Installing 2nd HD into new system

[krisyyz]

Hi,

I will be getting a new pc this week, (P4 3.4, 2Gb DDR2, 300GB HDD, Sapphire Radeon 850xt PCI-E and a Asus P5GD2 Deluxe Intel 915P Chipset motherboard ) I want to keep my 80GB hard disk and install it into my new pc as a second drive. Both my old hard disk and the one coming with my new pc will have XP loaded on, will this cause any problems? I have installed a hard disk before; I just want to make sure I don’t damage my new system. Any precautions I can take? Or is there a safer way of moving about 50 GB onto my new pc?

Thanks, Kris

[doctorgonzo]

As long as your old HD is installed as a slave device, the computer will boot from the new drive that will come with the computer. There really isn't anything to worry about. After you move the data over, you may want to format the old drive so it can hold more stuff, as there is no need for a separate Windows install.

[Panama Red]

If your new 300Gb hdd is a SATA drive, you won't need to install the 80Gb as a slave. Just set it to Cable Select (CS) on the jumpers and attach it to an 80 wire cable on any IDE connection. Better check the bios after you do that to insure that the SATA (if that's what your drive is) is listed in the boot order as the preferred hard drive. If the 300 is SATA, you may need to move an 80 wire IDE cable with the 80Gb hdd.