OK...Help! installing a replacement hd

Wondered if any of you can offer assistance with my situation. I've got a
full hard drive and originally planned on backing up everything important on
it, then doing a clean wipe and fresh install. This would be a giant task,
given my busy schedule. So my wife suggested just switching it with a brand
new drive and doing the entire fresh install on that, which sounded good to
me.

Some info:
The system is an OEM Gateway, PIII-500 (from early1999), with an old STB
Velocity 4400 vid card and 384 MB of RAM (all 3 slots full). The optical
drives are (1) LG CD-RW, and (1) Matsu****a DVD-ROM (along with floppy and
ZIP drives).

I've got one home system with WinXP Home on it, and would like the new hard
drive to have Win98 on it-- (I've got some software I still use that only
works on 98). And I've got my original Win98 disk available. I'm about to go
out and pick up an 80GB WD hd for the purpose. So...

Questions:

1. Can anyone link me to a detailed 'how-to' for this task?
2. After this is complete, will I be able to put my original drive back in
if I need something on it, and have my system recognize it? If not, what
would I need to do in that situation?
3. Or alternatively, should I back up my original hd first to be safe?

Thanks loads for any help on this...

TD

"TD" wrote:

3. Or alternatively, should I back up my original hd first to be safe?

Always have a copy of any important files. If you don't know the
difference, that means a backup of your whole disk.

When you are doing configuration stuff, you are asking for trouble if
you do not have a backup.

Good luck.

Oops, forgot to mention-- my old drive is so borked up with spyware, adware,
etc, that transferring its contents wouldn't work. Thanks again, gang.


"TD" wrote in message ...
Wondered if any of you can offer assistance with my situation. I've got a
full hard drive and originally planned on backing up everything important
on
it, then doing a clean wipe and fresh install. This would be a giant task,
given my busy schedule. So my wife suggested just switching it with a
brand
new drive and doing the entire fresh install on that, which sounded good
to
me.

Some info:
The system is an OEM Gateway, PIII-500 (from early1999), with an old STB
Velocity 4400 vid card and 384 MB of RAM (all 3 slots full). The optical
drives are (1) LG CD-RW, and (1) Matsu****a DVD-ROM (along with floppy and
ZIP drives).

I've got one home system with WinXP Home on it, and would like the new
hard
drive to have Win98 on it-- (I've got some software I still use that only
works on 98). And I've got my original Win98 disk available. I'm about to
go
out and pick up an 80GB WD hd for the purpose. So...

Questions:

1. Can anyone link me to a detailed 'how-to' for this task?
2. After this is complete, will I be able to put my original drive back in
if I need something on it, and have my system recognize it? If not, what
would I need to do in that situation?
3. Or alternatively, should I back up my original hd first to be safe?

Thanks loads for any help on this...

TD

Yeah, I understand that always makes sense. So John, does that mean you
think there's a decent chance I wouldn't be able to access my old drive
later?

"John Doe" wrote in message
...
"TD" wrote:

3. Or alternatively, should I back up my original hd first to be safe?

Always have a copy of any important files. If you don't know the
difference, that means a backup of your whole disk.

When you are doing configuration stuff, you are asking for trouble if
you do not have a backup.

Good luck.

After you make a backup copy of all important files, if all you do
is turn off your computer and then unplug the hard disk drive data
and power cables, you should be able to access the hard disk drive
at any time later long as IDE interface is still available on your
mainboard.

"TD" wrote:

Yeah, I understand that always makes sense. So John, does that mean
you think there's a decent chance I wouldn't be able to access my
old drive later?

"John Doe" wrote in message
. ..
"TD" wrote:

3. Or alternatively, should I back up my original hd first to be
safe?

Always have a copy of any important files. If you don't know the
difference, that means a backup of your whole disk.

When you are doing configuration stuff, you are asking for
trouble if you do not have a backup.

Good luck.

After you make a backup copy of all important files, if all you do
is turn off your computer and then unplug the hard disk drive data
and power cables, you should be able to access the hard disk drive
at any time later long as IDE interface is still available on your
mainboard.

Meaning that I don't change my mb or cables, right?

I think my meaning was clear enough.

"TD" wrote:

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From: "TD"
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References:
Subject: OK...Help! installing a replacement hd
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Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 17:02:11 -0800
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After you make a backup copy of all important files, if all you do
is turn off your computer and then unplug the hard disk drive data
and power cables, you should be able to access the hard disk drive
at any time later long as IDE interface is still available on your
mainboard.

Meaning that I don't change my mb or cables, right?

TD wrote:

Wondered if any of you can offer assistance with my situation. I've got a
full hard drive and originally planned on backing up everything important on
it, then doing a clean wipe and fresh install. This would be a giant task,
given my busy schedule. So my wife suggested just switching it with a brand
new drive and doing the entire fresh install on that, which sounded good to
me.

