Newbie sucessfully installs second IDE hard drive....now what?

[Cosmos]

Well, I was brave and took the harddrive from my old computer that blew up and put it into my new Dell.

I knew I had to set the jumpers but really didn't have a clue how, so the first time I put it in I didn't do anything with it and the computer tried to read the old drive as the "master".

I unhooked everything, took it apart and looked around at the old drive.

For all you pros out there, the jumpers aren't self-explanatory, lol!

Finally i found a little black piece on one set of four pins and moved it over one slot.

Put it all back together again and then tried it out again, Voila!

I now have a drive C: and a drive D:and my CD-RW has been renamed E:

Now the question is what do i do with it? I really just wanted to see if I could do it and if I could get my pics back that i thought were lost.

Turns out that some of them were there but not all the ones I thought were, I am lost as to where they went.

The old drive has Windows 95 on it and most of the software for my printer, scanner, digital camera etc. that i have on the new harddrive.

Do i leave windows 95 on there, does it have to have an OS to be accessed? Do i leave the duplicate programs, use it to store pics etc?

I know this is just a discussion forum, not a tech school...so if anyone has any good links for me along with advice that would be great.

Thanks guys!

[CCs]

You don't need the OS on the D: to access it. In fact, you should copy/move any files you need from your D: to your C: then format your D:

Once done, you can use your NEW d: for storing data. Plus you'll have more disk space now that the OS and duplicate programs are gone.

[Cosmos]

so if I don't have an OS on it and I use it to save files, etc. Will they be accessible just like in windows? or will I have to use the DOS prompt to get to things.

Probably a silly question but if ya don't ask you'll never know.

[ragtop]

Yes, the drive will be accessible from Windows explorer, just like your C: drive.

One other issue that you may run into. If you have games or other software installed that run partially from a CDROM, you may have a problem now that your CDROM has a new a new drive letter assignment (the links are still going to be looking for the CDROM on drive D)

You can either update the links, or reinstall the programs.

[tommyt]

You can reformat D: by opening my computer- select D: and click format. Also after you reformat... in windows exployer you can create a new folder by selecting D: in the right window right click white background select new--Click folder. Hit backspace key type Aphoto to have a storage for photos easy to access