HDD conundrum
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 109
Likes: 0
From: UK
HDD conundrum
Hello All
Having searched PPRune and the web without much success can I ask if you chaps can steer me in the right direction.
I have two internal HDD's (OS is Win2K), one 120Gb formatted into C:, D: & E: partitions. The other 74Gb is I:, D E & I all have data on them, OS is on C:
I would like to swap drives and upgrade to XP on the 74Gb drive (ie to be the new C
and use the 120Gb drive as the major data holder.
Here's the Q, as I can get all my data on the 120Gb drive for the changeover, will the newly created XP OS on the 74Gb in be able to read the old 120Gb (now a slave) drive partitions D: & E: whilst the Win2K OS still resides in C:? if so then I can reorganise the data before formatting the 120Gb to a single partition in XP.
Phew that was difficult
There is a solution - buy another HDD, but can't justify that right now, this is an interim solution.
Any help most appreciated.
Having searched PPRune and the web without much success can I ask if you chaps can steer me in the right direction.
I have two internal HDD's (OS is Win2K), one 120Gb formatted into C:, D: & E: partitions. The other 74Gb is I:, D E & I all have data on them, OS is on C:
I would like to swap drives and upgrade to XP on the 74Gb drive (ie to be the new C
and use the 120Gb drive as the major data holder.Here's the Q, as I can get all my data on the 120Gb drive for the changeover, will the newly created XP OS on the 74Gb in be able to read the old 120Gb (now a slave) drive partitions D: & E: whilst the Win2K OS still resides in C:? if so then I can reorganise the data before formatting the 120Gb to a single partition in XP.
Phew that was difficult
There is a solution - buy another HDD, but can't justify that right now, this is an interim solution.
Any help most appreciated.
Per Ardua ad Astraeus
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 18,575
Likes: 4
From: UK
I'm sure better advice will come along soon, but I would think, at first glance, that your problem is going to be changing the "C:" drive from one disk to another? I would have thought that the Windows HAL will throw a wobbly .
Why not, for simplicity, just install XP on the 74GB drive ("I:")?
Leave W2k on "C:" and, if you wish, set the system up to dual-boot W2k or XP.
Unless there is a particular reason for wanting to swap the "C:" drives around I would leave them alone. As long as the DOS system is on "C:" plus the "boot.ini" I would think you'll be OK.
.Why not, for simplicity, just install XP on the 74GB drive ("I:")?
Leave W2k on "C:" and, if you wish, set the system up to dual-boot W2k or XP.
Unless there is a particular reason for wanting to swap the "C:" drives around I would leave them alone. As long as the DOS system is on "C:" plus the "boot.ini" I would think you'll be OK.
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 1,693
Likes: 0
From: fairly close to the colonial capitol
Yes, MZ, you can do this easily - XP will pick up all of the partitions - their letters may be changed however.
Once you have the OS running and updated - just Right Click your My Computer icon, Left Click Manage and open the Disk Management Snap-in to change your drive letters if you need to.
If your new XP disk is non-SP2, the entire package is available from MS - filename WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe. It's mighty big - 266mb but will be faster than using Windows Update.
Had this happen and it's not Fun !
Once you have the OS running and updated - just Right Click your My Computer icon, Left Click Manage and open the Disk Management Snap-in to change your drive letters if you need to.
If your new XP disk is non-SP2, the entire package is available from MS - filename WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe. It's mighty big - 266mb but will be faster than using Windows Update.
I would have thought that the Windows HAL will throw a wobbly .
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 109
Likes: 0
From: UK
Thanks guys,
BOAC - I don't think I explained the reason for swapping clearly enough, apologies. All I want is to upgrade from Win2K to a clean install of XP, and changing over the HDD's would a) streamline my storage problems and b) hopefully make it a fairly straightforward process.
VAPilot - Sounds very promising thank you.
As it happens I have an unused computer that I'm rebuilding for a charity and I'll try it as an experiment before I mess with my data, will keep you posted.
Thanks
Just a thought I guess it would be better to do a clean XP install on the smaller HDD Pri Master (as I want) and then install the larger HDD as the Sec Master and let XP find the drives on reboot.
BOAC - I don't think I explained the reason for swapping clearly enough, apologies. All I want is to upgrade from Win2K to a clean install of XP, and changing over the HDD's would a) streamline my storage problems and b) hopefully make it a fairly straightforward process.
VAPilot - Sounds very promising thank you.
As it happens I have an unused computer that I'm rebuilding for a charity and I'll try it as an experiment before I mess with my data, will keep you posted.
Thanks
Just a thought I guess it would be better to do a clean XP install on the smaller HDD Pri Master (as I want) and then install the larger HDD as the Sec Master and let XP find the drives on reboot.
