Topic awaiting preservation: Installing another hard disk

As I said in a previous thread I'll need to grab my brother's HD and get the contents off. It should be fairly straightforward but if anyone has any hints or tips that might make things go more smoothly then feel free to throw them in (and I'll make an FAQ out of it later).

Rinswind provided this link:
http://www.perfectdrivers.com/howto/seconddrive.html

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Emps

The Emperor dot org

Maybe this link can be helpful to novices.
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,47370,00.asp

I'm aware that you should know all of this stuff but anyway, it's quite simple to do it, once we are used to it, and getting used to it takes just once.

1 - open the computer and leave it open for the whole process
2 - set the new hard drive as slave or auto, depending on how the primary one is set - I always use master and slave configuration - your old HD should already be set to master (using a slave, if the current cable has only one HD attached to it, is better than using a second master, because you can save a cable connection to the mobo.)
3 - connect the data cable and the power cable to the HD (even if you connect the data cable the wrong way, the HD will just not work - try the inverse way next time and it will work).
4 - power on the computer, the BIOS and windows should recognize the new drive automatically, then copy all the files you want.
5 - shutdown windows, turn off the computer, undo all hardware changes, close the case, and that's it.

People usually are too concerned about static energy, using wrist earthing stuff, etc. I never used this, never had any problem. Just don't touch the circuits of the parts and it should be okay.

As you said, it's fairly straightforward.

EDIT: before someone points this out, if you are going to leave the new HD permanently, which's not the case here, it's much better to use master-master configuration than master-slave.

[This message has been edited by viol (edited 02-15-2004).]

viol: Excellent - I've created an FAQ and thorwn your fine overview in:

How do I install two hard drives

Are you the inmate withn something like 6 hard drives all hooked up to your computer?

___________________
Emps

The Emperor dot org

I guess I am.
I have 5 HDs connected to the computer (two outside the case, even being internal HDs), but one, with only 5 months of use, was giving me a hard time until it finally sort of broke down. I'm waiting for the replacement from Maxtor and then I'll have my 5 HDs again

viol: Yes I think I saw a picture you posted of your setup.

Anyway I swapped the motherbaord battery (to no effect) and got the HD working on this computer and it all worked swimmingly - thanks for the advice from everyone

___________________
Emps

The Emperor dot org