Hard drive help required

[Yozz76]

Hi all,

I have today taken possession of the following hard drive:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-226-WD

What I'm trying to achieve is to keep my existing Maxtor hard drive 'as is', retaining my current XP Media Centre operating system and everything else that currently lives on there and install Windows 7 on the new WD hard drive. So basically I'm after a dual boot PC but with the differing operating systems on seperate hard drives. My question is if this is a viable option and if so can anyone provide me with step by step instructions as I've never fitted a hard drive or installed an operating system before!

 

[Defiance_co]

As far as i can rem just add new hd via sata obviously, then set mobo bios to boot from dvd/cd, with a bootable w7 disc in drive boot up and hit key to install w7

This will allow formatting of new wd drive and then slap for want of better words w7 on wd drive

Vista and w7 give you bootup os options in themselves, so set default etc and bob's ya uncle

All's i used to do was slap xp on a drive then update sp's etc then do the above for vista (kept xp in x86 format and vista in x64, just use vista x64 now but did try w7 x64 and loved it)

Another good bit of sw i used to use is free and called vista boot pro (guess it would work in w7 (can't see why not anyways))

Hope that helps

Crikey, forgot main part of ya post ..............

The above really takes care of os install, now for actual hd install

Usually i add drives in series to the sata sockets on mobo, eg: 0 or 1 (depending on mobo) would be my initial hd boot, then 1 or 2 (again depending on mobo) would be drive 2

Installing the hd should be simple ..............

Take care not to scrape the underneath on anything in case etc, ease it into a hd slot (tool-less obviously use sleds etc) but for screw in type case fittings just slide hd in and use "correct length" screws/bolts (should have some with case left in a bag etc) Now with the hd nice and secure you need to connect the power to the hd (again easy, either molex or sata connectors) then add sata lead from mobo sata socket (read above initial post) to new hd or visa versa

This is all done with power off (put power off to case, then press start/boot button on case to drain last drop of stored psu energy (not that this really matters)

Just take your time and judge if new hd will slide in etc before messing, if needed label any wires before removing so you know where to replace them

ps, my initial sata socket on mobo is numbered 0, so for me my main drive would boot as num 0 and 2nd drive if it was an os would be num 1

I mention sata order as it saves me losing track of drive numerics, but most mobo's now have boot sequences you alter in bios (just i like to be able to look at mobo sockets for sata's and know which one i can simply remove for a given drive (hope that makes sense)

Won't take you long, and after doing this you'll be stood in good stead for a complete rebuild The only complicated thing really in a case is the wiring, and even this with molex fittings etc just boils down to which cable is best for which component (as-in cable management so as not to use more than needed and have case full of leftover cables)

Again, hope that helps

 

[JonJ678]

Wrong section, should have posted in storage.

You have two choices. There is a key which you hit during boot to choose which drive to boot from. This is simplist, unplug your xp hard drive, plug in the new one and install windows as normal. Then plug in first hard drive, set one to be the default in the bios and use f8 or whatever it is on your board to choose the other one when you wish.

Alternative is to install windows on the new hard drive and then configure the bootloader on one drive to load an os from the other drive when needed. That I'm not going to walk you through, as I would do it using grub. The windows bootloader is nasty. If you must choose through software, and wont use grub, then google or the windows section will have your answer

 

[Yozz76]

Many thanks to both of you, I'm sure that your advice will get me there. However, I'm screwed right now for fitting it as I'm struggling to get my hands on a pair of bloomin plastic hard disk slide rails!

Would really appreciate If anyone can tell me where I can get them from for the following case?

http://www.coolermaster.com/products/product.php?act=detail&id=32

This image will show you what I'm talking about:

 

[Defiance_co]

Hiya,
Shocked they didn't have spares shipped with case

A few suggestions, 1st off try for sale/wanted section on the forum

Secondly, the bay

Thirdly, and i would try this first, On the coolermaster site, goto contact us, and try the Netherlands, used them years ago and they were excellant

Explain either the sleds were not with the case, or you ran out of them/lost them etc etc

I'm sure if not free ones with shipping costs they'll at least charge a minimum for them

Hope it helps