new computer and old hard drive

Eddie G wrote:
> I was given a "new" computer that has the floppy drive in the primary
> IDE slot and the DVD and CD drives in the secondary IDE slot. My
> current machine is IDE and for now I want to put my hard drive in the
> newer machine until I get a SATA drive. Can I just put the current
> hard drive in the new machine in the primary IDE slot and either
> disconnect the floppy or put it on the ribbon cable with the optical
> drives, putting them in the secondary IDE slot? I was told that
> there is a chance that I can damage the boot sector of the hard drive
> by just plugging it into the IDE controller. Is this true? Should
> I wait until I get the IDE controller card that my brother-in-law can
> mail to me?
> Thanks!!
>
> Eddie G

Why don't you clone the drive before you do anything.
 >> Stay informed about: new computer and old hard drive 

"Just Bob" <JustBob DeleteThis @xemaps.com> wrote in message
news:ebudnXXFQvYmP6DZnZ2dnUVZ_s2dnZ2d@comcast.com...
>
>
> Eddie G wrote:
>> I was given a "new" computer that has the floppy drive in the primary
>> IDE slot and the DVD and CD drives in the secondary IDE slot. My
>> current machine is IDE and for now I want to put my hard drive in the
>> newer machine until I get a SATA drive. Can I just put the current
>> hard drive in the new machine in the primary IDE slot and either
>> disconnect the floppy or put it on the ribbon cable with the optical
>> drives, putting them in the secondary IDE slot? I was told that
>> there is a chance that I can damage the boot sector of the hard drive
>> by just plugging it into the IDE controller. Is this true? Should
>> I wait until I get the IDE controller card that my brother-in-law can
>> mail to me?
>> Thanks!!
>>
>> Eddie G
>
> Why don't you clone the drive before you do anything.

How do I do that with just one hard drive on my current machine? I thought
I need 2 hard drives to clone one to the other, and my current machine does
not support SATA.
 >> Stay informed about: new computer and old hard drive 

Eddie G wrote:
> "Just Bob" <JustBob.DeleteThis@xemaps.com> wrote in message
> news:ebudnXXFQvYmP6DZnZ2dnUVZ_s2dnZ2d@comcast.com...
>>
>>
>> Eddie G wrote:
>>> I was given a "new" computer that has the floppy drive in the
>>> primary IDE slot and the DVD and CD drives in the secondary IDE
>>> slot. My current machine is IDE and for now I want to put my hard
>>> drive in the newer machine until I get a SATA drive. Can I just
>>> put the current hard drive in the new machine in the primary IDE
>>> slot and either disconnect the floppy or put it on the ribbon cable
>>> with the optical drives, putting them in the secondary IDE slot? I
>>> was told that there is a chance that I can damage the boot sector
>>> of the hard drive by just plugging it into the IDE controller. Is
>>> this true? Should I wait until I get the IDE controller card that
>>> my brother-in-law can mail to me?
>>> Thanks!!
>>>
>>> Eddie G
>>
>> Why don't you clone the drive before you do anything.
>
> How do I do that with just one hard drive on my current machine? I
> thought I need 2 hard drives to clone one to the other, and my
> current machine does not support SATA.

I would only say that not keeping a drive backed up is taking a risk even
under usual conditions. I have done what you are attempting several times
with no problems. Put the drive on the IDE cable as master with an optical
drive as slave. The System probably only has one channel for HDDs and four
SATA connectors. Later you can move the OS to a SATA if you care to.
 >> Stay informed about: new computer and old hard drive 

Eddie G wrote:
> I was given a "new" computer that has the floppy drive in the primary IDE
> slot and the DVD and CD drives in the secondary IDE slot. My current
> machine is IDE and for now I want to put my hard drive in the newer machine
> until I get a SATA drive. Can I just put the current hard drive in the new
> machine in the primary IDE slot and either disconnect the floppy or put it
>

<SNIP>
you should double check your machine...
I;ve never ehard of an IDE floppy...maybe it's a zip drive

anyway...if your drive has an operating system on it...it's not as easy
as just popping it in another machine...
the hardware is different.
if you are using XP, you may have to perform a repair installation
 >> Stay informed about: new computer and old hard drive 

If you move the harddrive containing the OS to a different computer (with a
DIFFERENT MOTHERBOARD) then you have to reformat the harddrive and do a
fresh install of the OS. Otherwise you will get ongoing nasty Registry
errors and data corruption.

