Going from 2 IDE hard drives to 1 without screwing up

[+Mystic MVC]

My brother's computer is aging. It is an older Dell with a P4 1.8ghz CPU, 768mbs of RDRAM (:D), 128mb Radeon 9800 SE AGP, etc. The computer has been limping for years. About 5 years ago was when the original problems started. The main hard drive (a Maxtor 6L080J4, 74gigs) had a Windows error and my family didn't want to reformat and lose all their data. So my dad stuck in a 4gig WDC AC24300L and installed Windows XP on it. That was all well and good until SP1 came out and nearly filled that hard drive. Ever since then, my brother has been running Windows XP SP1 on the 4gig hard drive and storing files on his 74gig hard drive, with the computer constantly telling him he is low on space (always around 200mb).

Besides being insecure (SP1), I am going off to college this fall and won't be able to nurse that computer when it has problems anymore. I want to help my brother so he won't have to troubleshoot much when I leave. Here is how the hard drives currently look in the computer.

I didn't pull them out to see which was the Maxtor and which was the WDC because I was hoping you guys could figure it out without knowing.

I want to remove the 4gig hard drive, format the Maxtor (74gigs), and install XP on it and get it fully updated to SP3. I hate removing hard drives on the IDE setup because I always screw something up with the jumper cables. Can somebody help me do the process I listed above?

[CrashG]

Since you're going to remove the one (4Gb) drive, just go ahead and take both out. On the drive itself it should be listed as what the master/slave jumpers are. Set the 74Gb to master, plug the data/power cables back in. Go into the BIOS make sure it's listed, set boot order to CD/DVD drive as the first to boot, install Windows.

[theresiststance2003]

There's no reason not to take them out and look, especially with those little green mounting things making it even easier.

[+Mystic MVC]

Since you're going to remove the one (4Gb) drive, just go ahead and take both out. On the drive itself it should be listed as what the master/slave jumpers are. Set the 74Gb to master, plug the data/power cables back in. Go into the BIOS make sure it's listed, set boot order to CD/DVD drive as the first to boot, install Windows.

That seems very simple but I have been mislead before (no offense). I had a hard drive file on my personal computer in my room so I did exactly what you mentioned above and it caused havoc on my 2 hard drive setup. Other than reformatting, the situation was so similar, that's why I was worried.

Since there are two IDE connections on that one cable, will it matter which connection I have plugged into the one hard drive?

If there is an option called cable select (besides master) what does that do/mean?

[CrashG]

That seems very simple but I have been mislead before (no offense). I had a hard drive file on my personal computer in my room so I did exactly what you mentioned above and it caused havoc on my 2 hard drive setup. Other than reformatting, the situation was so similar, that's why I was worried.

Since there are two IDE connections on that one cable, will it matter which connection I have plugged into the one hard drive?

If there is an option called cable select (besides master) what does that do/mean?

No it won't matter unless the jumper is set to Cable Select. But generally I use the connector at the end of the ribbon cable.

Often abbreviated as CS, cable select is a disk drive setting that will allow a cable select compatible cable to determine what drive is the master and slave based off where the drives are connected to the cable. For cable select to work the both IDE / EIDE drives must have their jumpers set to CS and be connected to a cable that supports cable select.

Users can easily identify if the flat ribbon cable supports cable select by examining the cable for any of the below characteristics.

Cable is an 80-connector UltraATA cable.

Cable has master and slave printed on the cable or on the cable connectors.

Source

EDIT: Have you backed up any data (Documents, Music, etc) that they want to keep?

Edited May 3, 2008 by CrashGordon

[+Mystic MVC]

There's no reason not to take them out and look, especially with those little green mounting things making it even easier.

I wasn't thinking at the time and have already closed the computer back up. I love those sliding rails because they make it so easy (now only if I would use them :p).

The bottom one is the Maxtor (I just looked at the manual). Here is a pic.

So I want it all the way on the left (according to my image above) so its on drive select (master)?

[CrashG]

I wasn't thinking at the time and have already closed the computer back up. I love those sliding rails because they make it so easy (now only if I would use them :p).

The bottom one is the Maxtor (I just looked at the manual). Here is a pic.

So I want it all the way on the left (according to my image above) so its on drive select (master)?

All the way to the left (farthest away from the power connector) on the one that says DS.

[Cavalyr]

if you are removing the 4GB HDD completely. and not use it at all. then you may or may not need the jumper for the 74GB HDD. if there is no slave drive, sometimes you dont need the jumper on the single HDD. as for the IDE cable, connect the end of the IDE cable to the single HDD. if you were to hook up another HDD as slave, then that one would go in the middle connection of the IDE cable. hope this helped somewhat. good luck with it.

[+Mystic MVC]

if you are removing the 4GB HDD completely. and not use it at all. then you may or may not need the jumper for the 74GB HDD. if there is no slave drive, sometimes you dont need the jumper on the single HDD. as for the IDE cable, connect the end of the IDE cable to the single HDD. if you were to hook up another HDD as slave, then that one would go in the middle connection of the IDE cable. hope this helped somewhat. good luck with it.

Thanks, that is definetly something I will keep in mind tomorrow when I plan on doing all this business (hopefully). :p

[+Mystic MVC]

Ok guys major issue. I changed the hard drives out and so it was booting from the 74gig one. I popped in the reinstallation xp cd to the dvd drive and set my bios to boot from cd first. I restarted the system and it tried to boot to the messed up XP that used to be on there (bad registry). I thought that was weird so I tried putting the disk in the other cd drive and it tried to boot from that drive but I forgot that, that drive was busted. It just continues to try to read the cd but nothing happens.

