Hard Drive Swap

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I am a member of a local user group. The group’s computer has a removable
rack mount hard drive as its primary master, with XP ( Pro, formatted as
NTFS) as the os. I would like to be able to take the group’s hard drive home
to install software for demonstrations, etc. If I install a similar removable
rack in my home computer, configured as the primary master, would I be able
to boot to the group’s hard drive?
Thanks
 
Q. "If I install a similar removable rack in my home computer, configured
as the primary master, would I be able to boot to the group’s hard drive?"

A. Probably not unless your motherboard and other hardware is virtually identical
to the hardware of the group's computer.

Changing a Motherboard or Moving a Hard Drive with XP Installed
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| I am a member of a local user group. The group’s computer has a removable
| rack mount hard drive as its primary master, with XP ( Pro, formatted as
| NTFS) as the os. I would like to be able to take the group’s hard drive home
| to install software for demonstrations, etc. If I install a similar removable
| rack in my home computer, configured as the primary master, would I be able
| to boot to the group’s hard drive?
| Thanks
 
Unless the computers were as good as identical, you would have to do a
repair install.. the best way is to set the removable drive as a slave to
what is already the primary HDD in your machine.. this would require setting
it back as a master before rebooting on its home computer..
 
Mike Hall said:
Unless the computers were as good as identical, you would have to do a
repair install.. the best way is to set the removable drive as a slave to
what is already the primary HDD in your machine.. this would require
setting it back as a master before rebooting on its home computer..
Click to expand...

Jocko:
Mike's suggestion is a good one in terms of (temporarily) setting your
group's HD as a Slave to your primary HD (or for that matter a Secondary
Master or Secondary Slave) - whatever is physically convenient - in order to
access the drive in your computer. The chances are you'll have no difficulty
installing programs on the group's drive once you're able to access the
drive in your machine. But every once in a while you run into a situation
where a program will not allow you to install it on a drive other than C:.
Admittedly a rare occurrence, but I have run into this.

But before you change the jumper, attempt to boot with the group's drive.
The likelihood is that you won't be able to, but I've booted to a
transferred HD a number of times, even where the new computer's major
components (motherboard, processor, RAM, etc.) were completely different
from the originating computer. In theory, it shouldn't have booted, but it
did.

Art
 
Art
The version of XP in the group computer is a corporate, or volume
license, and the version on my home computer is a retail version. I can
understand that if one or the other versions are OEM I would have a problem
installing the OS on a non OEM machine. This is not the case. I don't
pretend to have the knowledge on this that you have, so maybe you could tell
me what would cause an issue in swapping drives? How is the OS keyed to a
particular BIOS or MB. It was suggested by a club member that a hardware
profile be created on the club drive for the hardware on the home computer.
That would allow you to choose between the 2 different sets of hardware
groups.
With regard to Mike's suggestion to install the club drive as a slave to
my primary master drive, I don't understand how I could boot to the club
drive because it wouldn't be in the boot .ini. (I think that is what it is
called.) In other words would the club drive be listed on the Operating
System Selection Screen on boot? If the club's drive cannot be booted to,
how can software be installed on it?
Our user group meets in a school where all of the drives are in removable
trays. None, or few if any of the computers are identical as far as MB's or
BIOS's are concerned. There are no printers or other periphrial devices on
the computers, and the drives are happy in any of the boxes there.
I will just have to give it a try and see if it works. I appreciate the
help, and would like to understand why this might not work.
Thanks, Jocko
 
Jocko:
See my inline comments:

