Connecting an hard disk drive

[yonir]

I bought a new PC and I want to move the data from the old HDD to the new one.
I think I know how to do it, but I'm not sure, tell me if I miss something:
I disconenct the HDD from the old PC (when it is turned off of course), move the jumper to "Master" and connect it to the the IDE port of the new PC (while the it's new HDD is still connected in the SATAII port).
When I turn on the PC will it automatically identify the additional drive? will it give it a new drive letter (such as D:\ ) ?
After moving the files I reverse the process to return the HDD to the old PC.
Is that right? will it really identify it automatically?

 

[Codesmith]

Mostly correct.

If the two PATA devices are to share a cable one must be set to "master", the other to "slave".

When using only one PATA device, it should usually be set to master, but some devices (Western Digital Hard Drives) have a single drive jumper setting that must be used if a slave is not present. Usually there is a label on the drive showing most of the jumper settings.

After connecting the drive you should then enter the CMOS setup (BIOS) and make sure the hard drive boot priority is correct. Otherwise the system boot might try to boot from the newly added drive.

Finally once Windows XP should recognize the drive, but not necessarily give it a drive letter. So you may have to manually assign one using Disk Manager.

Drive letter assignments are stored in Windows' registry so you don't have to worry about the new drive letter having any lasting effect.

EDIT - I corrected my statement about XP not assigning a drive letter.

 

[yonir]

ah, few more questions then:
how will I know which drive is the new and which is the old in the BIOS setup?
What is that Disk Manager which I need to use to assign the letter?
When I remove the drive will it automatically remove the assosiated letter then?
thanks

 

[The_Prophecy]

Actually, you will only have to manually assign a drive letter if there is no partition currently on the drive. If there is, Windows will automatically assign it the next available letter in the alphabet.

 

[yonir]

so Codesmith was wrong? (obviously there is a partition, 3 even, since I want to move files from it)
what about the two other questions:
how will I know which drive is the new and which is the old in the BIOS setup?
When I remove the drive will it automatically remove the assosiated letter then?

 

[PCcashCow]

In the bios you should be able to identify the drive by it's name or channel it resides on.

Once the OS native partition or drive is assigned a letter, it retains that letter.

 

[yonir]

Once the OS native partition or drive is assigned a letter, it retains that letter.

Was that an answer to "When I remove the drive will it automatically remove the assosiated letter then?" ?
If so then I didn't understand it. :S (I will remove a drive that doesn't have the OS on it, only data files for transfer)

 

[Codesmith]

I frequently attach other people hard drives to my system often via a USB adapter and occasionally I have had to manually a letter to a drive.

Honestly I don't know why this happens.

My guess is that this only happens with FAT 32 partitions that have never been accessed by a PC running Windows XP or Windows 2000. The utility used to create and format the partition may also play a factor.

But this is just a guess.

----
Go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Disk Management

Or Start -> Run -> & type "diskmgmt.msc"
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Drive letter assignments are stored in the registry. So the any changes should only apply to the OS in which the changes were made.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Via a USB adapter.... you're probably right. I was assuming he would be connecting the drive internally.