_lvl6=&p_search_text=jumper&p_new_search=1&p_search_type=answers.search_fnl

Seagate:http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/ref/jumper_settings.html

Hitachi:http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/jumpers.htm

Samsung:http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/support/Download/userguide/usersguide_02.htm

Does this help?

[jokerman93]

3. Thanks

Thanks for this info folks. I should be able to find my way!

:toast:

[cycleberg]

4. Belarc Advisor

if your drives are not identical, this profile generator may be useful. It will profile and list everything on your computer.


"The Belarc Advisor builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, including Microsoft Hotfixes, and displays the results in your Web browser. All of your PC profile information is kept private on your PC and is not sent to any web server."

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

good luck.

[RazzleCat]

5. to late (most likey) but try MBR

go to to a dos prompt and type in MBR or fix MBR and see if that will hop it back.

[bvar22]

6. I don't think XP lets you do that.

I've heard that you CAN fix the MBR from the Recovery Console, but I've never done that.

[RazzleCat]

7. You can

I run a couple of small networks. I always try the quickest and simplest fix first, and fix mbr will run on an XP machine.