Moving internal hard drive (slave) to another computer

  • Thread starter Thread starter jorge1145
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jorge1145

Is it possible to simple remove my internal hard drive (slave drive)
to another PC? I'm using XP but I'm in the market for a new computer
(w/ vista) and hate the fact that all my MP3s (over 150GB) are on my
old computer. I'd like to "recycle" some old parts of my old system
and use the internal slave drive rather than buy an external drive to
do a transfer.

Any pointers?
 
jorge1145 said:
Is it possible to simple remove my internal hard drive (slave drive)
to another PC? I'm using XP but I'm in the market for a new computer
(w/ vista) and hate the fact that all my MP3s (over 150GB) are on my
old computer. I'd like to "recycle" some old parts of my old system
and use the internal slave drive rather than buy an external drive to
do a transfer.
Click to expand...
Yes.
Unbolt it, set it to Slave, and bolt it in.
Any `runnable` programs on it won`t work, if
Registry entries were created on the original machine.

bw..
 
meerkat said:
Yes.
Unbolt it, set it to Slave, and bolt it in.
Any `runnable` programs on it won`t work, if
Registry entries were created on the original machine.

bw..
Click to expand...
It might be worthwhile asking about vacant bays on the new computer
before buying one. Many today do not have a place for a spare HD. At
least that has been my observation.
 
jorge1145 said:
Is it possible to simple remove my internal hard drive (slave drive)
to another PC? I'm using XP but I'm in the market for a new computer
(w/ vista) and hate the fact that all my MP3s (over 150GB) are on my
old computer. I'd like to "recycle" some old parts of my old system
and use the internal slave drive rather than buy an external drive to
do a transfer.

Any pointers?
Click to expand...
A couple things you can do. Buy a USB external drive enclosure for
parallel ATA disks. After removing the drive from your old computer,
change the jumper setting to master and then put it in the enclosure.
You now have an external USB hard drive.

Most new motherboards only come with serial ATA connectors for hard
drives. If you want to mount the drive internally, buy a parallel to
serial ATA converter. I found a Gigabit one for $15. Change the jumper
setting to master, connect the converter, and for all intents and
purposes, you now have a serial ATA disk drive. Install it in the new
box and you are in business.

As far as Vista is concerned, I'd at least wait until the first service
pack comes out. It is a pig so you will need some serious horsepower to
drive it.
 
A couple things you can do. Buy a USB external drive enclosure for
parallel ATA disks. After removing the drive from your old computer,
change the jumper setting to master and then put it in the enclosure.
You now have an external USB hard drive.

Most new motherboards only come with serial ATA connectors for hard
drives.
Click to expand...

Do you have an example of this? I don't recall seeing any
new boards without (at least) support for a couple PATA
drives. Since the new HDD is probably SATA, that leaves the
only device potentially using the PATA to be the optical
drive, if that, so there should at least be one vacant PATA
position to which the drive could be connected and used if
the case has an available bay to mount it.
 
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