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How Do I Change Hard Drive For Blank Identical Type ?
Hello,
I've got an old Compaq machine with a Seagate 4.3GB hard disk which is whining. I like the machine and want to swap the disk with a blank identical model from Ebay. How would I get the computer to load an image (stored on CD Rom)from the old disk without CD Rom drivers ?I'm hoping to avoid BIOS messages. Any websites that could offer info ? Thanks. Mike. |
#2
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"Mike" wrote in message ... Hello, I've got an old Compaq machine with a Seagate 4.3GB hard disk which is whining. I like the machine and want to swap the disk with a blank identical model from Ebay. Why would you want to use an identical drive? Why not just get a new drive? It's quieter, faster and will hold more data. How would I get the computer to load an image (stored on CD Rom)from the old disk without CD Rom drivers ?I'm hoping to avoid BIOS messages. A disk imaging program would do the job. You install the new drive as a second drive, image the old drive to the new drive, remove the old drive and configure the new drive as the primary. You shouldn't see any difference except that the machine may run a bit faster. |
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On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 20:54:20 +0100, "Mike"
wrote: Hello, I've got an old Compaq machine with a Seagate 4.3GB hard disk which is whining. I like the machine and want to swap the disk with a blank identical model from Ebay. Well you shouldn't want to, there is no benefit to choose exact same drive, it is slow and old and (due to age) going to be less reliable. Buy the biggest drive your system's bios can natively support after a motherboard bios update, or add a PCI IDE controller card and enjoy a fast modern drive... it is well worth the expense of the controller card to be able to run a fast modern drive... could be the best way to speed up an old system. How would I get the computer to load an image (stored on CD Rom)from the old disk without CD Rom drivers ?I'm hoping to avoid BIOS messages. Boot to DOS floppy with CDROM driver on it. Your system might've come with such a floppy or a generic windows startup disk should work, or perhaps your system can boot straight to the CD, which should be supported, the Compaq Quickrestore CDs from that era were bootable, IIRC. That is the preferred method to restore the original system image. |
#4
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"Mike" wrote in message ... Hello, I've got an old Compaq machine with a Seagate 4.3GB hard disk which is whining. I like the machine and want to swap the disk with a blank identical model from Ebay. How would I get the computer to load an image (stored on CD Rom)from the old disk without CD Rom drivers ?I'm hoping to avoid BIOS messages. Any websites that could offer info ? Thanks. Mike. Get Disc Wizard from www.seagate.com and it will do it all for you - FOR FREE! I recently swapped a 6GB maxtor out a Compaq Deskpro 6450 and replaced it with a 20GB Seagate 5400rpm drive. Just had to install Disc Wizard and run it. Tell Disc Wizard that a new boot drive is to be installed and whether or not the current boot drive is to be reused. It gives you starndard or idiot level instructions on how to shutdown the pc and replace the current boot drive with the new drive to be installed. Boot up with the new drive installed and it works perfectly. I don't now whether Disc Wizard works with drives from other manufacturers - but the other manufacturers all have their own utilities and diagnostic software too. Martin. |
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