Jocko said:
Art
The version of XP in the group computer is a corporate, or volume
license, and the version on my home computer is a retail version. I can
understand that if one or the other versions are OEM I would have a
problem
installing the OS on a non OEM machine. This is not the case. I don't
pretend to have the knowledge on this that you have, so maybe you could
tell
me what would cause an issue in swapping drives? How is the OS keyed to a
particular BIOS or MB. It was suggested by a club member that a hardware
profile be created on the club drive for the hardware on the home
computer.
That would allow you to choose between the 2 different sets of hardware
groups.
With regard to Mike's suggestion to install the club drive as a slave to
my primary master drive, I don't understand how I could boot to the club
drive because it wouldn't be in the boot .ini. (I think that is what it is
called.) In other words would the club drive be listed on the Operating
System Selection Screen on boot? If the club's drive cannot be booted to,
how can software be installed on it?
Click to expand...
Mike's suggestion is probably the most practical approach given your
situation. If I properly understood your objective, it is to add one or more
of your programs to the club's hard drive which would subsequently be
returned to the club's computer from whence it came. Understand that you
would NOT be booting to that drive when you install it on your machine. You
would boot to your primary drive and the club's drive would simply be a
secondary drive in your machine. You could then access that drive and add
programs to it. After doing so, you would return the drive to your club's
computer. Thus, no boot/system files on that drive would be changed and for
all practical purposes the drive would be identical to the one you removed
from the club's computer with the exception of the programs you added to it.
Art
 
Following what I said earlier, move the install files of the software you
wish to 'demo' to the club drive, place the club drive back into its home
system, and run the install programs.. it is a safe way to do it, and will
prevent any repair installs..

You came here for advice and it has been given.. whether or not you choose
to take any is entirely your call..
 
I did mean to change drives my second drive turn into a removable
drive how do i change it back?
please help me
 


PEPSI said:
I did mean to change drives my second drive turn into a removable
drive how do i change it back?
please help me
Click to expand...


I'm not sure who's asking what here, so let me first respond to Jocko...

The way this is normally done is as the following:
1. You have the same make & model of the mobile rack (with its removable
tray) that your user group employs.
2. Using a disk imaging program (Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image, etc.) you
clone the contents of the user group's HD to the HD residing in your
removable tray.
3. After disconnecting the source drive, you boot up with your cloned drive
while it's connected in the user group's machine and install whatever
programs you plan to later access for your demonstration(s).
4. Now when you later give your demonstration(s), you simply substitute your
removable HD in place of the user group's one and run your programs. And, of
course, remove your removable tray after you're finished and replace it with
the user group's removable drive.

PEPSI:
I'm not sure if you're the OP but anyway I really don't understand your
question. Could you clarify?
Anna
 
Anna said:
I'm not sure who's asking what here, so let me first respond to Jocko...

The way this is normally done is as the following:
1. You have the same make & model of the mobile rack (with its removable
tray) that your user group employs.
2. Using a disk imaging program (Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image, etc.) you
clone the contents of the user group's HD to the HD residing in your
removable tray.
3. After disconnecting the source drive, you boot up with your cloned drive
while it's connected in the user group's machine and install whatever
programs you plan to later access for your demonstration(s).
4. Now when you later give your demonstration(s), you simply substitute your
removable HD in place of the user group's one and run your programs. And, of
course, remove your removable tray after you're finished and replace it with
the user group's removable drive.

PEPSI:
I'm not sure if you're the OP but anyway I really don't understand your
question. Could you clarify?
Anna


Anna,
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply. This is getting a little confusing! Let me restate
the question. I would like to bring the club's drive home with me to install
demonstration software. I want to put the club's drive in my home computer
to do this. It would be much easier to install the software and make sure
everything is iin order before the night of the presentation.. I'm sorry if
my original post was unclear. In the time since my original post, I have
tried this, and it doesn't work. Our user group is hosted at a tech
school that has a number of computers that have similar motherboards, RAM,
BIOS, CDROMs etc. I was able to swap our club's drive successfully in a
couple of those computers. Doing that isn't going to help me, because all of
these computers are at the school, but it did shed some light on the issue of
swapping drives. If you have any suggestions or cures for my problem, I sure
would like to hear them, if not, I guess we'll just have to ask Santa for a
new laptop for the club!
Thanks, Jocko
 
Jocko said:
: Jocko...



