General Computer DiscussionYou should use this section to discuss software topics including Windows, Linux and various software applications, together with hardware related topics including buying a new machine, graphics cards, keyboards, etc.
ok i have 2 hard drives, c drive that has windows installed and slave drive f.
i keep getting that blue screen check disk crap at start up so my c drive could be on its way out? also my pc keeps freezing (not sure if thats related?)
soooo i want to use my f drive as my main drive and bin my c drive as its only 30 gig so no biggie
is it as simple as unplugging my c drive and popping in my windows disk and installing windows on my f drive? thus making my f drive my main.
is it as simple as it sounds?
thanks.
It's not far from being as simple as you think, but there are people who can explain this sort of thing in an easier to comprehend manner than I can like Harv, Mankind and a few others, so i'll leave this to someone like that to reply properly.
I dont really do that many fresh installs nowadays but as i recall you can specify which disk is your system disk on installation of XP. So all you need to do is boot from the system disk run through the setup and choose to install the O/S on the (f partition and it will sort it out for you. Don't recall it making a difference as to which bit of the cable (unless your using cable select mode) and if its primary or secondary. I do believe that's mainly an issue for doing burning so you can burn on the fly without using a drive as cache.
Im doing a similar thing now with vista and xp. I have xp on my original C: and now have Vista on my original D: which when booted into vista is my C:
The assigned drive letters are something the OS does, as Harv said you could just tell it to install onto your "F:" drive. I would do like you said though, bin the old drive since its capacity is near non existent and just use the big drive for a fresh install.
The blue screens can be the result of failing drive, or simply the incorrect driver
for the IDE controller, or from another piece of hardware on the board altogether,
what i do is determine the make of each drive, and visit the maker's website for diagnostic
software, then i know for sure if there is a fault with the drive,
If you are sure you want to do away with the smaller drive as you mention, then you
need to examine how the pair are wired, if they are the old IDE ones then you
need to look at the jumpers on the drive you want to keep, I know it doesn't really matter in XP but you want to set it as a master, and try to have it on it's own lead,
with the cd/dvd drive/s on another,
reboot the pc and press del ( or whatever it says on the post screen) to enter BIOS
navigate to the boot menu, and set the device boot order to boot from the cd/dvd drive first,
save the changes and restart, with your XP / Vista disc in the drive,
follow the BIOS prompt to press a key to boot from cd/dvd,
the windows setup wizard will begin by finding the hard disc partition, and
preparing it to recieve a new operating system, you will be prompted
to accept the partition layout, format the drive, then add regional, keyboard, timezone settings, and a windows key,
you may also be prompted for additional software during setup (thankfully a rare annoyance) but will definitely be asked for motherboard chipset, agp,soundcard and network drivers once setup completes and you have your desktop for the first time.
ok i tried to make a fresh install on my f drive, all went well but for some reason i couldnt get onto the internet (the internet icon was greyed out)
so i tried agin and now it just `resumes` and asks for sp2 disc
i havnt got an sp2 disc so i cancel then it comes up with a critical error
could both my hard drives be shagged?
if i buy a cheap one and do a fresh install would that be easy enough?
thanks
ok i tried to make a fresh install on my f drive, all went well but for some reason i couldnt get onto the internet (the internet icon was greyed out)
Probably your network card driver wasn't installed
Quote:
so i tried agin and now it just `resumes` and asks for sp2 disc
i havnt got an sp2 disc so i cancel then it comes up with a critical error
could both my hard drives be shagged?
You can download SP2 (and SP3) from microsoft and update your XP asap.
Quote:
if i buy a cheap one and do a fresh install would that be easy enough?
thanks
Whatever you do don't buy the cheapest and if you do a fresh install remove all other hard drives and make the new one master in IDE/SATA 0 (first, in sata you don't need jumpers). Although if you have SATA drive you must have the motherboard/controller manufacturer driver on a FLOPPY for XP under SP3.
ok, im looking at doing a major upgrade sometime soon so a cheap HD will be a temp one.
and i spoke to a guy at my local cram and he said that it didnt instal properly cos the HD i was putting it on was too big for my old OS (media centre 2005 on a 150g HD)
that sound about right?
and i spoke to a guy at my local cram and he said that it didnt instal properly cos the HD i was putting it on was too big for my old OS (media centre 2005 on a 150g HD)
that sound about right?
Oh yes, need some SP for it. Never played with XP MC so don't know about it's service packs and such.
ok i have 2 hard drives, c drive that has windows installed and slave drive f.
i keep getting that blue screen check disk crap at start up so my c drive could be on its way out? also my pc keeps freezing (not sure if thats related?)
soooo i want to use my f drive as my main drive and bin my c drive as its only 30 gig so no biggie
is it as simple as unplugging my c drive and popping in my windows disk and installing windows on my f drive? thus making my f drive my main.
is it as simple as it sounds?
thanks.
Transfer your f drive directly onto your c drive then make the fdrive the primary and install your os onto this. Connect your old c drive as a slave and transfer all the things you need from it onto your old f drive which should now be your c drive
hard drive question.....
partition and it will sort it out for you. Don't recall it making a difference as to which bit of the cable (unless your using cable select mode) and if its primary or secondary. I do believe that's mainly an issue for doing burning so you can burn on the fly without using a drive as cache.
and if you do a fresh install remove all other hard drives and make the new one master in IDE/SATA 0 (first, in sata you don't need jumpers). Although if you have SATA drive you must have the motherboard/controller manufacturer driver on a FLOPPY for XP under SP3.
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