Installing new hard drive????

If I try to do this---can I really screw something up bad?? If it goes awry??

 

Not sure..........

It's been too long since I did these. I guess you COULD, but very unlikely. You could wait and talk to WD tech support on Monday.

I would think worst case is it won't be configured and you'll have to pull it off.

 

If the old one is set up as a master (check it's jumpers) and the new one is set up as a slave, and the ribbon and power cables are properly connected, then it should appear as another drive. If you have a CD-ROM then it may keep it's letter or be pushed down depending on the operating system.

As long as the system boots properly, then you're OK. What will probably happen next, after you're booted up, is that you will need to go to Computer Management (in XP) and find the Storage Management control panel. You will probably have to format the drive before it is actually visible and assigned a drive letter. Since it is a large drive, you are probably best off formatting it as NTFS when asked (not FAT32). NTFS is more robust and repairs itself better if there are system crashes. Be VERY sure you are formatting the new drive when you do this (check size of the drive and drive name to double-check), since formatting your old drive by accident will lose everything! You may have to reboot again after formatting for the drive to be added.

Once the drive is visible with it's own drive letter, you use it as another volume. Data will not appear on it automatically (for example after you run out of space on C: ). Probably the easiest thing to do is to create MP3, Video, Photo folders on it and move your multimedia content to it. You usually don't want to move your applications to it since that will break the association the application has with the C: drive, where it was originally installed. However you can uninstall applications and then re-install on the D: drive if you really want to do something like that (usually there aren't any good reasons if your C: drive is at least 20GB, since you can move data off it to D: or E: more easily than applications).

 

Printed out the instructions from WD---it says I have to go into the setup and change a few things and then change my old drive to Master w/ slave before I even start. Very reluctant in messing with the old drive at all----Anyway around this. I think I can install the new fine just leary of messing with the other one that has all my data on it .. Any thoughts??

 

At this point in time, just take it up to CompUSA or your local shop. They can install the drive in a few minutes at a minimal cost. Why mess with something you admit you know absolutely nothing (and apparently maybe even less ) about?

 

One---no CompUSA around here. Not sure I want a stranger working on my computer. We have IT guys at work who said they would come over and do it, but trying to get them to do it is like pulling teeth. One of them has said for 3 weeks now he will come over and do it. I told him I would pay him for his time. Has never showed up. I also want to learn how to do stuff like this. 5 years ago I couldnt even turn a computer on. Now I can do small stuff like installing DVD/CD drives, add software, etc. Just from reading instructions good and doing it. The directions I printed are just a little confusing to me..

 

If you know how to install a DVD/CD drive, then you know how to install a hard drive - exactly the same thing. You had to do master/salve jumpering, possible bios changes, etc. - the only thing different is that you need to format the drive before you can actually use it.

 

I thought drives were coming preformatted these days.

Robbie, why don't you wait until you can call WD and talk to their tech guys to put your mind at ease.

It is unlikely, but possible that you could mess up your existing drive.

 

You must set the Master mode in your old drive.

Drives are pre-formatted at "low-level" from the mfr. "High-level" format is usually not done (because it changes depending on the OS) except in special cases. "Low-level" formatting is the actual tracks and sectors on the disk that the disk drive needs to find information and deliver to the host system. "High-level" formatting is the initial information the operating system writes to setup a file system above the raw data blocks that the disk drive works with.

 

Yea---I am going to try to install it tomorrow and have WD on the phone guiding me thru it.----Thanks for all you guys input--I really appreciate it!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks again guys---with a little help from WD I have installed the new drive. Yin---I like the idea you have about moving my multimedia--videos, photos, music, etc. to this drive. How would I go about doing this?? I have tryed to right click on these folders and send them but the drive is not available to send to--any thoughts??

 

Right-click the My Computer icon and select "Explore" to open up a navigation window. Now navigate to the C: drive using the device/folder list in that window. Right-click the My Computer icon again to open up a second "Explore" window. This time navigate to the D: drive (assuming that's your new drive). Now just drag-n-drop the folders you want from the C: window to the D: window. If you want to move them into sub-folder below the top level, you'll just have to navigate in each window to the desired folder level.

 

BTW - As a general word of advice to everyone using computers. Hard drives have a chance of failing at a rate of about 1% per year. This is low enough most people haven't experienced a failure and some failures still allow you to get the data off first after an initial warning (like ugly sounds). But many failures are catastrophic and you lose everything with no warning!

If you have unique, irreplaceable data - family photos, etc. Make a copy on CD-R's, DVD-R's or another hard drive. Always have second (or more) copies!

Trust me on this, I know too much about hard drives.

 

Right click the folder and select "CUT", then right click the new drive and hit "PASTE". Works for me.

 

....and make sure that the CD's/DVD's are readable in another drive and/or computer. If your writing drive is off....... Been there/done that.

 

My computer makes a strange sound when I turn it on, like there is something spinning and touching metal. It normally goes away after a minute or two.

Yesterday, I put in a CD/R that had some information on it, and it kept making noises from the cd reader. Never happens on a regular cd.

 

Hard to say without actually hearing. Fan bearings can make noise as they spin up, but they usually persist. Same with hard disk bearings. CD/DVD drives will often spin up during power-up if there is a disk in or when a new disk is put in. These things are $10-20 now, so they don't have the best bearings and the CD/DVD's aren't always as well balanced as they could be. If the noise is only associated with putting a CD/DVD in and only with certain disks, then no worries, it is just the cheap crap they make these days. If the noise is intermittently there and gets more severe if you're doing a hard disk intensive operation (like copying a lot of files), then get ready for a new hard disk.