Moving an old drive to a new computer is often the best way to continue using the same data after you start using the new machine. But often it is not possible to use the old drive as the boot drive (the C: drive) on your new computer. You can not leave the old unit to the new box and use the Windows software that installed on the old computer. Unless the old and new computers are exactly the same make and model or using exactly the same motherboard and drive controllers, many of those listed in the Windows Registry does not apply to the new computer. Instead of loading Windows, the computer will probably show a blue screen. In almost all cases, the best method is to create a new computer and install Windows XP on the drive that comes with that team and treat the old drive D as a unit or later. It might be possible to change the critical registry entries, but that these changes in the registry may sometimes create more problems than it solves. Rule No. 3140082 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base for Windows contains more information about how to move a system disk. Even if you do not try to use the C: drive in the new computer, you still may want to install the old drive, both to read data stored in that unit and to increase the storage capacity on your new computer. If Windows does not detect a unit after moving from one machine to another, consider the following questions:
Are the bridges in all the hard drives and other IDE devices correctly? Remember that each channel can have only one IDE master and a slave. The BIOS has detected the drive? Restart the computer and run the BIOS setup utility to add the drive. See "BIOS settings" on page 188 for detailed instructions.
On the other hand, if the unit is aged over about five or six years, it is likely that near the end of its life a hard drive is a mechanical device, and finally all the hard drives undertake to make or break. And as the old unit of capacity is probably only a fraction of its new one, it's best to just copy the data files from the old drive and then discard it.
NOTE: Remember that your unit is likely to contain personal data files that you do not want to see strangers. Before disposing of an old drive, use a blender program data such as BPS data Shredder
to destroy the data on the drive, or physically destroy the drive by removing the circuit board, the opening of the case, and scratches or bending within the discs.
What do you say to Service Guy
If the thought of opening up your computer and add or remove a hard drive as it seems unlikely that the removal of his gall bladder, it's okay to let someone else do the work. Whether a computer service center or its cousin, which is based entertainment for computers must be able to do the work for you. But it is important to explain exactly what you want. If you have to take your computer to a repair shop, bring your Windows CD in the package containing the product key. The technician will need your key code to reinstall Windows on the new unit. If you can find the driver CD that came with your computer or motherboard, the video controller, and other devices inside the computer, they too.
If you do not have disks, however, the technician can download the drivers via the Internet. If the unit is the scraping, grinding, or make other unpleasant noises, ask the technician to remove the damaged unit and install a new one. If not, explain that you want to install a new drive and try to use the recovery software to create an image of the damaged unit in the new. First, explain that the C: (or) the unit is damaged, and you want to try to recover the data. Emphasize that you do not want to run Check disk defragment the drive or damaged. Tell the person you want to install a new drive C: and fix the broken drive as a slave. Ask the technician to load Windows XP and the latest patches and service packs in the new C: drive, along with the drivers for your video driver, network interface and other peripheral devices. After the new C: drive is on the rise and Windows XP is up and running again, ask your technician to run GetDataBack or other data recovery program to create an image of the damaged unit in the new unit. If people in the store are not familiar with the data recovery software, display the information in this article.
After the data recovery is complete, or whether the technician discovered that the unit is damaged beyond the capacity of the recovery software to create an image, ask the technology to remove the damaged unit from the computer and re-ti . Even if you do not send the unit to a recovery service, you do not want a stranger (or even a relative) to keep a drive containing their personal data.
Problems with other storage devices
CD, DVD, and most other storage devices use the same IDE, SCSI, or SATA interfaces used by hard disk drives. Therefore, many of the same problems may occur with these units loose connectors, incorrect configuration of the bridges on IDE drives, and mechanical failures. If Windows does not detect a newly installed unit, check the cables and the jumper settings, and run the BIOS setup utility. If the automatic detection feature of the tool the BIOS does not identify the new drive automatically, try changing the configuration of that individual unit. If the BIOS will not recognize a new unit, it is possible that the unit was introduced more recently than the BIOS version running on your system. Check with the manufacturer of your computer or motherboard for information about how to obtain and install a BIOS upgrade software. If a drive stops working after it has been in use, the most likely cause is either a driver damaged a file or a mechanical failure of the unit itself. Try reinstalling the driver software first; the device manufacturer's website to offer downloads of the latest release. If the unit stops working, rather than the format or structure of files on the drive, is almost always faster and easier to replace with a new one to try to repair a broken mechanism or circuit board. To be blunt, most of these devices were designed to be disposable. If your computer (or a drive installed later) is still under warranty, call or e-mail the manufacturer for a replacement. If it is out of warranty, just pull the old drive of the computer and install a replacement.
A few final words about the units
When a unit fails and can not use computer tools and techniques for in Article 3 to fix it, you must have two objectives: firstly, savings and recovery of data files in the damaged unit and, secondly, restore the computer to normal operation by installing Windows on a different drive (if the unit has been damaged the old system drive). If the treatment of these two separately, will reduce the impact of a damaged unit to a minimum.
