Transferring hard drives between computers

  • Thread starter Thread starter boris88
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boris88

Hi all,

I'm trying to copy data from my old hard drive to my new one. The new
computer's an AMD XP2000, 40GB hdd, WinXP. The old one's a Pentium 1,
100 MHz, 800 MB hdd, Win 95 and no cd-writer.

I was going to just connect the old hard drive to the new comp and
just copy over to the new hdd. That is until I read new computers
using LBA might destroy data on older hard drives not formatted in
LBA.

But is the reverse true, ie. will a new computer set to CHS destroy
data on a HDD formatted in LBA? Does this mean I should start by
setting my new comp's bios to CHS first and if that doesnt work, try
Large and finally LBA?

I can't remember much about my old hdd and the old system's
unreliable.

Any help will be appreciated.
 
I'm trying to copy data from my old hard drive to my new one. The new
computer's an AMD XP2000, 40GB hdd, WinXP. The old one's a Pentium 1,
100 MHz, 800 MB hdd, Win 95 and no cd-writer.

I was going to just connect the old hard drive to the new comp and
just copy over to the new hdd. That is until I read new computers
using LBA might destroy data on older hard drives not formatted in
LBA.

But is the reverse true, ie. will a new computer set to CHS destroy
data on a HDD formatted in LBA? Does this mean I should start by
setting my new comp's bios to CHS first and if that doesnt work, try
Large and finally LBA?

I can't remember much about my old hdd and the old system's
unreliable.

Any help will be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Most chances are that your old drive was configured as LBA too. Set both the
drive type and the IDE PIO mode to "auto" in the CMOS settings, and let the BIOS
detect the drive automatically.

If the old drive shows file system corruption, then try a different setting for
it in the CMOS, like "large". Avoid writing anything to the 800 MB drive until
sure that you are on the correct settings (files and directories are accessible
and functional).

Regards, Zvi
 
boris88 said:
I'm trying to copy data from my old hard drive to my new one. The new
computer's an AMD XP2000, 40GB hdd, WinXP. The old one's a Pentium 1,
100 MHz, 800 MB hdd, Win 95 and no cd-writer.

I was going to just connect the old hard drive to the new comp and
just copy over to the new hdd. That is until I read new computers
using LBA might destroy data on older hard drives not formatted in
LBA.
Click to expand...
Nonsense. The other settings might cause problems. Use AUTO.
But is the reverse true, ie. will a new computer set to CHS destroy
data on a HDD formatted in LBA? Does this mean I should start by
setting my new comp's bios to CHS first and if that doesnt work, try
Large and finally LBA?
Click to expand...
Set the BIOS to AUTO, and boot from a DOS floppy. Run "fdisk /status" then
"dir X:\Windows".

If they look OK, you should have no problems. If not, do NOT run scandisk or
Norton disk destroyer.
 
Zvi Netiv said:
Most chances are that your old drive was configured as LBA too.
Click to expand...

With 2 possible (out of 3) settings to choose from the chances are obviously equal:
50/50.
If he has a power-of-2 based (16,32,64,128,255 etc.) heads translation in the
MBR, mode is probably 'LBA' but can still be 'Large' if the drive has a default
translation of 16 heads (rather than 15 heads).
If not power-of-2 based (e.g. 15,30,60,120,240 etc) it's most likely 'Large'.
 
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