ID:278075
 Mar 7 2009, 3:42 pm
|
|
Ok here's what i'm wanting to do. I have two hard drives both with windows xp on them. I'm wanting to set one as a slave drive but I don't want to format the drive. Is there any way to uninstall windows from one of the drives but still keep all my files?
| |
Hang on... So I don't need to format a brand new HDD to use it as long as I have a different formatted HDD as my main HDD?
If so, would all I have to do is hook up the new HDD (if IDE, IDE cable and molex; if SATA, ATX cable+SATA cable)? EDIT Holy crap! >_> I feel dumb as hell now. It worked -.- | |
Well the drive isn't new its my old Hard Drive, i'm wanting be able to access the info on it on my new computer. So i was just wondering if theres a way to like just hook it up transfer the files or whatever.
| |
Yeah, just hook it up as a slave HDD and open up My Computer. It should show up as a new drive. Like mine. The main HDD is C:\ and the slave HDD is E:\
| |
The drive letters may be different depending on your configuration. You can also manually set the drive letter for a secondary drive/partition (you can google it if you need help). Also, I just want to point out, you would need to format the drive if it's brand new and never been formatted, or if you want to use a drive format that's different than how it's currently formatted. For example, if your drive is formatted in FAT32 filesystem, it'd be recommended to reformat it to the NTFS filesystem.
| |
Ok thanks guys i got it to work the sad thing is tho, not shortly after as i was attaching the slides on the side i dropped the harddrive and now it won't work. it makes a weird clicking sound and then my system speaker lets out a series of beeps.
Ah well i wish i hadn't of dropped it. Now i'm screwed i really needed those files. | |
Your new HDD had to have been formatted at some point, whether Windows did it without you noticing (my guess) or whether it was done before you got it (which is highly unusual). I've never heard of getting a pre-formatted HDD, but I suppose it's possible.
| |
Well it must've been pre-formatted because I never touched the new HDD until I hooked it up and turned my computer on and saw it in My Computer as a new drive >_>
There was a few folders on it, like system32 and WINDOWS, but I deleted all that crap since it wasn't necessary and was just taking up space. It now holds all my music xD | |
Spunky_Girl wrote:
There was a few folders on it, like system32 and WINDOWS, but I deleted all that crap since it wasn't necessary and was just taking up space. Um... while it's possible that a manufacturer or distributor might pre-format a hard drive, there's no way that it should have had Windows installed on it by default unless it was advertised as a hard drive which contains Windows software. Who did you buy this hard drive from? Are you sure it was new? | |
I bought it from Dell I think. I bought it because it's the same type of HDD as my model computer came with, only a bigger size :) Maximized compatibility lol
Would the fact that I tried to install Windows XP Pro on it but failed because it wouldn't take any of my product keys have added those files? | |
Spunky_Girl wrote:
Would the fact that I tried to install Windows XP Pro on it but failed because it wouldn't take any of my product keys have added those files? Yes, that is precisely what would have done it. When you install Windows XP Pro, it first formats the disk and puts some basic Windows software on it, then it asks for your product keys. Upon failure, that software is still on the hard drive; that's why you saw a formatted disk with folders on it when you plugged it into your other computer. :-) | |
You could either transfer the files you want to keep to your master drive then wipe the slave, or you can use a CD/DVD to store all your data then wipe the slave.