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Thread ID: 35834	2003-07-23 02:56:00	Clean install on second hard drive	Beaver (1902)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
162207	2003-07-27 09:03:00	Well, I can boot from the older hard drive and am currently logged in to that drive's Win XP version, which rather surprised me . An even bigger surprise is that the newer and older Win XP partitions/drives have been switched around . The older WinXP partition was on I: and is now C: and vice versa . The other drive letters have been shuffled around also . Gee I hope it reverts back to how it was when I get out of here . I don't want to be like Alice stuck down the rabbit hole . :O What a weird feeling this is, sort of like going back to an old house that I used to live in that still has the same old wallpaper . :D Anyway, it is do-able by switching the hard drive bootup order in the BIOS but I think I would still recommend unplugging the old hard drive before installing Windows on the new drive . That is with WinXP - Win 98 may be a different kettle of fish .	Susan B (19)
162208	2003-07-27 09:11:00	Like Susan, I stayed out for a while, as Terry was doing and good job. Susan's solution is the easiest - ie unplug old drive - change slave to master via link - install W98 on this using a boot disc. Once all is OK, plug original back in but set as slave. Regardless of how many partitions are on the primary drive, this will become D. Hope I haven't muddied the waters. Doing it this way, there is no need to get into the BIOS. Bye	Peter H (220)
162209	2003-07-27 09:47:00	OK, I am logged back on the newer hard drive/Win XP installation and the drive/partition letters shuffled themselves back how they were . A complete success -- phew!! :D To recap, what I did was unplug the old hard drive, ensured the IDE cable and jumpers on the new drive were set to master/primary/single HDD (as though it was the only HDD), boot from the WinXP CD, set the number of partitions (three), formatted the C: drive and installed WinXP . After that I formatted the other two partitions and then plugged the old hard drive back in . The jumpers on both hard drives had to be changed so that the new drive was primary and the old drive was slave . At all times the BIOS automatically detected the changes and booted to the new HDD . Once the old HDD was plugged in I installed my programs on the new drive (C: partition) and copied my data from the old HDD to the new one's D: partition . The old HDD has four partitions and is now my data backup drive even though I still have the old WinXP installation and programs on the H: drive . Eventually I will format that and have a play with Linux <gulp!> . To switch Windows installations (as I did before to test) I rebooted the computer, got into the BIOS and changed the boot order from the new HDD to the older one . If Terry is able to do with his Win 98 what I have done then Beaver will be able to have her cake and eat it too!! :D Do remember that partitioning, formatting and installing Win 98 is a bit different to WinXP . Terry is the expert there . ;-)	Susan B (19)
162210	2003-07-27 10:33:00	Ah-ha, clever Susan and Peter. You had better luck than I did Sue. I installed win 98 on a spare hard drive connected as a master on the secondary IDE. Between fdisking & creating a primary partition there are some drive letter changes which could cause utmost confusion and chance of formatting the wrong drive. I used a standard win 98 start up disk which loads a ram drive with yet another drive letter which changes along the way. The install went ok , but for some reason it grabbed the autoexec.bat and config.sys off my C: drive and generally messed up the C: drive startup system files. Good job I had a backup. The other thing was during install I had to change the default directory from c:\windows to d:\windows, another source of confusion. So all in all Peter is dead right. It would be best to disconnect the C: drive, and take its cable to the D: drive which will now be set as a master, fdisk, format and install. But once that drive has been installed with win98 it will need to be moved to the secondary IDE, and the bios does need to be entered so that either one or the other can be booted from, which is what Beaver would like to do. Im sure Beaver will now be more confused than ever. Thanks again both.	Terry Porritt (14)
162211	2003-07-27 11:45:00	BIOS won't need to be altered - just plug back in old drive - it will become D - you won't need to boot from it, boot from C and transfer files etc from D. Bye Early Night	Peter H (220)
162212	2003-07-27 20:39:00	here a trick i found i not sure if will work for you, install second drive disable it in bois (stops reordering of drive letters)then when windows detects it and allocates the last drive letter. Before this a new drive would relabel my partion drive letters making some proggies unrunable unless I reinstalled. Also in xp using hard drive management you can re allocate drive letters if they are not in the order you what but takes a bit of juggling	beama (111)
162213	2003-07-27 21:22:00	The problem is Peter, that Beaver wants to be able to boot from either drive. This is so she can continue using the existing drive until she is absolutely sure that the clean install is all ok. Its not just a question of transfering data from the existing drive to the clean install drive, there is also the need to be able to boot from that drive, run IE, and down load updates etc which install themselves, they cant all be easily be saved to a file and then transfered over. She doesnt want to be physically getting inside the computer all the time and swapping the drives over. This needs to be done fairly soon, as support for Win 98 is being removed, and it will be uncertain as to what updates will continue to be available. After all this investigation we will need to summarise the steps again as a definitive procedure, but it all hinges on whether Beavers BIOS allows a choice of hard drive booting. Sorry to talk over your head Beaver, it also helps to clarify my mind too. What Susan did and what I tried to do will really be too complicated. I will read what Beama said a bit more carefully to see if it fits in.	Terry Porritt (14)
162214	2003-07-27 21:39:00	> What Susan did and what I tried to do will really be too complicated . No, Terry, what I did was very easy . As long as Beaver can switch the hard drive boot order in her BIOS - and that is a no-brainer - when she wants to change what HDD she wants to boot from then it is all a piece of cake . Honestly . :-)	Susan B (19)
162215	2003-07-27 23:13:00	Agreed Susan, just as long as the clean install is done with that drive on its own, not with the current C: drive plugged in there as well. I found it difficult to keep track of the drive letter changes doing it with both drives plugged in.	Terry Porritt (14)
162216	2003-07-28 01:38:00	I am getting a bit confused but am not deterred - so far . Will just restate my objectives - I want to install Windows on D drive, install some older programs (currently uninstalled from C drive), install the latest Internet Explorer and any other Microsoft programs currently on C drive plus my anti-virus and firewall programs . Then I want to go to Windows Update, get whatever is necessary and then install the other programs I have on C drive plus documents, music, pictures, etc . I would expect all this to take more time than I've got for a single session . Hence my initial query as I would like to keep using C drive until the very end, then clean it out and keep it for backup . I have three disks here - a floppy entitled Windows Startup which I made when I got the computer, a System Restoration CD-ROM from the suppliers (Gateway) and the Windows98SE installation CD-ROM . DOS is alien territory and I have only just learned how to navigate within the BIOS setup without changing anything so that's about where I'm at in terms of techno-savvy . And by the way, I like the emoticons but can't work out how to get them into my postings as they seem to copy but don't paste . Am I missing something here? Will check in again this evening .	Beaver (1902)
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