Changing HD

[Terry Pinnell]

I'd welcome some advice please. I have two identical HDs at present on
my AMD Athlon XP1800, 512MB, both 60GB 7200rpm MAXTOR 6L060J3 UDMA-133
EIDE with 2MB buffer. Although it's been so long that I've forgotten
exactly how I did it, they are partitioned as follows:

HD #1
-----
C: Win XP system 15 GB
D: Data etc 45 GB

HD #2
-----
E: Old copy of Win XP 15 GB
F: Data backup etc 45 GB

I want to replace HD 2 with a 200 GB drive, as I'm running out of
space. I'd then use the new F: partition for all my extra data, as
well as backup. Not sure if I'd make a new 'recovery' copy of Win XP
on the new E: partition; it quickly gets so old that its usefulness in
the event of C: failing is arguable. And (touches wood), in 3 years so
far I've never had to use it in earnest.

So, my question: If just physically remove and replace HD #2, using
whatever jumper settings I find on the old one, and reboot, will
everything come up OK? No surprises, no new partition letters to throw
me, no daunting error messages, etc?

Any practical advice would be much appreciated please.

 

[Lewis Waters]

Everything should be ok as long as the jumper setting are correct, the hard
drive should just install itself on the first available drive letter and
then you can go from there.

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Everything should be ok as long as the jumper setting are correct, the hard
drive should just install itself on the first available drive letter and
then you can go from there.

Thanks, Lewis. Appreciate the fast response.

 

[Lewis Waters]

Don't thank me yet, give it a go and see what happens lol

 

[Thomas Wendell]

Actually, the new HD will have no letter at first, as it is
unpartitioned/unformatted. That need to be done first...And before you do
that, the CD/DVD drive most likely will set itself as E:, just to screw
things up. So, before you partition and format the new HD, set your CD/DVD
drive as E: (or better yet W: (as in writable). Start->Run "diskmgmt.msc"
RClick on CD in right window and choose change letter....
RClick on new HD in unpartitioned space in right windows and choose
create..... with whatever sizes you like...


I have a partition on the other HD where I store an image of the first HD
(actually 3 partitions of 4) which I take about once a week or two. Then
it's a lot easier to get back to a know situation if something thrashes my
system or the 1st disk fails...


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[Terry Pinnell]

Actually, the new HD will have no letter at first, as it is
unpartitioned/unformatted. That need to be done first...And before you do
that, the CD/DVD drive most likely will set itself as E:, just to screw
things up. So, before you partition and format the new HD, set your CD/DVD
drive as E: (or better yet W: (as in writable). Start->Run "diskmgmt.msc"
RClick on CD in right window and choose change letter....
RClick on new HD in unpartitioned space in right windows and choose
create..... with whatever sizes you like...


I have a partition on the other HD where I store an image of the first HD
(actually 3 partitions of 4) which I take about once a week or two. Then
it's a lot easier to get back to a know situation if something thrashes my
system or the 1st disk fails...

Thanks, Thomas, and apologies for taking so long to reply. (Somehow
missed it when I checked a week or two ago.)

Pleased to say I installed my 200 GB HD today. Avoided the
re-lettering issue by *adding* it as a new HD, after buying &
installing a new PCI card too. XP Disk Management suggested 'I', but
I've settled for 'J'.

That imaging idea sounds good. I'll consider doing the same. At
present I backup most data every night to another partition on my 2nd
drive. The next issue will be how to backup the 'large volume' stuff
like Pictures and Music, which I've shifted from D: to J:, and which
motivated the 200GB purchase.