Hard Drive Replacement Questions

Am getting ready to replace the old HD in my kids' Dell Dimension 2400 system, as it's been giving the old blue screen recently. While I fixed it with the IDE diagnostice tools, I believe it's on borrowed time. So, I bought a WD 160 GB EIDE replacement only to discover that the system chassis can accommodate only one internal HD!

Using WD's Data Lifeguard Tools to generate a custom set of installation instructions for the system, it assumed I would be installing the new HD along with the old in a master/ slave scenario. So, the instructions are not correct for my needs.

What I'm thinking is that I could use the WD utilities to copy an image from the old HD to an external HD, remove the old HD, install the new HD, and copy the image from the external HD to the new HD. This would at least save me from reinstalling XP and programs.

Any comments, suggestions as to whether this is a sound approach and the best way to go about this is greatly appreciated! Is there a specific way to copy and save the image to ensure it works correctly when copied to the new HD?

 

How do you know if the HD is EIDE? Is there a difference between EIDE and IDE? My box just says IDE...

 

There is no difference between EIDE and IDE.

for the clonning is not so difficult as it seems. I've recently also changed my drive. I use an utility from acronis - Migrate Easy. I pluged the new drive as a slave, then run this prog, clone the old drive to a new one. then unplug the old one, made the new drive as master and boot from it, that's all.

 

Hi James, you already know about the 137 GB barrier so I assume you have checked this out.
If you Dimension is the tower type you can buy extra drive carriers that clip on to the existing. They are around £10.. in the Uk. Look on Ebay.
Many new large hard drives now come with an imaging program that allows you to move the old system directly over. Just use the cable which also come with them to temporarily connect the new as a slave into the Dimension.
You don't need to fit it to do this just stand it somewhere convenient to connect the cable and power with a couple of sheets of paper to isolate the drive from the rest of the works.
Make sure the jumpers are set to slave and run the bios to recognise the drive before you try to use it. then reset the jumpers and bios gain to run it as master.


Studio T

 

Yeah, be aware of the 137 Gig limits, I got bit on that one. It looks OK, but then corrupts the HD when you get enough data on it. There are ways around it, supposidly there is some software that will allow you to exceed it, but likely the scan/defrag options won't work afterwards. Last 160 Gig drive I used for Win98se I partitioned off for 135 Gig.

 

Thanks for the responses so far.

As for the 137GB limit, I'm running XP SP2, so I should be OK, I need to check the BIOS to verify whether it can support 48-bit Logical Block Addressing. If so, I'm good to go.

My main concern is the fact that I can't run a master/ slave in this chassis. While I could do a temporary setup with the old HD as master to get data over, I'd need to find a way to ensure the new HD is secure when it starts to spin. I don't have time to find a attachable slot, as I'm planning to install it today.

I do have an external HD of large capacity. Plaphon mentioned using Migrate Easy from Acronis to copy an image to the external, then remove the old, install the new HD, and copy the system image to the new HD. I'm particularly interested in that option, as it seems to be the most straightfoward given my situation. What do I need to consider, prepare for, when copying an image to a temporary stoarge medium (external HD) before copying it to the new HD?

 

Can you boot from the external drive to copy it back to the new empty one?
Sorry I mixed threads in the previous post, but you seem to have got the 137 point.

Studio T

 

Part of the WD Data Lifeguard tools is a hard drive cloning utility.

 

Bill_Marsden, you need the Rob Loew patch or the subsequent free variant.

http://www.msfn.org/board/?showtopic=78592

Good Luck

 

Rob, you don't need to worry about the drive being secure when it starts to spin. I've cloned loads of drives on my desk, it's not a problem.