Thanks for your reply. This is getting a little confusing! Let me
restate the question. I would like to bring the club's drive home with me
to install demonstration software. I want to put the club's drive in my
home computer to do this. It would be much easier to install the software
and make sure everything is iin order before the night of the
presentation.. I'm sorry if my original post was unclear. In the time
since my original post, I have tried this, and it doesn't work. Our
user group is hosted at a tech school that has a number of computers that
have similar motherboards, RAM, BIOS, CDROMs etc. I was able to swap our
club's drive successfully in a couple of those computers. Doing that
isn't going to help me, because all of these computers are at the school,
but it did shed some light on the issue of swapping drives. If you have
any suggestions or cures for my problem, I sure
would like to hear them, if not, I guess we'll just have to ask Santa for
a new laptop for the club!
Thanks, Jocko
Click to expand...


Jocko:
The answer is "maybe". When you say your plan is to take the club's HD home
to install it on your computer, I assume from this that you'll temporarily
connect it as a secondary drive (I'm assuming once more that the club's
drive is not bootable on your machine) in your computer and then install the
program(s) you later want to demonstrate on the club's machine.

I'm still not clear as to the club's HD that you'll be carrying to & fro. Is
it in a removable tray? Do you have the same mobile rack as the club's one
on your home computer that can accept that removable tray? But I guess
that's not really the important thing here. What is important is that in one
way or another you're going to connect the club's HD to your machine.

Here's the (potential) problem. Assuming the club's drive is connected as a
secondary drive (not the primary bootable one) on your machine - let's call
it the D: drive - depending upon the program you wish to install on the
drive you may not have an option to install that particular program on a
drive other than the C: drive. There are a fair number of programs that will
balk at being installed on a drive other than the C: one. So that's one
possible problem.

Another one is even when you're able to successfully install the program on
(your temporarily connected D: drive), you may not be able to run that
program from that drive when you later install the drive as the bootable C:
drive on your club's machine.

What it comes down to is really a trial-and-error process if you proceed
along the lines you've described (and if I understand you correctly).

Now having said all the above, let me just add this...

IF you can boot to the club's drive on your machine (and then install your
programs) and IF that drive will subsequently boot when you return it to the
club's machine to run your programs, then, of course, there's no problem.

I'm not entirely clear on your reference to the "swapping drives" issue in
terms of what precisely is involved here as it affects your objective. You
also indicate that since your original post you "tried this, and it doesn't
work". Could you be more precise and clarify what "this" is and detail the
steps you undertook?
Anna
 
Anna said:
Jocko:
The answer is "maybe". When you say your plan is to take the club's HD home
to install it on your computer, I assume from this that you'll temporarily
connect it as a secondary drive (I'm assuming once more that the club's
drive is not bootable on your machine) in your computer and then install the
program(s) you later want to demonstrate on the club's machine.

I'm still not clear as to the club's HD that you'll be carrying to & fro. Is
it in a removable tray? Do you have the same mobile rack as the club's one
on your home computer that can accept that removable tray? But I guess
that's not really the important thing here. What is important is that in one
way or another you're going to connect the club's HD to your machine.

Here's the (potential) problem. Assuming the club's drive is connected as a
secondary drive (not the primary bootable one) on your machine - let's call
it the D: drive - depending upon the program you wish to install on the
drive you may not have an option to install that particular program on a
drive other than the C: drive. There are a fair number of programs that will
balk at being installed on a drive other than the C: one. So that's one
possible problem.

Another one is even when you're able to successfully install the program on
(your temporarily connected D: drive), you may not be able to run that
program from that drive when you later install the drive as the bootable C:
drive on your club's machine.

What it comes down to is really a trial-and-error process if you proceed
along the lines you've described (and if I understand you correctly).

Now having said all the above, let me just add this...

IF you can boot to the club's drive on your machine (and then install your
programs) and IF that drive will subsequently boot when you return it to the
club's machine to run your programs, then, of course, there's no problem.

I'm not entirely clear on your reference to the "swapping drives" issue in
terms of what precisely is involved here as it affects your objective. You
also indicate that since your original post you "tried this, and it doesn't
work". Could you be more precise and clarify what "this" is and detail the
steps you undertook?
Anna


Anna,
Click to expand...
Concerning the removable rack and tray interchangeablilty, everything is ok
in that area. You ask what is "tried this and it doesn't work". This is
what I did, I brought the club's drive home, removed my home computer's C:
drive, and put the club's drive in my home computer as C:. When I do this,
the computer will not boot.


