Quote Originally Posted by mayney
..and as daft as it sounds, Im not sure whioch one my op system is on...that is I literally dont know which hard drive is my c and which one is d...Windows cant possibly need both drives to boot can it?
It can .. it depends how its been set up - this is making it hard ! - try just connecting the cd with your windows disk in & it set to boot from cd in bios, (depends on the bios but generally ..) it should let you start still from the cd without a hard disk there ..

In Noo's reply above I still can't see the picture for ide cables (only a red x) - so I'll show you some more cable pictures -

40 sense cable for older harddrives & cd's


80 sense cables recommended for any ata66+ device (i.e. 'modern' ide hard drives)

& repeat that you want to be using one like the top one , 40 sense, (just confirm you are, then I can shut up about it ! ) & didn't you get a new one anyway with your drive purchase ? (you can buy them anyway at most pc places from about £7 )