--
DaveW

----------------
"Eddie G" <mickeddie@(removeme)comcast.net> wrote in message
news:7LadnXCYHqhQPaDZRVn-gg@comcast.com...
>I was given a "new" computer that has the floppy drive in the primary IDE
>slot and the DVD and CD drives in the secondary IDE slot. My current
>machine is IDE and for now I want to put my hard drive in the newer machine
>until I get a SATA drive. Can I just put the current hard drive in the new
>machine in the primary IDE slot and either disconnect the floppy or put it
>on the ribbon cable with the optical drives, putting them in the secondary
>IDE slot? I was told that there is a chance that I can damage the boot
>sector of the hard drive by just plugging it into the IDE controller. Is
>this true? Should I wait until I get the IDE controller card that my
>brother-in-law can mail to me?
>
> Thanks!!
>
> Eddie G
>
 >> Stay informed about: new computer and old hard drive 

On Thu, 13 Apr 2006 16:16:26 -0700, "DaveW"
<somewhere.RemoveThis@zero.org> wrote:

>If you move the harddrive containing the OS to a different computer (with a
>DIFFERENT MOTHERBOARD) then you have to reformat the harddrive and do a
>fresh install of the OS. Otherwise you will get ongoing nasty Registry
>errors and data corruption.


Untrue, Google for how many times DaveW has been told this
by so many different people that it's just plain silly he
keeps repeating it.
 >> Stay informed about: new computer and old hard drive 

>
>>If you move the harddrive containing the OS to a different computer (with a
>>DIFFERENT MOTHERBOARD) then you have to reformat the harddrive and do a
>>fresh install of the OS. Otherwise you will get ongoing nasty Registry
>>errors and data corruption.
>
>
>
> Untrue, Google for how many times DaveW has been told this
> by so many different people that it's just plain silly he
> keeps repeating it.



XP/Win2k will generally work after a repair installtion.

Win98 will usually reconfigures itself OK after a few reboots
(at worst an install over would do the trick)

Most Linux versions will automatically reconfigure...
(though a few tweaks may be needed)

With WindowsME a fresh install is *sometimes* necessary
 >> Stay informed about: new computer and old hard drive 

On Fri, 14 Apr 2006 05:32:09 -0500, philo
<philo.TakeThisOut@privacy.net> wrote:

>
>>
>>>If you move the harddrive containing the OS to a different computer (with a
>>>DIFFERENT MOTHERBOARD) then you have to reformat the harddrive and do a
>>>fresh install of the OS. Otherwise you will get ongoing nasty Registry
>>>errors and data corruption.
>>
>>
>>
>> Untrue, Google for how many times DaveW has been told this
>> by so many different people that it's just plain silly he
>> keeps repeating it.
>
>
>
>XP/Win2k will generally work after a repair installtion.
>

Yep, sometimes not even that is needed... but either way,
"ongoing nasty regsitry errors" isn't likely, nor is data
corruption. Worst case is typically that the OS won't
finish booting, not some other perpetual problem. If it
boots it will plug n play the new board and other parts.
 >> Stay informed about: new computer and old hard drive 

kony wrote:
>
> On Fri, 14 Apr 2006 05:32:09 -0500, philo
> <philo.RemoveThis@privacy.net> wrote:
>
> >>>If you move the harddrive containing the OS to a different computer (with a
> >>>DIFFERENT MOTHERBOARD) then you have to reformat the harddrive and do a
> >>>fresh install of the OS. Otherwise you will get ongoing nasty Registry
> >>>errors and data corruption.
> >>
> >> Untrue, Google for how many times DaveW has been told this
> >> by so many different people that it's just plain silly he
> >> keeps repeating it.
> >
> >XP/Win2k will generally work after a repair installtion.
>
> Yep, sometimes not even that is needed... but either way,
> "ongoing nasty regsitry errors" isn't likely, nor is data
> corruption. Worst case is typically that the OS won't
> finish booting, not some other perpetual problem. If it
> boots it will plug n play the new board and other parts.

Yes. That's been my experience and I've freely moved bootable OS hard drives
from machine to machine. The most recent case was last year when I moved a Win98
HD from an older machine with different chipsets and an AGP video card as
opposed to this motherboard graphics. It was necessary to visit the various
manufacturers' websites to locate the right drivers. If those drivers were in a
format to be used by the plug & play installation process, then it was only
necessary to load them to someplace on the drive so that they were available. If
they were in a .exe form, it was necessary to boot into safe mode to install
them. It all worked out just fine and there never was any question about data
corruption. Everything was already backed up anyhow as it should be in any case!

It should be noted that the new drivers would have been needed for a fresh
installation of Win98 also if that route had been taken.

Bob
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