HDD is dying

[mike13]

The hard drive in my P4 computer with XP Pro. is dying. I received an exact HDD replacement. This is my plan of attack. Bolt in the new HDD. Move the IDE and power cables to the new HDD. Install the OS system and all drivers on the new HDD. Move the IDE and power cables "back" to the old HDD so I can use the computer for the rest of the night. When I get time, move the IDE and power cables back to the new HDD, and install more of my programs etc. Move the IDE and power cables back to the old HDD so I can use the computer again. Question----will I mess up anything in the BIOS etc. by switching these cables back and forth ? I guess the easiest way would be to just SLAVE the old HDD and drag and drop the files I wanted to the new HDD. But can I do what I planned above, or will I mess up something ? Many thanks !!

[Aaron]

Moved to Hardware & Overclockers Hangout

[gamehead200]

Probably not, as long as you TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER BEFORE DOING THAT! I remember there was a post that said someone had unplugged something in a computer while it was on...

[techguy21801]

??...why go through that kind of hell, why don't you just clone the drive . saves time,

[ThA_FiLeR]

I'd reccomend Ghost for doing the cloning, will work great..

[zipp51]

Drive Copy from Powerquest works like a charm.Install software on old hard drive,shut down install new hard drive and make it slave while the old as master(can differ-sometimes no jumper).Go into bios and have it recognize the new drive by running the standard cmos settings and selecting "auto"and save and exit.Be sure that your old drive is recognized also.You can run fdisk and format on your new drive first.Boot into windows and run Drive copy.(follow instructions).Worth having just for upgrades.

[XPerties]

I wouldn't suggest any other 3rd party software except the manufacture software which is light and uses DOS to copy all files. If its a Wester Digital you can grab it Here

The Downloadable Data Lifeguard Tools was written specifically for Western Digital EIDE hard drives. It can perform the following tasks on a drive: tests it for problems and errors, fixes certain errors, scans for bad sectors, and provides drive information (serial and model number).

New features:

Certified to work on all current WD drives (model numbers starting with "WD")

Friendly user interface and easy to use

GUI Interface Drive Installation Software

Compatible with Promise card and driver solution for 137 GB barrier

Drive to Drive copy capability with new NTFS support

Fast Format Installation for 98 and ME

Other software installs unnecessary items.

[techguy21801]

or use Maxtor for maxtor drives

[mike13]

Thanks everyone for your replies. After I load the OS, and then the drivers that came with the computer from another disc, I probably only have about two hours work remaining. I really did not want to GHOST the drive, because I wanted to change the partition size that I had on the first HDD.

I will probably be able to do everything one evening after work without having to switch the cables back and forth like I was asking about, but I just wanted to be sure that I could, if I wanted to.

[rstryker]

Thanks everyone for your replies.  After I load the OS, and then the drivers that came with the computer from another disc, I probably only have about two hours work remaining. I really did not want to GHOST the drive, because I wanted to change the partition size that I had on the first HDD.

I will probably be able to do everything one evening after work without having to switch the cables back and forth like I was asking about, but I just wanted to be sure that I could, if I wanted to.

you can resize the partition even using a ghost or clone image ar even the manufaturers software