Configuring New Hard Drive

[DriftingSand]

Howdy. A few years ago my old computer got some sort of a virus. It didn't crash but it was doing weird things. It has a 500GB hard drive. I went out and bought a 1TB hard drive and installed it. However, the computer didn't recognize it. I've been using computers for years but don't know much about installing hardware. Anyway, I finally went out and bought a new system and have been using it ever since.

I was thinking, the other day, about hooking my old computer up to my TV but still don't know how to get that 1TB hard drive up and running. Is this something that I can do myself or will I need to hire a professional? Is it simple or tricky?

Hopefully there's a computer guru who can help me out or point me in the right direction.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Hooking up hard drives is usually pretty easy, but I need some basic information first.

The new drive, is it PATA (IDE) or SATA? You can tell by how it is connected

Do you know how to get into bios? Generally you press del during boot up, but it could be F2 or another key. If you do, does bios see the drive?

What operating system are you running? Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 or other?

 

[DriftingSand]

Hooking up hard drives is usually pretty easy, but I need some basic information first.

The new drive, is it PATA (IDE) or SATA? You can tell by how it is connected

Do you know how to get into bios? Generally you press del during boot up, but it could be F2 or another key. If you do, does bios see the drive?

What operating system are you running? Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 or other?

Thanks for the response. I will have to give you that information when I get home from work. I'm currently using 8 on my newest computer. I think my old one has Vista but I plan on upgrading to 8 when I get it up and running again.

I've gotten into BIOS before but will have to mess around and remind myself how when I get home.

 

[namvet]

Howdy. A few years ago my old computer got some sort of a virus. It didn't crash but it was doing weird things. It has a 500GB hard drive. I went out and bought a 1TB hard drive and installed it. However, the computer didn't recognize it. I've been using computers for years but don't know much about installing hardware. Anyway, I finally went out and bought a new system and have been using it ever since.

I was thinking, the other day, about hooking my old computer up to my TV but still don't know how to get that 1TB hard drive up and running. Is this something that I can do myself or will I need to hire a professional? Is it simple or tricky?

Hopefully there's a computer guru who can help me out or point me in the right direction.

new HD's require the recovery discs to install the OS

 

[DriftingSand]

Howdy. A few years ago my old computer got some sort of a virus. It didn't crash but it was doing weird things. It has a 500GB hard drive. I went out and bought a 1TB hard drive and installed it. However, the computer didn't recognize it. I've been using computers for years but don't know much about installing hardware. Anyway, I finally went out and bought a new system and have been using it ever since.

I was thinking, the other day, about hooking my old computer up to my TV but still don't know how to get that 1TB hard drive up and running. Is this something that I can do myself or will I need to hire a professional? Is it simple or tricky?

Hopefully there's a computer guru who can help me out or point me in the right direction.

new HD's require the recovery discs to install the OS

Then I'm probably SOL. I bought the system with Vista already installed but it didn't come with any recovery discs. I was hoping I could transfer the information from the existing hard drive to the new hard drive.

 

[namvet]

Howdy. A few years ago my old computer got some sort of a virus. It didn't crash but it was doing weird things. It has a 500GB hard drive. I went out and bought a 1TB hard drive and installed it. However, the computer didn't recognize it. I've been using computers for years but don't know much about installing hardware. Anyway, I finally went out and bought a new system and have been using it ever since.

I was thinking, the other day, about hooking my old computer up to my TV but still don't know how to get that 1TB hard drive up and running. Is this something that I can do myself or will I need to hire a professional? Is it simple or tricky?

Hopefully there's a computer guru who can help me out or point me in the right direction.

new HD's require the recovery discs to install the OS

Then I'm probably SOL. I bought the system with Vista already installed but it didn't come with any recovery discs. I was hoping I could transfer the information from the existing hard drive to the new hard drive.

nope. the new is clean as a virgin's honey pot. can you go back to the seller and get them??? most OS systems give the option to burn your own recovery CD's. BTY which OS is it???

 

[DriftingSand]

new HD's require the recovery discs to install the OS

Then I'm probably SOL. I bought the system with Vista already installed but it didn't come with any recovery discs. I was hoping I could transfer the information from the existing hard drive to the new hard drive.

nope. the new is clean as a virgin's honey pot. can you go back to the seller and get them??? most OS systems give the option to burn your own recovery CD's. BTY which OS is it???

I believe I have Vista on my old system. My new system came with 7 but I upgraded to 8 (a mistake I wish I hadn't made). The old hard drive didn't crash or anything. It just had some glitches that may or may not be attributed to a virus. Instead of wasting time trying to get it working to my satisfaction I simply bought a new computer system.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Throw all of that crap away and go buy yourself a nice Apple computer.

 

[DriftingSand]

Hooking up hard drives is usually pretty easy, but I need some basic information first.