I never installed the club's drive as a secondary drive. Are you saying
that on my home computer, if I install the club's drive as a secondary drive,
(configured as primary slave) again let's call it D:, I would be able to
install applications on it, and they would (possibly) run when the drive is
put back in the club's computer as C:? Again, I have not tried this because
I thought that installing software on a secondary drive (D:) would only place
the program files (I say program files because I don't know what they are
actually called) on the drive (D:), but the application would have to run
from the boot drive from which the application was installed. Maybe I'm
misunderstanding what you mean when you say "connect it as a secondary
drive". Could you clarify this a bit more for me?
Thanks, Jocko
 
Concerning the removable rack and tray interchangeablilty, everything is
ok in that area. You ask what is "tried this and it doesn't work". This
is what I did, I brought the club's drive home, removed my home computer's
C: drive, and put the club's drive in my home computer as C:. When I do
this, the computer will not boot.
Click to expand...
I never installed the club's drive as a secondary drive. Are you saying
that on my home computer, if I install the club's drive as a secondary
drive, (configured as primary slave) again let's call it D:, I would be
able to install applications on it, and they would (possibly) run when the
drive is put back in the club's computer as C:? Again, I have not tried
this because I thought that installing software on a secondary drive (D:)
would only place the program files (I say program files because I don't
know what they are actually called) on the drive (D:), but the application
would have to run from the boot drive from which the application was
installed. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean when you say "connect
it as a secondary drive". Could you clarify this a bit more for me?
Thanks, Jocko
Click to expand...


Jocko:
First of all, it's not surprising that the club's HD would not boot on your
machine. Sometimes you luck out and it does (even with totally different
hardware on both machines) but usually it will not. And even if it did you
most likely would encounter gross problems getting that drive to boot again
when you install it back on the club's machine.

Yes, you can install the club's drive as a secondary drive on your computer
and *hopefully* be able to install your program(s) on that secondary drive
and later run those programs back at the club's computer. You'll recall that
I told you this is a *maybe* situation for two reasons...
1. Some programs will not permit their installation on a drive other than
C:, and;
2. Even where you can install the program on this secondary drive, it might
not run when you boot to that drive on your club's machine.

But many times there are no problems. Why don't you simply try it and see
what happens?

This is the reason that I suggested in my original response to your query
that it's best to install your program(s) on the club's drive while you're
actually using that (booting) drive in the club's machine. Then, of course,
none of these potential problems will arise. But I take it for one reason or
another you're unable to do this.
Anna
 
Anna said:
Jocko:
First of all, it's not surprising that the club's HD would not boot on your
machine. Sometimes you luck out and it does (even with totally different
hardware on both machines) but usually it will not. And even if it did you
most likely would encounter gross problems getting that drive to boot again
when you install it back on the club's machine.

Yes, you can install the club's drive as a secondary drive on your computer
and *hopefully* be able to install your program(s) on that secondary drive
and later run those programs back at the club's computer. You'll recall that
I told you this is a *maybe* situation for two reasons...
1. Some programs will not permit their installation on a drive other than
C:, and;
2. Even where you can install the program on this secondary drive, it might
not run when you boot to that drive on your club's machine.

But many times there are no problems. Why don't you simply try it and see
what happens?

This is the reason that I suggested in my original response to your query
that it's best to install your program(s) on the club's drive while you're
actually using that (booting) drive in the club's machine. Then, of course,
none of these potential problems will arise. But I take it for one reason or
another you're unable to do this.
Anna


Anna
Click to expand...
Hmmm, you’ve given me something to think about! Our user group meets this
Tuesday evening, I will bring the drive home with me and try what you
suggested. This wouldn’t be the first time I was dead sure something was as
it appeared at first glance, only to be enlightened by someone with more
knowledge and experience than myself.

I am able to install the software in the club’s computer at the club"s
location, but sometimes it would be easier to do it in my free time at home.
Not a big deal, but I thought by trying something new, I would learn
something new. And to that end I was successful.

Thanks for your help, and I’ll be sure to let you know ( in a few days ) how
I fared.

Jocko
 
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