Merging Computers

[leecou]

Hi there,

I've been given two old(ish) machines which I want to put together to make one half decent box.

The first machine is a P4 1.8Ghz Compaq with 20GB harddrive, 600Mhz Ram and Windows XP Pro. This would be my main machine.

My second machine is an eMachines (generic brand) P4 1.8Ghz with 125Mhz Ram, 40 GB hard drive and Windows XP Home. This will be the donor.

The donor machine has had lots of speed and relability issues that we haven't had on the Compaq, hence the reason it's the donor.

I want to add the 40GB HD to the Compaq as the slave (???), but is there anything I need to be aware of before a rip in out and move it? Will Home and Pro conflict or will I have to reinstall Pro totally?

I also want to take the CD-RW/DVD drive from the donor. Again, is there anything that I need to take into account (I'll retain the CD drive for the Compaq).

Any advice woul dbe greatly appreciated. This is my first (semi) build and I'm looking forward to doing it, but could use some advice before I ruin two perfectly good machines.

Leecou

 

[red onion]

1.) You only need one operating system. If the Compaq has XP Pro, fine, leave it at that. I would copy all the data off the 40 HD, onto CD, physically insert it into the Compaq, reformat it, then re-add the data. You do not need XP pro and home on the same machine, though it would be possible to do so. You do not need to reinstall XP pro, just use it to format the new drive. When you insert the drive, check the jumper pins on the back, and see that they are set to the '''slave' , or "cable select" settings.
2.) CD/RW, Again look at the jumper pins, see that they are set to slave, (Assuming the other CD is master) and plug it in. Optical drives are pretty easy to do.

 

[Praetor]

600Mhz Ram

Normally id think you made a typo but even 600MB is a bit odd

125Mhz Ram

Ditto

but is there anything I need to be aware of before a rip in out and move it? Will Home and Pro conflict or will I have to reinstall Pro totally?

Shouldnt be a problem (you can always format the 2nd drive)

I also want to take the CD-RW/DVD drive from the donor. Again, is there anything that I need to take into account

Other than master-slave issues, no.