Add Former Boot ATA Drive to New Computer With SATA

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dick
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D

Dick

Had a power surge take out a mother board on old computer. Ordered
new Dell with SATA single drive. We are hoping the original ATA drive
was not damaged, and can be installed as the D drive on the new
computer.

As I understand from reading through these posts, we would attach a
40-pin IDE cable to the 40-pin connector on the new mother board, set
the old drive to cable select (if not already set) and attach it to
the end of the IDE cable. Is that correct?

Are there any issues to be aware of because this was a former boot
drive? Bios settings?
 
You would do exactly as you have stated. Do this only to get to your old
files. Copy what you need to your new drive. Then, delete the partition on
the old drive and create a new logical partition. Format the new partition
and you are good to go.

The logical partition will take the next available drive letter. If you want
it to be seen as drive D:, you will have to use drive manager to rearrange
the partition lettering of any removable drives, such as those that are
included in the multifunction printers. When D: has been freed up, you can
assign it to the second hard drive.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
Dick said:
Had a power surge take out a mother board on old computer. Ordered
new Dell with SATA single drive. We are hoping the original ATA drive
was not damaged, and can be installed as the D drive on the new
computer.

As I understand from reading through these posts, we would attach a
40-pin IDE cable to the 40-pin connector on the new mother board, set
the old drive to cable select (if not already set) and attach it to
the end of the IDE cable. Is that correct?

Are there any issues to be aware of because this was a former boot
drive? Bios settings?
Click to expand...

Some older motherboards with SATA, if ATA capable, would only attempt to
boot from the ATA drive only if present.

The CHS perception of the hard drive may be slightly different on the newer
PC. You may not be able to read the files properly at the least (radical
filename difference as one example), or the partition may not be visible at
the worst.
 
Richard Urban said:
[......] delete the partition on the old drive and create
a new logical partition. [........]
Click to expand...

Why a "logical partition"? Why not just a "partition"?
Or do you mean a logical drive in an Extended partition?
If so, why instead of a Primary partition?

*TimDaniels*
 
You're right, of course. I am used to Partition Magic 8.01 which
automatically creates the extended partition (container) when you define a
logical drive.

As to why? A logical partition (on a new drive) will take the next available
drive letter, even if you have three existing drives in your machine, with
12 enumerated drive letters, both logical and primary. Say you have two
drives, the first containing a C: primary and D: and E: logical. Now, if you
add a new drive with two new "primary" partitions, you will end up with
this:

Drive 1 = C: E: F:

Drive 2 = D: G:

The first primary partition on the second drive will always take precedence
over the logical drives on the first drive - unless the primary partition on
the second drive is "hidden". Then partition G: will become partition D:,
and be seen before E: and F:

A logical partition does not act in this fashion.

But, of course, you know this! (-:

I have four drives with 11 partitions. It took quite a while to get the
system to my liking.


--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!



Timothy Daniels said:
Richard Urban said:
[......] delete the partition on the old drive and create
a new logical partition. [........]
Click to expand...

Why a "logical partition"? Why not just a "partition"?
Or do you mean a logical drive in an Extended partition?
If so, why instead of a Primary partition?

*TimDaniels*
Click to expand...
 
I find it easier to keep track of what partitions are on what hard drives if
only the OS partition is primary, the remainder logical. My first hard
drive has 3 primaries for 3 separate OSes (hidden from each other), the
remainder of which I use in logical format for letters D through H. Not
possible using all primary partitions. The remaining ide and scsi hard
drives all have logical partitions. I know immediately what drive letter is
in reference to what hard drive in any OS that I use.
I use manually selected letters S and T for my scsi cdrom and ide DVD
burner. The firewire drive jumps in at letter N when plugged in/turned on.
Thumb drive at letter W.
--
Jonny
Richard Urban said:
You're right, of course. I am used to Partition Magic 8.01 which
automatically creates the extended partition (container) when you define a
logical drive.

As to why? A logical partition (on a new drive) will take the next
available drive letter, even if you have three existing drives in your
machine, with 12 enumerated drive letters, both logical and primary. Say
you have two drives, the first containing a C: primary and D: and E:
logical. Now, if you add a new drive with two new "primary" partitions,
you will end up with this:

Drive 1 = C: E: F:

Drive 2 = D: G:

The first primary partition on the second drive will always take
precedence over the logical drives on the first drive - unless the primary
partition on the second drive is "hidden". Then partition G: will become
partition D:, and be seen before E: and F:

A logical partition does not act in this fashion.

But, of course, you know this! (-:

I have four drives with 11 partitions. It took quite a while to get the
system to my liking.


--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!



Timothy Daniels said:
Richard Urban said:
[......] delete the partition on the old drive and create
a new logical partition. [........]
Click to expand...

Why a "logical partition"? Why not just a "partition"?
Or do you mean a logical drive in an Extended partition?
If so, why instead of a Primary partition?

*TimDaniels*
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Dick said:
Had a power surge take out a mother board on old computer. Ordered
new Dell with SATA single drive. We are hoping the original ATA drive
was not damaged, and can be installed as the D drive on the new
computer.

As I understand from reading through these posts, we would attach a
40-pin IDE cable to the 40-pin connector on the new mother board, set
the old drive to cable select (if not already set) and attach it to
the end of the IDE cable. Is that correct?

Are there any issues to be aware of because this was a former boot
drive? Bios settings?
Click to expand...

This would all depend on your BIOS settings.
Boot device priority = floppy--cdrom--hdd
Hard disk drives = PATA--SATA--CONTROLLER CARD
The above must be set to your preferences.
 
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