The new drive, is it PATA (IDE) or SATA? You can tell by how it is connected

Do you know how to get into bios? Generally you press del during boot up, but it could be F2 or another key. If you do, does bios see the drive?

What operating system are you running? Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 or other?

Hi Uncensored. I just opened my old tower and it appears to have both of the above cables connected to the hard drives. In other words, there are two SATA cables and two PATA cables. A SATA and a PATA are plugged into the old hard drive and there were two spares that I plugged into the new hard drive when I installed it. However, I may be wrong about the PATA cables. They don't look identical to the picture above. Instead of having a flat cable there are multiple wires (of varying colors) but the plug itself is similar (flat and wide). My SATA cables look identical to the above picture.

 

[DriftingSand]

Throw all of that crap away and go buy yourself a nice Apple computer.

I've actually considered it. I may very well give it a try. I just don't like re-learning a bunch of stuff.

 

[namvet]

Then I'm probably SOL. I bought the system with Vista already installed but it didn't come with any recovery discs. I was hoping I could transfer the information from the existing hard drive to the new hard drive.

nope. the new is clean as a virgin's honey pot. can you go back to the seller and get them??? most OS systems give the option to burn your own recovery CD's. BTY which OS is it???

I believe I have Vista on my old system. My new system came with 7 but I upgraded to 8 (a mistake I wish I hadn't made). The old hard drive didn't crash or anything. It just had some glitches that may or may not be attributed to a virus. Instead of wasting time trying to get it working to my satisfaction I simply bought a new computer system.

forgot to ask. what name brand is the PC ???

 

[Ringel05]

Hooking up hard drives is usually pretty easy, but I need some basic information first.

The new drive, is it PATA (IDE) or SATA? You can tell by how it is connected

Do you know how to get into bios? Generally you press del during boot up, but it could be F2 or another key. If you do, does bios see the drive?

What operating system are you running? Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 or other?

Hi Uncensored. I just opened my old tower and it appears to have both of the above cables connected to the hard drives. In other words, there are two SATA cables and two PATA cables. A SATA and a PATA are plugged into the old hard drive and there were two spares that I plugged into the new hard drive when I installed it. However, I may be wrong about the PATA cables. They don't look identical to the picture above. Instead of having a flat cable there are multiple wires (of varying colors) but the plug itself is similar (flat and wide). My SATA cables look identical to the above picture.

No, you have PATA, the other is a power cord which is why your new HD won't work. you probably have an old Pentium 4. I may be wrong but I don't think they make 1TB HDs for PATA, also not sure but you may be able to get a PATA to SATA adapter. Where did you plug the PATA cable into?? Knowing what your system will or will not accept is the biggest issue when dealing with component replacement.
There is one other possibility, the hard drive might be bad straight from the factory, it happens.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Then I'm probably SOL. I bought the system with Vista already installed but it didn't come with any recovery discs. I was hoping I could transfer the information from the existing hard drive to the new hard drive.

Is there a green and white sticker on the case? If so, that is your license. You can download Vista from MSDN and the number on your sticker is your key.

 

[Uncensored2008]

new HD's require the recovery discs to install the OS

Then I'm probably SOL. I bought the system with Vista already installed but it didn't come with any recovery discs. I was hoping I could transfer the information from the existing hard drive to the new hard drive.

nope. the new is clean as a virgin's honey pot. can you go back to the seller and get them??? most OS systems give the option to burn your own recovery CD's. BTY which OS is it???

There are tons of options.

Many times the new drive comes with cloning software. If not, there is Acronis True Image and dozens of other programs that will clone the old drive to the new one.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Throw all of that crap away and go buy yourself a nice Apple computer.

What if he needs to do something more than Facebook?

 

[Uncensored2008]

Hi Uncensored. I just opened my old tower and it appears to have both of the above cables connected to the hard drives. In other words, there are two SATA cables and two PATA cables. A SATA and a PATA are plugged into the old hard drive and there were two spares that I plugged into the new hard drive when I installed it. However, I may be wrong about the PATA cables. They don't look identical to the picture above. Instead of having a flat cable there are multiple wires (of varying colors) but the plug itself is similar (flat and wide). My SATA cables look identical to the above picture.

Okay, the old drive is probably IDE (PATA). The new one sounds like it is SATA, which is good, no jumpers for master/slave/CS to worry about.

Can you see the new drive in BIOS?

Does the machine still boot on the old drive? If so, we will want to go into computer management (control panel, administrative tools, computer management) and look at storage->disk management

You should see the new drive list as unallocated space. Right click on the drive graphic to the right of the name, and choose partition. Use NTFS for the partition type. IF it offers to format during the partition, accept it. Otherwise, when if finishes the partion, right click again and choose format.

 

[namvet]

put the old drive back in and do a full recovery