Installing New Hardrive

Good Morning,

My hardrive crashed it was 20GB, I just bought a 60GB is this easy to install. I have installed other devices on the computer so I do know a bit about installing. Could anyone give me the steps in installing this drive? Would I have to mess around with the BIOS (that I do not knowing anything about), also do I need a boot-up disk, if so please tell me how to create that and I will on another computer. Any help please. Thank You!

 

In most cases you should not have to do anything but hook up the drive and the boot from the OS CD. Follow the steps for adding a partition and formatting.

 

Unless the word "install" has more meaning to you than it does to me, all you need do is check the jumper on the end to be sure that it is set as Master, remove the old drive and put the new one in the same as the old one was. Then, it's all installed.

If you have more than that in mind, maybe you could explain a little about your goal and what you are trying to do.

 

Thank you. That sounds simple enough. I was getting a little nervous about it being more technical than that. After it is installed just pop in the XP CD and boot from there? Going from a 20GB to 60GB wouldn't affect the controller card would it?
Thanks

 

Thank you, the OS is the XP CD correct. Just want to make sure.

 

That really should be all there is to it. Most of the time, the BIOS is set to autodetect the drives on boot. Rarely, the specific settings for a drive are entered by someone and you would have to go in and set it back to autodetect, but that is unlikely.

Your machine should detect the new drive, and then all you need do is boot from the XP CD. Right after you agree to the license, there will be a page that shows you the amount of disk space that you have available and will allow you to make partitions and format. Just be sure that it sees the whole drive. But the size it sees will only be in the ballpark of the actual size due to differing measuring methods. So, if it says 57 gigs or something in that neighborhood, all is fine. If it says 17 or some amount that is that far off, then you are not in the right neighborhood and you will probably need to make some BIOS adjustments.

Let us know, please, how you are progressing and we'll help if you need it.

 

Thanks alot. I will try this when I get home tonight. If I run into other problems I will send you an e-mail. Thanks again.

 

If possible, please post any questions in the forum. That way our conversations can help others at the same time.

But don't hesitate to send a message if you have some particular question I can help you with. But try to keep the bulk of it here, please.

 

I am sorry thats what I meant. I will do that.
MV

 

Hello again,
Another question before my hardrive crashed it was showing my local drive as E and my CD Rom as F and my burner as G etc. Once I install the new drive will this correct the confusion and make my local drive as C; the CD rom as D and so on? If not please let me know what I need to do.
Thanks

 

Those letter assignments were stored on the old drive. When you put in the new drive, no letters will be assigned for anything yet. Then, when you install XP, it will call your main hard drive C:. The CD-ROM will most likely be assigned D:. But in any case, XP can change any drive letter later on except the one it is installed on. So if your main drive is C: as it will be, the rest don't matter since they can be changed later.

So, all that means "Yes" you should be back to the familiar C: and D: after you reinstall XP.

 

Thanks again. I will let you know how everything goes.

 

You understand about the jumpers on the end of the drive? Pretty much everything else is fail-safe. You just wait--you'll be proud of yourself and ready to open a repair shop.

 

I installed the Hard drive not a problem. I booted from the XP Pro CD it loaded everything and then restarted. Now I get a message of a "disk read error" and witht he option of ctr,alt,delete and I did that but the message keeps coming back. Can't get to my desk top. Please tell me what to do. Thank You!

Mary

 

Even the simpliest things sometimes aren't. You, of course, will need to install Windows on your new drive, and I have done that a couple of times on mine but don't recall seeing that message (disk read error) and believe me, I have had my own problems. Are you trying to install from a Windows XP disk or a Dell (or other brand) restore?

Anyway, and I know you have done it, but check your jumpers and your bios to insure it is seeing your drive as the master. And try again.

Don't you sometimes just want to take a hammer to it?

Best of luck.

Bill