Installing hard drive in an old machine

Hello.

I have an old Dell XPS T450
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dkub/
that I am playing around with. I just upgraded it to a 800 mhz and now would like to install a second hard drive, if possible. The current drive is a Maxtor 13.6 GB 91360U4 http://www.maxtor.com/_files/maxtor...ecs/diamondmax_6800_ultra_ata_quick_specs.pdf

This documentation mentions that it uses an ATA interface cable.

The drive that I would like to install is Western Digital WD200AA
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/legacy/Legacy.asp?r=1
that I can pull from an old Compaq Presario 7470.

This documentation mentions nothing about ATA, only EIDE.

1. How do i make sure that the WD drive will work in the Dell? Are the terms ATA and EIDE interchangable? How do I go about installing this other drive, if it is possible.

2. The WD drive is currently partitioned for a dual boot Win98/Linux machine. Can I use fdisk to break down these partitions? Is there a better tool to make the drive a clean slate again, ready to install?

Thanks,

Paul

 

Both the Dell and the Western digital have and IDE cable connection

 

Ive never tried both SATA and IDE together, but I dont suspect you should have an issue, just plug it in and try
Jaza

 

Just to be clear on this Alloch doesnt have SATA he has ATA also known as IDE

 

Cheers, I didnt even notice the fact their wasnt an S ..
Thanks Rikky
Jaza

 

You will have problems if you try to make the 200gig hd a master on the old system...the bios wont recognise it.

It will install fine as a slave for files, I think you just chain it to the IDE cable that your current HD is on, and run the new hardware thing when it pops up.

 

The WD200AA is actually a 20 GB, not a 200. Its a drive from the time period of the system.

pk

 

Take the old HD out put new one in make that the master...format...you may need to get the WD format disc for bios workaround (the bios may not recognise drives over 10gig) and then install op system...after all that is ok...put you other HD in as a slave and transfer files that you are saving to your new HD...any programs wont transferr unless you have someway to do that, I havent found any way without paying for it. Even that didn't work.

Now take new HD out and reformatt old drive and use as slave, for files.

Unless you want to do something else.

I dont think you can take an existing HD from one machine and use it as a master on another...unless they were the same MB manufacturer and same bios i.e Award... Which I have done as an upgrade once.

 

I am not worried about any data or programs surviving this.

The BIOS should not have a problem recognizing the 20GB.

I want to leave the 13.6 as the master, and use the 20 as the slave. However, the 20 is currently installed in another machine and is set up with several partitions for a dual boot Win98/Linux.

I need help removing these partitions and preparing the WD 20 GB HD. Basically I want a "clean slate" for whatever I decide to do.

Can anyone help me?

Would Partition Logic be a good choice for programs to do this? I like the graphical interface.

PK

 

The standard WD or Maxtor data tools floppy disc would re-format it fine.
from here:
http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=1

Put it on a floppy or cd...to load at boot and have reformat fun...

Just install it as a slave drive and load the data life tools and call it a logical drive.

um...don't re-format your drive you want to keep...

 

I have determined that this drive will work and have decided (per the advice of a Dell forum user) to keep Win98 on the 13.6 and install XP on the 20, making it the primary drive and boot device. Then, apparently, I can select the 13.6 from the BIOS if I want to boot Win98.

I used the PCLinuxOS boot CD to delete the Linux partitions and extended the Windows partition out to the full size of the drive.

Now how do i get rid of the Lilo boot menu (this is in the MBR, so will be written over when I install XP, yes?) and how come Windows does not see the full size of the drive? Fdisk sees just one "PRI DOS" FAT32 partition. That is all that matters, right?

Again, what I want to do is create one empty partition for Windows. I do not care about any data. I just want it to be ready to install XP - I want a clean slate.

PK

 

Install the 20GB disk in the 98 machine as a second drive. (The bios should see it fine.) Then use Fdisk. With two disks connected you should have five options in Fdisk. # 5 should be to "Change Disk" (or similar wording to that effect). Use 5, then choose Disk 2. (The disk 'you're on' should be shown near the top of the screen.) ~Ensure~ you are on disk 2 and delete all partitions - FAT32 & "Non-DOS". Exit Fdisk. Boot with the XP CD and it will find the 2nd disk with unallocated space. Choose that for the XP install.

 

Hmm...ok...that might work.

The 20gb is installed in another machine right now. I would rather make sure that it is clean, one partition, and ready to remove before I install it in the other machine to install XP (in NTFS) onto.

I will install it as the primary drive, then connect the Win98 (FAT32) drive that is currently the main drive as a slave. That way I can select the OS by selecting the boot HD in the BIOS.

i *think* I am close, as Fdisk only sees one "PRI DOS" FAT32 partition. So should I go ahead and use fdisk to delete this partition, remove the drive and put it in the other machine as the only drive, then let the XP installation take over from there?

Once XP is installed, then I can connect the Win98 drive.

PK

 

If you're going for two seperate O/S's and choosing the disk to boot from in the bios, (as opposed to "dual-boot" which will write boot information to the first disk, and cause the XP disk to be "D") then disconnect the first (98) disk when you install XP. However, this will give you two "C" drives. If the XP install is done on NTFS, then when you boot to 98 it won't be seen. When you boot to XP though, both disks will be seen and I don't know if XP will label the 98 "old C:" disk as "D:". (Never tried it this way.) I imagine it would as booting from XP will make that (XP) drive "C", as that's the way the O/S was loaded/set up.

To answer the original question, (disk being empty/clean) boot the 20GB disk system with a Win98SE Boot Disk* and choose no CDROM support. Then use Fdisk to delete all partitions before you move the disk over to the 98 machine. When you boot from the XP CD you can then set up the disk as one partition and format it to whatever you like. I would let the XP install set up the disk as opposed to creating a partition with Fdisk and formatting it prior to the physical move.

*The above bootdisk image file is a self extracting file and has to be executed (run) from a running Windows(9x) machine in order to create the actual startup diskette on one of your floppy disks. (This image file produces the same bootdisk which 98SE creates.) This downloaded image file will format the floppy disk to ensure its integrity, write the files to the disk, then verify the file write, so it'll take a minute or three to create the bootdisk.

Ensure the floppy drive is set as the first boot device in the bios. http://www.d-a-l.com/articles/library/23.html

NOTE: When you boot a machine with this boot floppy, it creates a RAMDRIVE in system memory to contain DOS system tools/drivers. Thus it will move your "normal" CDROM device/drive letter "up" one level. (If your CDROM is normally E: it will be F: when booting with this bootdisk.)

The path to the found CDROM will be set with the bootfiles, so entering A:\>f:\setup is the same as entering A:\>setup at the A:\> prompt. There is no need to include the cdrom drive letter. The CDROM device letter will be assigned near the end of the floppy boot process, right after MSCDEX is loaded.