Hi guys im a newbie here so please go lightly on me

My question is

I was given a new computer system which has win vista on it, with as far as i can see an 80gb hd
My old system which has win xp on it has a 160 gb hd can i add this to my new system to make a bigger hd and also should i if i can add the old one to the new one, delete all the files on the old one and whats the best way to do that so i dont have any probs when i use the old in the new system

hope you can make sense of this guys

and if anyone can help can i say thanks in advance for it Jumper your old drive as a slave. Add it to your new computer. If recognized by Vista...just format the drive and it will be ready for whatever you need.

Just make sure this is what you want to do. If the old 160GB drive has XP on it...once it's formatted...that operating system, as well as the contents of the drive, will be gone.As saviour said, slave the second HDD. If vista recognizes it, be sure to copy over anything you want to keep before you format it, since this will wipe everything on that drive.

If you're really green and don't KNOW what it means to "slave" a drive, read on:

There are a set of 7-9 pins on your HDD that will have a little plastic and metal piece on it. This peice is just big enough to cover 2 of the pins. This is the jumper. There should be a legend on the HDD that shows how that jumper needs to be placed to set the drive as master, slave or cable select. Make sure the HDD that's already in the computer is set to master, then set the other to slave and attach it to the same cable as the other HDD. Hi guys

thanks for the quick response

The old hd looks different to the one in the new computer it says it is a sata drive and the old one is an ata drive the new one doesnt have all the pins you say it should

So is this a prob now to fit the old one with the new one
The computer system is a dell
the cables coming of the new one is a blue cable it conects to the main board and the other is a multicloured cable which i think is power cable

so if you guys could help me once more id be gratefull

lmao *


update.... wasn't trying to be rude, just thought kinda funny....when u mention "sata" drive it KINDA changes all the help they were trying to give you*please explain your answer
ATA and SATA are not the same. You will need to look up your model on the Dell site and see if the MOTHERBOARD has IDE connectors. If it does, you will need to use the cable from your old computer and connect the drive to the IDE connector. You probably won't need to change the jumper.Quote from: honvetops on July 02, 2007, 10:46:57 AM

lmao *


update.... wasn't trying to be rude, just thought kinda funny....when u mention "sata" drive it KINDA changes all the help they were trying to give you*