PCTech Forums

I want to know if this idea I have could work. I want to take my old hard drive out of my Windows ME computer and put it into my new Windows XP computer. The windows XP isn't a brand new computer, I'm not quite sure how old it is, 5 years I think.

The ME computer is a Compaq Presario 5008
The XP computer is a Dell Dimension 4550

Yes it will go but what exactly do you want from the drive?

You can add it and access the files that are on it but you will not be able to start windows ME from it as is.

The most reliable thing you can do is set the jumpers on the back of both hard drivers accordingly. The XP drive needs to be set to master and the ME drive needs to be set to slave. Normally the drive itself has a label of some sort showing where to put the jumper to accomplish this, its not very difficult.

When you have it set right, you can add it in with the current hard drive on the same IDE cable. You will possibly need another IDE cable because usually dell has the hdd and cdrom on 1 cable. You need the 2 hdd's on one that connects to the primary master port on the motherboard and the cdrom on a seperate IDE cable connected to the secondary master port on the motherboard.

Hopefully this gives you a start, let us know if more information is needed.

Well, getting the Hard Drive out of the ME computer was a pain. There were these 2 brackets that hold hard drives. I get the first one off no problem. The next one seems impossible for me to get off , because it seems that I would have to take off the front panel to unscrew the screw. So I fiddle with the casing for about 30 minutes, give up and then scourge the internet for information. I finally found something, I completely overlooked the bottom screw, which if I had undone that, the bracket would've slipped right off. I didn't even NEED to unscrew the top screws, those were to hold the hard drive in the bracket.

So anyway, I get the hard drive out no problem, put everything I had taken off the computer back on, and put the computer back. I proceeded to unplug everything from the XP computer. I open the case and screw in the green mounting brackets for the second hard drive.

Then, I run into this problem( Look at attachment):

Who in their right mind decided to have the ribbon cable like this? They certainly didn't have the user putting in a second hard drive in mind. Who in the hell makes the 2nd port on the ribbon cable reversed? Did they expect you to mount the hard drive on the front case or something?

I tried getting the cable from my old computer, but the second port on the ribbon was far too low for me to plug in the hard drive. I'm going to see if I can find any cables... what are those ribbon cables called? IDE cables?

Also, what should I expect when I finally plug in my second hard drive and turn the computer on?

lol, yes there called IDE cables. Theres not much to expect, sometimes after adding a drive windows will see it and "install" it and sometimes nothing at all happens. You just go into My Computer and should be able to access it from there. 9 times out of 10 the slave becomes drive D and any disk drives are E and so on.

On that cable, im trying my best to think of how to explain how to connect it that will make sense..lol.

Not promising this will be great but what you need to do take the drive thats already there and move it to the open bay and put the slave in where the other came from. Then maybe the cable is long enough for the middle connection shown in the pic there to pull down to the second drive and i think the orientation should let it plug that way. Lol, this is why i sometimes wish everyone lived next door and yet im glad no one does. The drive can indeed be added with that cable, it only takes a geometry major to connect it but never the less its possible. Explaining it without having it in hand is obviously rough..

ok, looking at pic again. Depending on how much clearance is in that housing, you may can just take the drive that in there out, flip it then slide it right back in the same opening. If the quick release stuff lets you do that the cable should be right.

power connection is on right in pic, flip drive so its on the left allowing the ide cable to flip with it. The green quick release clips might not let you but it would be ideal if it did.

In the former post, you say that I should switch the two hard drives with each other.
In the next post you think it would be easier if I did a 180 on the first drive, right? I'll try it and see how it works.

I tried what you said, but It didn't really help. Or perhaps I just misunderstood your directions. I really think it's the cable and not the hard drives.

I also ran into another problem: The Second power supply was too short to reach the second hard drive. However, after cutting loose some of those cable ties, I was able to plug it in without much trouble. I was trying to be really careful about the ties, because I didn't want to cut away the wire skin and leave exposed wires.

Well, I finally got my new hard drive installed. Although it was tough trying to figure out how to make the hard drive sit in the bay again.

This is how I did it. I disconnected the IDE cable fully. Then, I made the cable connect to the hard drives. After unsuccessfully trying to get the hard drive in the bay, I disconnected the cable. I put the first one in. The first one slid in fine. The second one would NOT go in at all. I tried wiggling it around, but it wouldn't go. Just to make sure it wasn't something else, I turned it around and slid it in. It slid in fine.

It appears that Dell didn't want people to buy another hard drive, so they made the bay where you can only have one hard drive turned 180 and not both at the same time. So I said screw it, and took off the green tabs that held the drive in the bay. I slid it in, connected the cables, and put as much tape as I could on the left side to make sure it wouldn't bounce around.

The cable wouldn't reach to both sides of the hard drive, so they had to be equally facing. I suppose it would've worked without turn the hard drives around, but this way it makes the power supply cable reach better.

Everything works fine despite the "unprofessional" style.