[phillpower2]

However still cannot "see" new HDD in "my computer" should I be looking elsewhere to enable format?

On booting up go into the BIOS and see if the HDD is detected and that "auto detect" is enabled.

should I be looking elsewhere to enable format?

I believe that once the drive is recognised you will be able to format it, right click on the allocated drive letter then format.

I am wondering if the borrowed SATA data cable is the correct one

It may be bad.

does it matter to which of the SATA 1;2;3 or 4 tabs its connected too?

1,3 or 4 if you intend putting an OS on the drive to boot from, you can use any port otherwise.

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On booting up go into the BIOS and see if the HDD is detected and that "auto detect" is enabled.

I can confirm that the new HDD is detected in the BIOS ok and is also listed in the System Device Manager but still not showing up in "my computer".

On boot up I keep getting a windows message saying "new hardware detected" along with an installation wizard. I feel this can only be connected with the new graphics card but a further message says "New high definition hardware detected on Audio Bus".

[starbear]

On booting up go into the BIOS and see if the HDD is detected and that "auto detect" is enabled.

I can confirm that the new HDD is detected in the BIOS ok and is also listed in the System Device Manager but still not showing up in "my computer".

On boot up I keep getting a windows message saying "new hardware detected" along with an installation wizard. I feel this can only be connected with the new graphics card but a further message says "New high definition hardware detected on Audio Bus".

[SpywareDr]

Click Start, right-click My Computer select Manage and Computer Management will open. Under Storage on the left, click Disk Management. Now capture and post a screenshot of this Computer Management window.

[starbear]

Click Start, right-click My Computer select Manage and Computer Management will open. Under Storage on the left, click Disk Management. Now capture and post a screenshot of this Computer Management window.

Not sure how to insert a screenshot in a forum (assume I have to upload a photo to bucketshop or similar?) I tried attaching a WORD file of screenshot but was not permitted.

What the disk manager showed initially for this HDD was "not initialised" so I managed to initialise and now states that its "online" and shows that all space is unallocated. It seems that I should be able to fomat from that screen but right clicking does not give a format option only "new partition" "properties" or "help" Even after iniialising still not showing in "my computer"

[SpywareDr]

Create a new partition first, and you'll then be able to format that partition.

[starbear]

Thank you, will give that a go.

[starbear]

Create a new partition first, and you'll then be able to format that partition

Thank you again Spyware Dr. That worked just fine and system is now fully functional with all new bits fitted (keep getting that annoying new hardware message but will hopefully sort that).

I have also cloned the original HDD to the new one using the programme recommended by phillpower2 as well as implementing almost all of his other suggestions. So a big thank you to both of you and also to Digerati as well as others who have provided suggestions and help along the way.

I may be back with a few questions on the value of replacing CPU still and some info on disk partitioning but all I need now is to prove the OS has cloned across to the new HDD before I reformat the orignal and replace the system battery and thats about it then.

Many, many thanks to all.

SB

[phillpower2]

Congratulations starbear I am happy to hear you are up and running

I may be back with a few questions on the value of replacing CPU

When you are ready.

and some info on disk partitioning

http://www.ehow.com/...hard-drive.html

but all I need now is to prove the OS has cloned across to the new HDD before I reformat the orignal

Do you know how to check this out ( I don`t want to suggest to you what you already know ).

replace the system battery and thats about it then.

Great idea thinking ahead and yes hopefully you will be 100% happy with your upgrades.

[phillpower2]

On boot up I keep getting a windows message saying "new hardware detected" along with an installation wizard. I feel this can only be connected with the new graphics card but a further message says "New high definition hardware detected on Audio Bus

Sorry I overlooked this, this is most likely the HDMI audio on your new GFX card, if you install the new hardware it may disable the MBs onboard sound chip but as long as it sounds ok it shouldn't`t be an issue.

[starbear]

but all I need now is to prove the OS has cloned across to the new HDD before I reformat the orignal

Do you know how to check this out ( I don`t want to suggest to you what you already know ).

Actually no I don't, at least not yet, so please feel free. I think I have proved that I know very little about all this clever stuff! So am always very grateful for help.

I did see somewhere the ability to disable selected drives (perhaps in the BIOS?) I thought if I found that again I could disable the original HDD and so confrim new HDD with OS functioned ok. I am a little concerned that if I disabled the original HDD, I may not be able to access it again to enable it should new one not work properly. But if it is via the BIOS then I guess that should always be available outside of the OS anyway? Am I in the right area?

[phillpower2]

Go into the BIOS and change the boot sequence so that the new HDD boots 1st, the CD/DVD drive 2nd and the original HDD 3rd, or 4th if you have a floppy drive, if it is ok keep using it until you are happy it is sound and only then consider formatting the old drive also back up any important data as you need to.

[starbear]

Go into the BIOS and change the boot sequence so that the new HDD boots 1st, the CD/DVD drive 2nd and the original HDD 3rd, or 4th

Thanks, I will do that. Just one point occurs to me though: How will I know its booting from the new HDD and not the 2nd ,3rd or 4th choice? I think that's why I was considering trying to disable the old one. For example, right now my order is CD then HDD, so of course if there's no bootable CD then its the HDD that does the job. Can I see which source is used for the actual boot process on screen?

p.s. replaced battery ok!

[D-Berd]

If you go into bios, there may be a screen that says "Hard Disk Boot Priority' ...Open it and you should see all the disks connected to your system.

There may only be a screen that says "Boot Order" or something to that effect, in that case then look for "disk 0" and make it the first boot device.

If you wanted to you could also disable the other boot devices in the system, That way it will only look for the first HD to boot from at start up. If there is ever a problem booting in the future then you could always go into bios and chose a different boot device.

I'm not sure what OS you're using but if you go to device manager you can see if there are any issues with any of your hardware
on your system. go to start and then in the search box below or by clicking on run type in DEVMGMT.MSC You should see if there is a problem with any of your devices at this point. To take a screen shot of the device manager window

hold down the Alt key and press Prt Scr or print screen button. this will take the screen shot....Now open MS paint and go to the paste button or open the drop down menu and select "Paste" you should see the image at this point.... Then all you have to do is save it and post to this forum with the image.

[starbear]

If you go into bios, there may be a screen that says "Hard Disk Boot Priority' ...Open it and you should see all the disks connected to your system.

There may only be a screen that says "Boot Order" or something to that effect, in that case then look for "disk 0" and make it the first boot device.

If you wanted to you could also disable the other boot devices in the system, That way it will only look for the first HD to boot from at start up. If there is ever a problem booting in the future then you could always go into bios and chose a different boot device.

Thanks for your help D-Berd (I am using Windows XP-SP3 system). I have now done all that and sadly have proved my fears correct. The PC will not boot from new cloned HDD. Have tried various combinations, even making new one only enabled drive and first in priority list anyway.

I have also managed to do a print screen as the PC now stands, with disk 0 is my original HDD and disk 1 is the new one (see below please). Couldn't see any issues in Device Mananger

[D-Berd]

What disk has the new cloned OS on it is it disk "0"

Try this....Assuming the drives are all serial ATA, disconnect the old drives (power and serial cable) and leave the new cloned HD in place and reboot and go into bios and make sure you see the new drive and that it's set to first boot device.

Next, Save and exit bios and reboot. If it does then that means the cloning procedure worked correctly. Once your computer boots into windows, create a txt document and call it " New hard drive" and save it. Once you connect the old Hard drives and reboot, you will know if you're in the new OS

Next, shut the pc down and reconnect the other drives and reboot.

Need to ask, are both drives serial ATA?



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