transferring a hard drive

[mjs]

Transferring an existing 120gb hd (with less than half of the space used), with the data (pictures, bank info,etc.) not saved, (windows xp home) from a deceased computer to a windows xp media computer.

New computer:

local disk on c: drive
recovery disk on d: drive
dvd-rw on e: drive
mmc/sd on f drive
compac flash on g: drive
smart media/xd on h: drive
ms/ms pro on i: drive

Do I still use the SL setting on the old drive I am transferring, and will I have to go into fdisk and/or repartition the old drive.

Any and all help would sincerely be appreciated, Thanks.

[Ferrit]

That depends on where you put it
and no you shouldn't have to repartiiton it at all

[NooNoo]

And it depends on how the hard drive is connected on the new machine and what connection your old hard drive uses.

If you post the make and model of computer and the make and model of the old drive we can be a bit more specific.

[mjs]

I removed the hard drive out of my old computer, and it is a maxtor, dsiamondmax 16, ata hd. but the model # isn't clearly labeled.
I then removed the cover from my new computer, which is a:
Gateway model # gm5259e. The type of hard drive in my Gateway is a sata.
My dvd drive is a ata type drive, with a spare ribbon cord and power plug. The plug into my dvd drive says master, and the spare says, slave.
I'm wasn't interested in partioning either drive. Please tell me what are my options, and what would be the safest option for success.

Thanks
sincerely,

[NooNoo]

You should be able to just plug in the maxtor on the same ide cable as the dvd drive (having made sure that the maxtor jumper is set to slave) and bios will detect it and you should be able to explore it in windows without a problem.

here is how to set the various diamondmax jumpers

[mjs]

First off, I would like to thank everyone who has posted a reply.

How can I install the hard into the dvd housing. I thought I could buy a bracket at Circuit City, but they don't sell them. Is there somewhere I could buy a bracket?

Is an external hard drive cover an option? (prefer internal)

How much of my hard drive will I be able to access?

Will administration permission be an issue, if so what is the procedure for allowing?

Thanks again!!!

[NooNoo]

you want a kit like this to mount a hard drive in a dvd drive space.

You should be able to access all the old hard drive unless there is some sort of problem with it.
Administration issue... like taking ownership of file for instance?

[mjs]

After receiving my hard drive bracket I installed the old drive into my new computer. When I turned it on a black screen appeared with the following message:
We apologize for the inconvenience but Windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware change might have caused this.
Your computer stopped responding. restarted unexpectedly, or was automatically shut down to protect your files & folders, choose Last Known Good Configuration to revert to the most recent settings that worked.
If a previous start up was interrupted due to a power failure or a power or reset button was pressed, or if you aren't sure what caused the problem, choose Start Windows Normally.

I tried:
Start Windows Normally
Safe mode
Last Known Good Configuration

All three options brought me back to this message screen.
Where should I go from here?

Thanks

[CCT]

Things to verify:

- the IDE cable is 80 wire 39 pin ?

- the cd/dvd is jumpered CS or Master? Match the 'old' drive to it.

- when you boot, go into bios right away and make sure the 'old' drive is DE-selected as a boot device (ie, NOT a boot device)

[NooNoo]

If windows thinks the old drive is the one to boot from, you will get this problem. Specify in bios which is the drive to boot from

[mjs]

This was the first time I was ever in the Bios Setting Screen, unsure of where I wanted to go. After making what I thought were changes, as soon as I hit enter, it seemed to go back to the original layout.

In the Boot screen:

Boot Device Priority- (CD/DVD ROM Drive)
(Hard Disk Drive)
(Floppy Drive)
(Ethernet)

Hard Drive Order- (Maxtor 4R120Lo) Should be Slave Drive
(ST3200827AS) Master Drive

Boot to Hard Disk Drive- (Enable)
Boot to Optical Devices- (Enable)

In the Advance Screen:

Drive Configuration-

(These areas were not highlighted)

SATA Port 0 ST3200827AS

Primary Master Lite On DVDRW SH-ATAPI
Primary Slave Maxtor 4R120L0

Unable to make any changes in the screens above.
Then I thought, to try to go into the Boot Option Screen.

Boot Option Menu Screen:

Lite- On DVDRW SHW-160P6S-ATAPI
Maxtor 4R120L0
ST3200827AS
IBA FE Slot 0540 v 4117

I highlighted the ST3200827AS line and hit enter. Windows started successfully and I was able to activate and enter my slave drive. The only problem is everytime it restarts or I shut down and then start up again, the black screen appears.

What is it I should do in the Bios Setting Screen?

[CCT]

While not familiar with your particular bios, I think you usually would click on the Maxtor (slave) drive and get an option to de-select as a boot device.

Then, look carefully at the screen - isn't there a menu at the bottom that says stuff like 'press F10 to acceppt change and exit bios' .

[PBase001]

It might be possible that old BIOS will prioritize SATA over PATA or visa versa and there is nothing you could change other than to indicate Boot from Floppy, HD, CD ROM... as it appears to be the case here.

Gateway might have a boot menu so you could choose which device you want to boot from. Unfortunately I'm not familiar with Gateway computers, but for a Dell computer during the Dell splash screen you could press F12 to select the exact device you want to boot from.

But usually during the starting splash screen it should indicate the key to press for the boot menu.

Failing that... might have to look into a Windows XP PE disc. Move/Copy the needed files and reformat the HDD.