Install New HD - Best way to go? - Would love insight.

[Guest]

Hello all!

My Hard Drive is on the path of imminent failure. I need to replace it. Ok,
I currently use Win XP home on this HD. I have 2 slots, bays, (whatever-hehe)
for Hard drives in my tower. I do have many of my important files backed up.
Note: The PC came with OEM version of Windows XP Home, so I have only a
Factory Restore Disk.
Question: What is the best way to install the new HD? and isntall Windows?
Take out old, put in new and use Factory CD? (My PC normally boots from CD,
but on a new HD what will I need to do in order for the PC to boot from the
CD) -or-
Add the new HD in the 2nd slot and somehow transfer some things? Would it be
possible to install the new HD in the 2nd slot, use Factory CD to get install
of Windows and the original programs that came with the PC then transfer new
files from the first HD. If I used this route of doing it, could I then take
out the first damaged HD? and how to make the 2nd HD the primary?
I am a quick learner and familiar enough with the PC and windows to
understand anything you throw at me!
Any help from anyone is greatl appreciated!! Thx very much!

 

[Alan Smith]

Hello all!

My Hard Drive is on the path of imminent failure. I need to replace it.
Ok,
I currently use Win XP home on this HD. I have 2 slots, bays,
(whatever-hehe)
for Hard drives in my tower. I do have many of my important files backed
up.
Note: The PC came with OEM version of Windows XP Home, so I have only a
Factory Restore Disk.
Question: What is the best way to install the new HD? and isntall Windows?
Take out old, put in new and use Factory CD? (My PC normally boots from
CD,
but on a new HD what will I need to do in order for the PC to boot from
the
CD) -or-
Add the new HD in the 2nd slot and somehow transfer some things? Would it
be
possible to install the new HD in the 2nd slot, use Factory CD to get
install
of Windows and the original programs that came with the PC then transfer
new
files from the first HD. If I used this route of doing it, could I then
take
out the first damaged HD? and how to make the 2nd HD the primary?
I am a quick learner and familiar enough with the PC and windows to
understand anything you throw at me!
Any help from anyone is greatl appreciated!! Thx very much!

Buy a retail drive.

Check before you buy but they usually come with the software to clone the
drive.

 

[Anna]

Hello all!

My Hard Drive is on the path of imminent failure. I need to replace it.
Ok,
I currently use Win XP home on this HD. I have 2 slots, bays,
(whatever-hehe)
for Hard drives in my tower. I do have many of my important files backed
up.
Note: The PC came with OEM version of Windows XP Home, so I have only a
Factory Restore Disk.
Question: What is the best way to install the new HD? and isntall Windows?
Take out old, put in new and use Factory CD? (My PC normally boots from
CD,
but on a new HD what will I need to do in order for the PC to boot from
the
CD) -or-
Add the new HD in the 2nd slot and somehow transfer some things? Would it
be
possible to install the new HD in the 2nd slot, use Factory CD to get
install
of Windows and the original programs that came with the PC then transfer
new
files from the first HD. If I used this route of doing it, could I then
take
out the first damaged HD? and how to make the 2nd HD the primary?
I am a quick learner and familiar enough with the PC and windows to
understand anything you throw at me!
Any help from anyone is greatl appreciated!! Thx very much!

Buy a retail drive.
Check before you buy but they usually come with the software to clone the
drive.

Milk-Chan:

Alan's strategy is sound, but let me flesh it out a bit...

First of all, we'll assume that the present data on your HD is sound and
non-corrupted, OK?

Assuming it is, you can clone the contents of that drive to another drive.
As Alan points out, a "cloning" utility will be included with a
retail-purchased, boxed version of a new HD. If, on the other hand, you
purchase a OEM version of the HD and no such utility is included, the
software is generally freely available from the manufacturer's website.

So you'll connect the new drive to an available motherboard connector and
jumper it accordingly. You'll then use the "cloning" utility to copy the
contents of your old drive to the new one. So your new drive will be (for
all practical purposes) a bit-for-bit copy of your old one. Following the
cloning you'll remove the old drive and reconfigure the new one as Primary
Master.

Anna

 

[Guest]

Hey Super Milk-Chan,

When you say your drive is on the path to failure, is it a hardware failure
or is the OS damaged? This can influence your repair path.

If you think this is a hardware issue with the disk itself then the easiest
thing to do would be to use a clone utility like Norton Ghost to simply
duplicate your current disk to a new disk drive.

If you think the Windows operating system is damaged somehow then its best
not to clone the entire thing as that will simply replicate the problem on
the new drive. In this situation I would recomemnd what some of the other
posts say, namely install a new drive, install Windows on that drive and set
it to master with the jumper settings. Next, take your old drive, set its
jumper to the slave position and copy your data to the new drive. You will
have to reinstall programs with this method. You can then erase the old
drive and use it as secondary storage or move the swap file to it for better
performance. This method assumes that physically, nothing is wrong with the
drive. Erase and toss the drive if it is physically malfunctioning.

 

[Guest]

Thanks to all of you for responding!! I think in my case, it might be best to
do a new isntall of windows.. err well, factory restore, LOL - if indeed, it
recognizes the hard drive ( I heard its hardware specific) as although my OS
is somewhat sound, there are some glitches that have appeared due to the
necessary parallel install of XP pro in order to get into Windows after
severe crash. Yes, I do believe the problem is hardware, as my BIOS screen so
eloquently popped up and told me upon a restart this morning! I liked that.
Ive installed memory and ethernet cards, but never a HD so this is a first
time for me. Im a bit nervous, but will read all the documentation that came
with the new HD. I bought a Seagate retail. Im prepared to do any
redownloading and reinstalling of software, this has become commonplace as
I've done 2 Factory Restores already in 3 weeks due the HD failing. LMAO.
Once again, thanks for your timely responses! If there are any ohter tips
youd like to share with me about the installation procedure, Id definately
appreciate any input that will make me more comfortable about the process!
Thanx again!!
P.S. Tech77: You must have seen Adult Swim ^__^ as you called me 'Super'
Milk Chan! Thumbs UP! =b

 

[Guest]

Yes indeed! Adult Swim ROCKS!!! Good luck on the drive. Its pretty easy to
install.