Replies to post #22916 on Dream Machine

[rich ruscio]

Happy Birthday.

Odds are really good that the hard drive that's your gift is way bigger than the one you've got. Not to mention, judging by the looks of things, a lot younger too.

If that's true, and if it were me, I'd replace the old drive with the new drive entirely, and get the old one out of the machine.

What you describe can be made to work, but I think it leaves you with a less reliable machine, that you're not taking full advantage of.

Just my opinion. Best of luck.

rr

[gottfried]

Fred, happy B-day! I'd buy an HD enclosure and install the old drive in it and then connect it to the PC via USB. That way you can move files from the old to new at your leisure - as needed.
That's what I did.

Enclosures are about $30 and the drive just plugs in.
Here are a few http://www.newegg.com/store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=92&Tpk=hard%20drive%20enclosure
make sure it's for the right HD size [probably 3.5"] and connector [eSATA or parallel]

I use my external drive for backup now and power it up only when I use it - about every two days.

[Bruce A Thompson]

I agree that the new drive is probably larger than the old one

What you need to do is download and install a ghosting software and have it ready. Casper XP is my personal favorite.

This is for the grandson to do for you:

Then set the new drive as a SLAVE and install it into the computer.Then Ghost copy the C drive onto the new drive. (Format and partition the new drive first)

After Ghosting the original C drive onto the new drive, take both drives out of the computer and set the old drive as the new SLAVE and the new drive as the MASTER (we're talking jumpers on the actual drive here)

Reinstall the drives into the computer in the new MASTER/SLAVE configuration and you are off and running.

If the new drive is at least twice the size of the old one, I would recommend that you ghost copy the entire old drive to the new one and only install the new one in the machine as a primary drive.

If you decide to reinstall the old drive with the (D E F partitions) the partitions will automatically change letters to E,F,G,H as the OS does that automatically. I am assuming you have a CD?DVD which will be assigned the D drive letter. Also, afterward, any program you open from the old drive will run from that drive and will continue to store data on that same old drive. That is why I recommend that you just ghost copy the entire old drive to the new one and then chuck it.

[wccawa]

DUDE! 80?

You are my new god. That is most excellent news, and I wish you the happiest day of your life.

I was going to say something more clever and snarky, but DAMN! Good for you!