Some info:
The system is an OEM Gateway, PIII-500 (from early1999), with an old STB
Velocity 4400 vid card and 384 MB of RAM (all 3 slots full). The optical
drives are (1) LG CD-RW, and (1) Matsu****a DVD-ROM (along with floppy and
ZIP drives).

I've got one home system with WinXP Home on it, and would like the new hard
drive to have Win98 on it-- (I've got some software I still use that only
works on 98). And I've got my original Win98 disk available. I'm about to go
out and pick up an 80GB WD hd for the purpose. So...

Questions:

1. Can anyone link me to a detailed 'how-to' for this task?

The first thing to do is check the Gateway site for that model (you didn't
say which) for what hard drive sizes it can handle because at about the
time you mentioned it was made was when the 32 gig boundary was breached
but some still had a 64 gig limit. The latest limit was 137 gig (breached
by 48 bit LBA).

If the motherboard has a limit less than your planned 80 gig then you might
want to do a BIOS update, if there is one. Otherwise you could use the hard
drive 'loadable BIOS' utility (with some restrictions on how you use the
floppy drives, because the BIOS needs to be loaded before using them).


2. After this is complete, will I be able to put my original drive back in
if I need something on it, and have my system recognize it? If not, what
would I need to do in that situation?

Assuming your IDE cable has connectors for two drives, yes, you can add the
old drive back in after you do the Windows98 install.

Depending on which manufacturer you pick for the new drive it may need it's
jumpers changed for two drive vs single master operation (Western Digital
is one that does). In either case you'd strap the old drive to be slave, if
you're putting it on the same IDE channel as the new one. If putting it on
the second IDE channel then you'd need to jumper it and the CD accordingly.

Whether you put the old drive in as slave on the primary IDE channel or on
the secondary IDE channel is a matter of preference and what you'd be using
it for. Personally, I'd put it on the secondary IDE channel, along with the
CD, because file transfer between the two hard drives would be faster that
way since both IDE channels can operate at the same time while two devices
on the same IDE channel cannot.

3. Or alternatively, should I back up my original hd first to be safe?

That's always a good idea but if you remove the old drive before you
install the new one and Windows98 then it should be relatively safe from
harm, assuming you don't drop it, reconnect it improperly, or otherwise
damage it yourself.

--DO remove the old drive-- before installing Windows98 because some
versions will, when you say 'yes' to format your hard drive, will merrily
format ALL the hard drives in the system, not just your shiny new 'C', as a
'convenience' so you don't 'forget' to do it.


Thanks loads for any help on this...

TD

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 16:36:35 -0800, "TD" wrote:

Oops, forgot to mention-- my old drive is so borked up with spyware, adware,
etc, that transferring its contents wouldn't work. Thanks again, gang.

That's absurd!


Have a nice one...

Trent©

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!

What I do ( I'm a pro ) is fairly simple, and will accomplish what you want.
I use PowerQuest Drive
Image 2002. What you do with that is install it on
another computer, and make 2 floppies that you need.
It will prompt you to do that. Then, you take your
new drive and make it the master drive ( c-drive ),
and slave your old drive to it. Boot the computer
to the 1st floppy, and select the "clone" operation.
Now ( critical ), in this clone operation, go to the
advanced options, and tell that stupid floppy not to
check a darn thing !!!!!!!!!!!!! regards bad sectors,
files, etc. The program will run, and totally copy your
old drive to the new drive. Make sure your new drive
is right much bigger ( 160g is good ). If your hardware
has not changed, there's a good chance this will work
just fine. If it doesn't work, you haven't lost anything,
and it only takes a little while to set it up. I'm assuming
you have experience setting drive jumpers, and detecting
the drives in the BIOS. If you don't have this experience,
lots of people ( kids ) do. Also, study that program.
It is a very good way to back up your new drive .. create
a D-drive, and then image the c-drive to the d-drive.
I recommend getting at least a 160 gig drive these days.
As for Win98. It is waaay past time for you to buy
WinXP SP2 and a good AV like McAfee. Something
else you might consider. Since you are limited for time,
there are guys like me out here who could do this
for you, and produce a rock solid system that would
give you no trouble. Your computer is out of date, and
a new one is not all that expensive these days. Plus
you get the OS ( WinXP Pro ) bundled with it, and
your working files, email, etc saved ... up and running
.... and backed up in an image that is safe from viruses
and vandalism. Finally, a real simple way to copy
your working files to a fresh install, is to do a fresh
install on a new drive ... slave your old drive to it as
a d-drive, and copy the working files over as you
have time. Again I assume you know not to copy
executables, and OS files over ... just your docs,
favorites, email, etc. That takes a little knowledge, but
it works fine. Still ... here I am ... and I'm worth it !!!

johns