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Resolved Question

How do I change c: drive?

by Dec 4, 2013 12:36PM PST

I have an 8 year old computer running XP. Three years ago I installed 2 1T hard drives and left the old one connected as a backup. The old one has now finally failed and my c: drive is acting funny ...suspect it is sick too. I would like to change my currently lightly used 1T drive into my c: drive and use the current ailing one as a backup until it completely dies. How do I do this? I assume it involves reinstalling XP but at what point do I also change the jumpers? I don't want to lock myself out of my own computer. I hope that is enough information. Thanks for any help.
Holly

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NancyR has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer
11 Posts
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Best Answer

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You don't
by Dec 4, 2013 9:54PM PST

You don't change jumpers anymore. That went out with IDE drives, none of which ever reached TB capacity to the best of my knowledge, so you're clearly using SATA drives. Which brings up an important question that must be answered before you can proceed any further: Do you know how to install XP on a SATA drive?

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maybe
by NancyR Dec 4, 2013 10:29PM PST

Obviously since one of them is my c:drive I must have done it when I installed them but I really don't remember there being anything special to it. One is partitioned (c and f); the one I want to ("I") is not.

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What I'd do
by Jimmy Greystone Dec 4, 2013 10:52PM PST

What I'd do is just pull out the current main drive, format the drive you want to install Windows on, reinstall Windows to that drive, then you can either put the other drive back inside the case or even better would be an external enclosure until such time that it finally gives up the ghost. Otherwise you're likely to wind up installing Windows just fine, but it will end up that it the main drive is something like I or L or some other letter. It will not hurt a thing, only a very select few programs will have any sort of issue with this, but some just can't seem to tolerate that and are not happy until it says C: is the main drive.

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not sure i understand
by NancyR Dec 4, 2013 11:11PM PST

Thanks for the help. Not sure however I understand. So I unplug current c: Then I format the other drive and Windows will name it c: The only other problem I see is that I must now reinstall all of my programs to the new drive (primarily Photoshop, MS Office). Can't I, at some point, just plug old one back in?
Thanks again.

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Re: reinstall all programs
by Kees_B Forum moderator Dec 4, 2013 11:33PM PST

After reinstalling the OS, indeed you must reinstall all programs also. Be sure you have the disks and downloaded setup programs.

But also you must reinstall all drivers. Be sure you have them either on disk or downloaded. And be sure you do it in the right sequence.

Kees

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Correct
by Jimmy Greystone Dec 5, 2013 8:42AM PST

Correct. I'm only giving very basic and generic instructions since there are countless websites out there that will walk you through the process of installing Windows. I'm just giving you a little help on the parts that might not be covered in the majority of guides, like how to deal with multi-drive setups. The rest I assume you can find in less than 5 minutes with Google.

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Answer
The easiest way to do this...
by Dec 4, 2013 11:45PM PST

...would be to clone the current c: drive onto the other drive, then switch the data cables. There's plenty of good cloning software out there, some of it comes with hard drives. I used to use Norton Ghost, but it's no longer on the market, so I've switched to Easeus software.
By doing it this way, you don't have to worry about having to install drivers, apps, data, and all the XP maintenance. Also bear in mind that if your XP install disc isn't at SP2 or later, you'll have a hassle doing an XP install on a SATA hard drive.
`
Good luck.

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I forgot to mention that XP is losing support in April
by wpgwpg Dec 4, 2013 11:50PM PST

I hope you're aware that MS is pulling the plug on the last remnants of support for XP come April. If I were you, I'd get hold of Windows 7 or 8 and switch to it because XP is dying on the vine.

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i like that idea
by NancyR Dec 5, 2013 12:23AM PST

I really like the cloning idea although I am not sure that some of my problems might not be from misbehaving software, registry, and such not just misbehaving hard drive. I guess if I clone I will just take those problems with me. Yes, I am aware of the impending death of XP. If I go yo Windows 7, I assume I would clone first, then upgrade to newer OS. Correct?

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Incorrect.
by Kees_B Forum moderator Dec 5, 2013 4:21AM PST

It's not an upgrade. It's a clean install. So it can just as well be done on an empty disk.

Kees

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Oops
by NancyR Dec 5, 2013 11:16PM PST

Didn't see your reply in time. I did what you suggested. Cloned the drives and then unplugged the bad one. So far it is running like a top! Thanks for the advice.

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