Swapping hard drives.. Not easy :(

Bigwoods

Bigwoods

banned
Both computers are old ones lying around so dont freak at the specs

Fast-er computer is running Ubuntu on a Barracuda ATA IV 40GB HD.
Slow one is running XP on a 30GB AT Fireball..

I really want the faster of the 2 to run XP because I love it and the slow one can't handle it.. How come the computer can't read the HD?? They both use the same cord to attach to the MOBO and power input?
Is it because one is AT the other ATA? They're practically the same though!
 
You didn't post your computer specs, so I'll assume that it can just take the 40gig ATA (anyway, it should)

Just check the jumper at the end of the Hard Drive
First try CS (being Cable Select)
Then if it doesn't show in Bios, try M (Being Master)

As long as the Hard Drive shows in system bios Settings, accessed by pressing the key that is shown when first turning on the computer (usually DEL, or F2 or F10 or some other one or combination)
Then the computer can see it
 
Bigwoods said:
Both computers are old ones lying around so dont freak at the specs

Fast-er computer is running Ubuntu on a Barracuda ATA IV 40GB HD.
Slow one is running XP on a 30GB AT Fireball..

I really want the faster of the 2 to run XP because I love it and the slow one can't handle it.. How come the computer can't read the HD?? They both use the same cord to attach to the MOBO and power input?
Is it because one is AT the other ATA? They're practically the same though!
Click to expand...

You need to be a bit more descriptive. I'm not quiet sure what you're trying to do - are you trying to get a new drive into a different PC - so you can use the O/S on that drive with a different PC? or are you trying to add a second drive for more storage ? or somethign else? Slow down and explain what you are trying to do - and give some stats of your PC that you are trying to work with. Is it a DELL 4500, or home built system - then list MOBO, and CPU, RAM details etc.

HDD is easy to swap out. It was the first hardware component I swapped out in my old DELL.

If it's SATA - you connect it to your MOBO - via SATA cable - and attach Molex power cable.

If you're having troubles with the slave drive ( the second drive on your IDE ribbon cable ) you can test the drive by plugging it into the other connector ( IDE cables usually have 2 connectors for a master and slave drive )
 
I just took the 30GB Fireball (the one that has XP on it, the one I want!) out of an old old HP Pavillion 7840 and just put it into a Prosys (I think they made the MOBO too). It can be read and everything in the BIOS, it clearly read FIREBALL HD and it's setup to boot from HD, except when I press enter to start up the computer it reads "NTLDR is missing. Press any key to restart (I press a key) Boot Failure: System Halted"

So the HD is being read from what I see..
 
"If you are attempting to add a new hard disk drive to the computer make sure that drive is a blank drive. Adding a new hard disk drive to a computer that already has Windows installed on it may cause the NTLDR error to occur."

Does that mean I can't put the HD with XP into this computer like I wanted to?
 
Generally speaking, if you take your HDD out of one computer and slap it into another, it won't work. Unless the motherboards are the same or have exactly the same hardware your windows will not boot.

Uninstalling all your drivers, every single driver, from your HDD with windows xp (uninstall everything listed in device manager) and putting into the other computer MAY work.
When i swapped my E4300 for an E4500 I uninstalled the E4300 from device manager, put the E4500 in, went back to device manager and it was there working at full speed.
 
I used to swap hdds to get another computer to fix the sectors if it can. Anyone know an in expensive way to fix a fried hdd myself?? i dont want to send it back to western digital but its totally fried. Not sure how.
 
Western Digital will just format (wipe) the drive, then test it
The best free way to repair sectors (meaning cross linked files, not the actual hardware) on a drive, is to run CheckDisk (Start > Run > chkdsk /r)

If you're talking about actual faulty hardware, then recovery can be in the thousands of dollars (but still possible)
 
ComputerHazard said:
I used to swap hdds to get another computer to fix the sectors if it can. Anyone know an in expensive way to fix a fried hdd myself?? i dont want to send it back to western digital but its totally fried. Not sure how.
Click to expand...

I've heard some people have success with putting the hard drive in the freezer for a while. If by fried you mean its experienced physical damage theres nothing you can do.
 
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