Toshiba HDD2164 preparation for loading

[bradleyaclark]

Hello,

I have an old Dell Inspiron 8100 with a 20 gb hd that went bad (comfirmed by pulling it and using USB connector to desktop). I am trying to replace it with a Toshiba HDD2164 MK2018GAP hd, and when I install it the bios recognizes it but the reload of Windows XP cannot access it as the primary hd. Do I need to run some kind of preparation software before I can load/run Windows with it?

Thanks,

Brad

 

[house70]

What is the capacity of the new drive? It might be too large for Win XP, in which case it will need partitioning to a smaller size.

 

[bradleyaclark]

What is the capacity of the new drive? It might be too large for Win XP, in which case it will need partitioning to a smaller size.

"New" drive is the same size as the old - only 20 gb.

 

[house70]

OK, it might be too small. LOL
But really, why replacing an old drive with something that is the same capacity. I would go for at least double that, if I were you.
Anyways, try to format the new drive in a different system as NTFS, then retry the Win installation. It should recognize the drive though without problems, and format it during the install.
Hmmm.... is it possible the "new" drive is not that new, actually might be an old drive that was just erased; in that case, it is still old, and reaching it's end-of life.
If you have access to an external enclosure and another system, you could test it as an external drive. Run
chkdsk x: /f/r
where x is that drive's letter as seen in the test system. This is, after formatting it in NTFS.