Getting ready to rebuild my operating system on a separate hard drive

[Omega Man]

I've decided to rebuild my hard drive. I've installed a 80 Gigabyte Hard Dr. on the same IDE cable as my current boot drive. I will probably be keeping both operating systems on separate hard drives for all while at least to make certain I have not left anything off. I had been told when I install the Windows operating system off of floppies onto my new hard drive that I should have it set as the master versus using cable select and just having the black plug go into the back of it. Can anybody explain the advantages of this to me? Also if this is the case after I have installed the operating system and all the software I want on it, can I go back to having it as a cable select system? This way I will be able to boot into either hard drive I want just by pulling the cable out of one and putting it in the other, right?

[glc]

That's a real roundabout way of doing it, and I don't fully understand what exactly you are trying to do. What version of Windows do you have that still installs off of floppies? Can you elaborate on your system details and configuration?

If you are simply trying to upgrade your hard drive and keep everything intact, just clone the old drive to the new one and reformat the old one for additional storage.

[Omega Man]

This should answer all your questions

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.p...047#post725047

I'm basically just trying to build a new hard drive, while keeping my old somewhat defective one going. The purpose of the floppies is to set up the boot sector on my new hard drive so I can install Windows.

[Hi Ho]

If I understand correctly, you want to install a new hard drive and put XP on it and keep your old hard drive to get files off of. This would be fairly simple. The easiest way would be to take your old hard drive out and install the new one as a master. Then install XP on the new hard drive. After you have XP up and running you can put your old drive in as a slave and get all your files off of it. Reinstall all of your programs and your back to normal. After you get what you want off the old drive you can format it in Windows and use it as an extra hard drive.

[Omega Man]

For a while I want to keep my old bloated HD and my new clean, so:" Also if this is the case after I have installed the operating system and all the software I want on it, can I go back to having it as a cable select system? This way I will be able to boot into either hard drive I want just by pulling the cable out of one and putting it in the other, right?"

[Hi Ho]

Yes, you can do that. I believe they make hard drive switches for that which is easier than switching the cable. I don't know where to find one, however.

[Omega Man]

I have finished rebuilding my system and I now have two questions. If I import documents and settings I know I will have my Explorer favorites and documents imported. What other "settings" would be imported?

I have several computer programs that I have downloaded off the Internet. How do I reinstall these programs? I know of at least one company that has gone out of business and I will not be able to get a copy from them. It is still on my old hard drive.