Yvonne wrote:

> I have a hard drive in an old computer which I would like to remove
> and
> install into my new computer. I want to make this hard drive a
> secondary hard drive in my new computer.
>
> How do I go about doing removing and installing the hard drive or
> would it
> be better for me to take the computer to a professional? Would my new
> computer automatically recognize the hard drive or do I have to change
> some settings somewhere in the BIOS?
>
> I would also have to remove all the programs and operating system from
> the old hard drive.

Open the old computer's case and unscrew the hard drive. How you do this
will depend on the case construction. Handle the hard drive carefully,
trying not to touch the circuit board.

Now that you have the old hard drive out, jumper it as slave. To
determine the jumper settings, either look at the hard drive itself
(some have jumper settings printed on them) or go to the drive mftr.'s
website and look for jumper settings for that model hard drive.

With the new computer turned off and unplugged, attach the old hard
drive to the ribbon cable in the slave position on IDE0. If the new
computer's drive is SATA, you'll need an IDE controller card if the
motherboard doesn't have a free IDE connector and adjust the jumpering
accordingly. IIRC, SATA drives don't use jumpers like PATA drives do.

Turn on the computer and the old drive should be recognized in the BIOS.
If it is, boot into XP. Then use Computer Management to format the old
drive.

This is a very easy process and there is no reason you can't do this
yourself. If you get started and decide it's too much to deal with, you
can always take the machine into a professional shop.

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"