Installing existing slave drive as primary in new Shuttle?

[Dave]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.shuttle (More info?)

I'm building a Shuttle to replace my old HP Athlon 800 Desktop. About
a year ago, I installed a WD 120GB 7200 HD as a slave (D in my old
HP, and I use it for My Documents folder, including the My Pictures
and My Vdeos. Program files are on a 40gb drive c:/ which I will not
use in the shuttle; I plan to reinstall programs from the original
installation CD's.

No sense buying a new HD when I have one with 2/3 of the space left on
it, so I plan to install the 120GB drive that is currently a slave in
my HP as the one and only drive in the shuttle. WHen I've built PC's
before, I always had a new drive. Plus, moving the drive eliminates
needing to move the 40gb of data files to a new drive.

Anything I need to be concerned about as far as data preservation?
Will I be able to boot up and install windows without having to format
the drive?

And any thoughts on moving an existing copy of XP to a new PC?

I realize these are somewhat generic questions not completely unique
to the SHuttle, but the single drive bay in the SN8564 makes me think
others here have gone through this. Tips or advice are welcome!!!

Dave
SN85G4V2 (In Box on my floor!)
Athlon 64 2800 CPU (in the mail)
Gainward Fx 5200 128mb Video Card (In the mail)
Ram to be ordered...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.shuttle (More info?)

dthom676@cox-internet.com (Dave) wrote in message news:<56ca21f6.0409091656.4dc608ff@posting.google.com>...
> I'm building a Shuttle to replace my old HP Athlon 800 Desktop. About
> a year ago, I installed a WD 120GB 7200 HD as a slave (D in my old
> HP, and I use it for My Documents folder, including the My Pictures
> and My Vdeos. Program files are on a 40gb drive c:/ which I will not
> use in the shuttle; I plan to reinstall programs from the original
> installation CD's.
>
> No sense buying a new HD when I have one with 2/3 of the space left on
> it, so I plan to install the 120GB drive that is currently a slave in
> my HP as the one and only drive in the shuttle. WHen I've built PC's
> before, I always had a new drive. Plus, moving the drive eliminates
> needing to move the 40gb of data files to a new drive.
>
> Anything I need to be concerned about as far as data preservation?
> Will I be able to boot up and install windows without having to format
> the drive?
>
> And any thoughts on moving an existing copy of XP to a new PC?
>
> I realize these are somewhat generic questions not completely unique
> to the SHuttle, but the single drive bay in the SN8564 makes me think
> others here have gone through this. Tips or advice are welcome!!!
>
> Dave
> SN85G4V2 (In Box on my floor!)
> Athlon 64 2800 CPU (in the mail)
> Gainward Fx 5200 128mb Video Card (In the mail)
> Ram to be ordered...

Hi Dave,

You didn't specifically mention it, but I will assume that you do NOT
have any OS installed on the WD drive; you were using it only as
library storage. I shall also assume that the WD has only one, large
partition, not several.

In order to use that drive as your master (if the above assumptions
are true), you will have to create a new partition to install XP on.
Thereby is the problem, because in so doing you will destroy any data
that is on it. Any operating system must be installed in a partition,
but must be the master of that partition. That prevents you from
merely installing it as a normal program.
The proper way is to back up your data/programs, wipe the disk,
reinstall a single partition for the entire disk (if that is what you
want), format the partition and install your operating system. Then
reinstall your programs through the OS, and drag&drop your data and
you are through.

You mentioned "moving" XP to your new machine. No, you cannot do
that, for the above reasons. XP must be an integral part of the master
partition. It must be newely installed.

There are those who are firm believers in Partition Magic, which is
supposed to be able to repartition for you without wiping your disk.
Many have had great success, and others have trashed their data and
OS. If you choose PM to do this, be sure to back up your data first
and make sure you have all the installation disks for any programs
already loaded. I also suggest that you practice first with it on an
old beater machine before "learning" on your new machine and risking
your data. Also, you will be able to only create a new partition in
order to install XP on it, so you will end up with two partitions, one
for XP and one containing your data. That means two drive letters in
Explore.

Hope this helps.

 

[Dave]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.shuttle (More info?)

> Hi Dave,
>
> You didn't specifically mention it, but I will assume that you do NOT
> have any OS installed on the WD drive; you were using it only as
> library storage. I shall also assume that the WD has only one, large
> partition, not several.
>

Yep, you assumed correctly...

> In order to use that drive as your master (if the above assumptions
> are true), you will have to create a new partition to install XP on.
> Thereby is the problem, because in so doing you will destroy any data
> that is on it. Any operating system must be installed in a partition,
> but must be the master of that partition. That prevents you from
> merely installing it as a normal program.

:-| That's NOT what you were supposed to tell me!!! You were supposed
to say just put the insatlation disk in and XP will install on the
drive! But your explaination makes sense.

> The proper way is to back up your data/programs, wipe the disk,
> reinstall a single partition for the entire disk (if that is what you
> want), format the partition and install your operating system. Then
> reinstall your programs through the OS, and drag&drop your data and
> you are through.

Looks like what I'll do is back my documents/pix up to DVD's...

> You mentioned "moving" XP to your new machine. No, you cannot do
> that, for the above reasons. XP must be an integral part of the master
> partition. It must be newely installed.

Here I was concerned about the ability to reinstall XP from the
installation CD's given that it's 100% hardware change from the
original installation. I've since found that worst case is that I'll
actually have to call a "special" Microsoft registration phone number
when I reinstall XP on the shuttle...

> There are those who are firm believers in Partition Magic, which is
> supposed to be able to repartition for you without wiping your disk.
> Many have had great success, and others have trashed their data and
> OS. If you choose PM to do this, be sure to back up your data first
> and make sure you have all the installation disks for any programs
> already loaded. I also suggest that you practice first with it on an
> old beater machine before "learning" on your new machine and risking
> your data. Also, you will be able to only create a new partition in
> order to install XP on it, so you will end up with two partitions, one
> for XP and one containing your data. That means two drive letters in
> Explore.

I have partition commander on my old PC, which is similar to PM. It
causes problems when using apps that need to boot from CD (Norton for
example), so I'd like to stay away from that.

> Hope this helps.

Dude, you indeed helped immensly. I would've gone, fat dumb and happy,
into installing XP on my existing disk/partition AFTER moving the
drive to the shuttle and wouldn't havebeen a happy camper!! Since I'm
going to reinstall existing apps from their installatiion CD's, moving
my files -- pictures videos, documents -- to DVD, then letting WIndows
repartition/format the 120GB drive looks like the easy way.

THANKS!!!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.shuttle (More info?)

>... I would've gone, fat dumb and happy,
>into installing XP on my existing disk/partition AFTER moving the
>drive to the shuttle and wouldn't havebeen a happy camper!! Since I'm
>going to reinstall existing apps from their installatiion CD's, moving
>my files -- pictures videos, documents -- to DVD, then letting WIndows
>repartition/format the 120GB drive looks like the easy way.

You will never know how much trouble you will have avoided by doing
a "clean" install. When you save your data, dont forget to back up
stuff like your bookmark files, e-mail and address book...

DD

"It's easy when you know how..."
Johnny Shines