So I took out the broken cd drive so that only the working one was left. Windows recognizes it in the bios but it will not boot off of it.

I put everything back together and got back to the desktop. I checked the dvd drive (the working one) to see my windows xp disk is there (the dvd is working like normal), it just won't boot to it.

I then thought, "what the heck" and I tried going through the XP installation right there. I got to the product key entry screen and there is where the other problem came up. I had already copied the numbers/letters down from the properties screen of my computer, but those are only 20 letters/numbers, and the thing needs 25. I tried the 25 letters/numbers on the windows xp sticker on the side of the case and that didn't work either. Finally, I downloaded a program onto that computer that shows you your windows xp key. It showed me a different number than what was on the side of the case. Anyways, I put those numbers/letters into the XP installation and they didn't work either.

What the heck is going on!?!?!?

[CrashG]

I'm guessing that the program you used to find your key was Magical Jellybean Key Finder. Also the number on the Properties is not your cd key. So you can't boot from the CD/DVD at all?

[episode]

Is the XP disc a real copy or did you get a copy of it from elsewhere?

I'm not accusing you of anything, I'm just wondering if the disc has a boot sector.

[+Mystic MVC]

I'm guessing that the program you used to find your key was Magical Jellybean Key Finder. Also the number on the Properties is not your cd key. So you can't boot from the CD/DVD at all?

Yes that was the program. The computer tries to boot from that cd drive (the one that is broken) but you just here the disk going "tick tick tick". That was about the time that I remembered that, that cd drive hasn't worked in a long time (hence why there is a second drive).

Is the XP disc a real copy or did you get a copy of it from elsewhere?

The XP disc is a dell reinstallation disk (xp professional) from my brother because I couldn't find his dell XP home reinstallation disk.

[episode]

Did you change the jumpers on the other (working) drive to master and connect it to the master part of the cable?

[+Mystic MVC]

Did you change the jumpers on the other (working) drive to master and connect it to the master part of the cable?

They were both set on cable select.

When I took the one drive out, I left the working one on cable select and even then it wasn't recognized. You are saying I should try to move it to master when it is the only one there?

[CrashG]

Which disk was the one that came with that machine (Home or Pro) and what's the key on the side of the case go to (Home or Pro)?

They were both set on cable select.

When I took the one drive out, I left the working one on cable select and even then it wasn't recognized. You are saying I should try to move it to master when it is the only one there?

Yes, set it to Master if it's the only one on the cable. I've always had issues using Cable Select.

[+Mystic MVC]

Which disk was the one that came with that machine (Home or Pro) and what's the key on the side of the case go to (Home or Pro)?

The disk that came with the system was a dell xp home reinstallation cd which I have used (successfully before) on that computer, but it has gone missing. That is why I was trying to use the professional one.

The key on the side is for xp home.

Edit: I think I realize where you are going. My xp cd key won't work on a xp professional disk will it?

[simsie]

The XP disc is a dell reinstallation disk (xp professional) from my brother because I couldn't find his dell XP home reinstallation disk.

You can't use a Windows XP Home serial with Professional..it just won't work. You need to either find a home disc, or get a Pro serial.

[episode]

Edit: I think I realize where you are going. My xp cd key won't work on a xp professional disk will it?

No it will not. It isn't Vista where all the DVDs are the same.

[CrashG]

The disk that came with the system was a dell xp home reinstallation cd which I have used (successfully before) on that computer, but it has gone missing. That is why I was trying to use the professional one.

The key on the side is for xp home.

You're going to have to use a XP Pro key if you're installing XP Pro. Either that or you're going to have to find a Dell XP Home disk somewhere :shiftyninja: and just use your key on the side of the box.

[+Mystic MVC]

No it will not. It isn't Vista where all the DVDs are the same.

Ah, but that still leaves me with a question. Why would the keys be different? Meaning the one on the side of the case and the one that came up from the program. When we reinstalled XP on that computer a long time ago, I don't remember using anything but the one on the side of the case.

[simsie]

Could be a volume licensing key used by OEM's. I know when reinstalling our dell it doesn't ask for a key at all...

[+Mystic MVC]

You're going to have to use a XP Pro key if you're installing XP Pro. Either that or you're going to have to find a Dell XP Home disk somewhere :shiftyninja: and just use your key on the side of the box.

Well, I am going to ask a friend who is great with computers to see if he has an XP Home install cd to see if that will work.

I tried putting the working dvd drive as the master instead of cable select with the one hard drive (that I'm going to format) hooked up, but it wouldn't get past the Dell Boot screen. What's up with that?

[pyther]

Is the hard drive on a separate ide cable? If not is the hard drive set as a slave?

[+Mystic MVC]

Is the hard drive on a separate ide cable? If not is the hard drive set as a slave?

The hard drive is not the issue.

I removed the old 4gb hard drive and set the remaining 74gb hard drive to master. I know it works because if I just let the computer boot up, it gives me a windows registry error that my brother used to get before we install XP on that 4gb hard drive.

The problem is with the 2 cd/dvd drives. The cd drive is on the end of one ide cable and there is also a dvd drive on that same ide cable. They are both recognized in windows, but as I said above, I think the cd drive is broken. They are both on cable select as well.

In the BIOS, I set my computer to boot from the cd drive first. If I have the windows reinstallation (professional which won't work now that I know, but that's a different issue) in the cd drive, the computer tries to boot from it and fails (because its broken). If I have the reinstallation disk in the dvd drive, the computer ignores it and boots up like normal.

I tried removing the broken cd drive and setting the dvd one to master. Like I said though, for some reason, it won't get past the Dell loading screen (which is before the XP one). The bar goes all the way across and just stops.