[Panda10]

I have used this website before with great success and hope that I can get help again!

I am working on a dell computer for my father-in-law. About 2 months ago the hard drive crashed and I was able to bring it back with help from this site and restore most of his files. Now unfortunately it has happened again and once again he didn't back it up (after I told him he needed to). Anyway, he bought a new hard drive (WD Caviar Blue WD5000AAKB 500GB) and his old drive is (Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160GB). I have connected both drives making the new drive master and the old drive slave. However, whenever both drives are connected neither is recognized in bios. If i disconnect either on or the other it is recognized.

I have checked the jumpers and cables and still cannot figure out why they are not being recognized together.

Second, I removed the old drive and I am trying to install windows on the new drive. I cannot get anything to install to it and am not sure where to go. I do not have an original XP disk. I just have the recovery disks that come with the computer. Would I be better off upgrading to another windows?

I am stuck on what to do and where to go. In my perfect world (is there such a thing?) I want the new drive partitioned and loaded with windows. I then want to be able to get the files off the old drive. I do know that the old drive is working (i am able to get into it from the recovery disk) it just isn't bootable.

Please help! If this is a lost cause please let me know. I will check this as often as I can on my computer and I also have the Ultimate Boot CD so I can use any items from that.

Thanks in Advance!

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I am just guessing here, but i think you need to get into the BIOS and look for the hard drive settings. There you may need to change things to set the computer up for both drives.It also may be that the dell BIOS cannot see a 500 Gig drive. What does the BIOS say the WD drive size is?

You will not be able to use the recovery CD's since it is looking for a Seagate drive, and id finding a different drive, so the cd thinks this is a different computer.

Upgrading could be a choice, except Vista is not a good idea in my opinion, and your computer may not run Windows 7 very well.
(note) I base my opinion of vista by running it for a year on 3 computer's and switching them all back to XP because of problems.

So you probably need to buy a microsoft XP cd and just install XP that way. Drivers for the hardware can be found on the computer makers website.

You may be able to access the old drive if it is installed as a slave. You may have to go thru the hassle of taking ownership of the files on the drive, and you may not be able to access them at all. All you can do is try.

SRX660

[SRX660]

I am just guessing here, but i think you need to get into the BIOS and look for the hard drive settings. There you may need to change things to set the computer up for both drives.It also may be that the dell BIOS cannot see a 500 Gig drive. What does the BIOS say the WD drive size is?

You will not be able to use the recovery CD's since it is looking for a Seagate drive, and id finding a different drive, so the cd thinks this is a different computer.

Upgrading could be a choice, except Vista is not a good idea in my opinion, and your computer may not run Windows 7 very well.
(note) I base my opinion of vista by running it for a year on 3 computer's and switching them all back to XP because of problems.

So you probably need to buy a microsoft XP cd and just install XP that way. Drivers for the hardware can be found on the computer makers website.

You may be able to access the old drive if it is installed as a slave. You may have to go thru the hassle of taking ownership of the files on the drive, and you may not be able to access them at all. All you can do is try.

SRX660

[phillipcorcoran]

Have you connected the slave drive to the middle IDE connector on the ribbon cable, and the master drive to the end connector? Get them wrong way round and the PC will get confused. This usually means it recognises only one of the drives.

Edited by phillipcorcoran, 07 June 2010 - 05:41 AM.

[Panda10]

SRX660

Thank you for your reply and I have checked the bios everytime. I have both drives in BIOS set for auto and if the WD drive is the only one connected it recognizes it and has the correct settings (i.e. 500GB). If I unconnect the WD and connect the Seagate it recognizes it. The only time I get problems (i.e. unknown drive) is when they are both connected.

phillipcorcoran

Yes, I have the newer drive (WD) connected to the end connector and the jumper set as master. I have the Seagate (old/broken drive) set as slave and connected to the middle.

This may be a stupid question but does it matter which power connector they connect to? There is a P3 and P5 and I connect whichever I can. Could this be a problem?

I just don't understand what is going on. Should I work on getting the new drive working first (i.e. formatted and loaded with an operating system) before working on connecting Master/Slave?

Thanks again for your help and patience!

[phillpower2]

Yes install an OS on the new drive 1st & then hook the old
one up as slave, you may be able to transfer the data across
then (dependent on what the problem is with the old drive).
When you are done run checkdisk to check for any errors.
Dont forget a new HDD should be devoid of any information
whatsoever & your drivers etc need to go somewhere, hope this
helps, good luck & let us know how it works out.

[iammykyl]

Hi.

When you conmnect your old drive up, it will have your original OS on it, so you may have to set up the computer to duel boot? Once you have tried to recovery your files I would bin the old drive and get another one to use for data storage.

[Panda10]

How do I set it up for dual boot? One of the problems on the old drive is the boot sector. This drive has crashed a couple of drives (and been resurrected) by redoing the boot sector. I just wanted to bring it up to get the files off then destroy it.

Would the dual boot work if the drive is not booting originally? Also, is there a way to completely remove the boot files to enable it to work?

[phillpower2]

If your intention is to discard the old drive after retrieving any
data that you can, the master & slave option is the surest way, Im
not sure there is a 100% way of using software to destoy all data on
a HD so that it is impossible for anyone to ever be able to retrieve
some part of the data on it, but below are some links to programmes
you can use (Ive seen it suggested to use them all);

http://www.download3...r-Powermax.html

http://www.dban.org/

http://www.killdisk.com/

If you have particulary sensitive data you want destroyed, you could
pay to have it put through a degausser or use the cheap & cheerful
option & dismantle it & take a hammer to the bits.

[iammykyl]

Hi.

When you have your new XP disc.

Disconnect your old drive, connect your new drive,

Start computer and enter BIOS, set your CD as first boot, put XP CD in player, save settings and exit.
Follow the installation instruction.

When you start your computer remember to install virus protection first then updates, drivers and programs you may need.

Connect your old drive and see if you have access, if you have problems, shut down and disconnect OLD drive, restart,
open help and support and inter in the search box,
Installing more than one operating system on your computer, follow the instruction.

Shut down, connect the old drive, restart.

Let us know the results..

[ccurran]

Just a quick thought. If you are looking to recover the data off the old HD (hoping that it hasn't completely failed) why not use say a Linux live boot CD & back up to an external HD.

[123Runner]

You guys are getting a little off track.

1. The OP does not want to dual boot the computer. Nor does he need to.
2. The OP is not looking to get the old XP drive functional.
3. The OP only wants to retrieve the data.
4. The OP is having problems with the BIOS seeing both drives when connected.
5. Although a live linux CD would work to recover the data (provided the drive

Panda10 What I would do is format and install on the new drive 1st and the try attaching the old drive as a slave.

123runner