I have two computers - one is windows '98 and the other is XP. I would like to take a hard drive I installed in the 98 tower and put it in the XP computer which is newer and faster. I would like to keep everything on the hardrive - about 40 gigs of stuff on it.

Can I do this easily?

Thanks.

__________________
'90 300SE 298k
-300K and it gets put into retirement.
'80 300D 255k Purchased new by family in 1980.

Had a:
1973 220 (gas)
1980 300SD
1992 400E

Are you putting a new drive in or running it as a slave. If you want to run it as a data drive switch the jumpers to primary slave and plug er in. Yes very very very very easy. This makes MBZ's electrical problem as simple as changing a light bulb.

I just use it as a storage drive for music, pictures and so forth, so I guess I made it a slave drive when I installed it a few years back.

I plan to retain the original C drive on the XP computer, as I did with my 98.

Thanks for your response.

__________________
'90 300SE 298k
-300K and it gets put into retirement.
'80 300D 255k Purchased new by family in 1980.

Had a:
1973 220 (gas)
1980 300SD
1992 400E

No problem, it sounds like your ready to go.

Medmech
Similar question:

My old PC had an Adaptec fast/wide SCSI II controller and I a Barracuda Fast/wide SCSI II drive.

My newer PC has a 120 gig SATA drive.

If I wanted to use the old drive (just as storage) and drive controller, do I just plug it all in and turn it on, then after BIOS get into the Adapatec software to make it a slave? I do not believe it has any jumpers on it. The old drive has 98 loaded.

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Thank You!
Fred
2009 ML350
2004 SL600
2004 SL500
1996 SL600
2002 SLK32
2005 CLK320 cabrio
2003 ML350
1997 C280 Sport

I'm not sure but I think you will have a problem with the scsi, are you adding the scsi card? if you are I THINK you would add it as primary slave. Google is your friend on that one.

First I would probably try to get the SCSI working in the new computer, I'm cheap and hate to throw perfectly good stuff out.

BUT is it worth the time and effort, the SCSI drive is probably relatively small, and at what a drive IDE or SATA drive costs today.

Heck 70 bucks for a 300gb external
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=2212524&sku=TC3T-1010%20ISS&CMP=EMC-TIGEREMAIL&SRCCODE=WEM1119SS
I don't work for them, but do have a lot of stuff purchased there running in my office.

__________________
KLK, MCSE

1990 500SL

I was always taught to respect my elders.
I don't have to respect too many people anymore.

Well, I hooked up the drive to the XP computer, but when I boot up it doesn't recognize either drive. It says neither drive can be found.

Anything I should double check?

__________________
'90 300SE 298k
-300K and it gets put into retirement.
'80 300D 255k Purchased new by family in 1980.

Had a:
1973 220 (gas)
1980 300SD
1992 400E

Make sure the Master and Slave portions of the IDE cable are connected properly.

Check the bios to ensure that it has infact detected the second Hd. I had that problem, but it was because I forgot to tell the bios I had added a second HD.

__________________
-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

SCSI
It doesn't recognize the Original SATA AND the SCSI ????.

During Boot the may be "another" BIOS menu for the SCSI card. In there you might be able to set it as NOT Boot able so it'll go to the SATA.

Also check the normal BIOS boot order.

Once you get it running, XP may not be able to see the drives, the controller will/may be marked unknown, or just not there. For this run the driver setup, add new hardware or whatever.

__________________
KLK, MCSE

1990 500SL

I was always taught to respect my elders.
I don't have to respect too many people anymore.

it should work eventually.

I did this on the kids' PC, and the computer now comes up with a boot screen asking me which OS I want to use. I have 20 seconds to choose before it defaults to XP.

For adding the 2nd ide drive it is doable. Either set both drives to CS or “cable select,” or make sure that the one on the XP machine is set to M or master and the other to S or slave. In addition, if you are using the CS setting, the original drive for the XP machine wants to be at the end of one cable, and the drive that’s been moved wants to be on the 2nd position on the same cable. When using the CS setting, the position of the drive on the bus (cable) determines which drive will boot first.

For the SCSI drive, as Kknudson said, disable the boot setting in the bios for the SCSI host adapter. You might also need to exclude an address range in the computer’s bios so the scsi host adapter (not to be confused with the scsi drive) can load. This is not definite and some system bios will correctly identify the address range. In addition SCSI also requires proper termination. But if you are using the same card, cable, and drive as was used in the previous computer, that should be no issue. Scsi bios loads earlier than many portions of the computer’s system bios. Due to this, sometimes (actually fairly frequently) a scsi hard drive does not get along with an AT or IDE drives.

Someone else suggested just buying another drive. I agree. Drives have a very finite life and it isn’t worth putting anything of value on a drive that is likely to fail in short order. This is a case where YMMV but it is typically an exercise in false economy.

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

I got my other drive hooked up to the newer machine - just had the drives out of order on the cable I think.

This Dell computer's tower is too small- I have to remove the 3.5 drive so the 2nd harddrive has a home. Kinda lame.

Mike

__________________
'90 300SE 298k
-300K and it gets put into retirement.
'80 300D 255k Purchased new by family in 1980.

Had a:
1973 220 (gas)
1980 300SD
1992 400E