multiple hard-drives

[computerfreak]

hello,
i have a dell 8250 as my main computer, but i have 2 old computers just sitting here from when i upgraded a few years ago. i was about to throw the computers away, but then i thought i could save the hard drive and i wondered if i could upgrade my dell using the old hard drives and have 3 instead of one. I dont really need alot more memory, although it would be nice but what im really looking for is a RAM upgrade. so, a few questions:
1. is it possible?
2. if it is, will the different os's conflict (dell is xp, others are 98
3. Is it crazy hard (i dont mind a challenge, but not one that im going to spend the rest of my life on)
4. am i putting my files on the Dell at risk?

thanx in advance

[neuroking]

I would do this:
Chances are you old hard drives have nothing of importance on them. If they DO then get them on a network and just transfer everything importannt to the new comp (temporarily).

The only tough part after that is the jumpers. THis isa ctually really easy, but requires that you get the hard drive's documentation, which can be annoying. Pull the old hard drives out of the comps along with the data cable that attaches to the motherboard for one of them. Chance are the old hard drives are set up to be 'Masters'. Either on the top/side of the drive or in the documentation which you can download from the manufacturers' web sites, there will be a little list of jumper settings. Change one drive to Slave.

Just install (physically) the new drives in your new comp and connect the data cable to the motherboard (there should be two connections on 1 cable - plug the end one into the master hard drive, and the middle one into the slave). There should be a couple extra power leads not used on your power supply - plug those into the drives (I did menion turn the comp off, right?) Try to boot.

At this point you should be in Windows. If something went wrong, just turn off the comp and unplug the power from the drives, and post here (nothing will be damaged). If it booted without issues, open My Computer, and check that both drives show up. If they do, I would format them so they are nice and squeaky clean (right-click, format, NTFS).

Memory is a different issue, and chance are you won't be able to just drop it in, so avoid it.

Oh, so to answer those questions:
1) Yes
2) No, only the OS on the Primary Master drive should load (if Dell set it up right). The other two discs will be Secondary Master and Slave. But wipe them to avoid any possible conflicts later on.
3) Finding the jumper settings is the hardest part. If you're lucky, the manufacturer put them right on the drives. Other than that, not counting actually booting Windows, this is a 5 minutes operation, and probably one of the easiest computer upgrades you can ask for.
4) There's always some minor chance that soemthing unexpected will happen, but I have done this, jeez, no idea how many times (over 50?) and never had a problem. Worst thing that could happen is you get an error at boot because the comp is looking for the OS on the other hard drives.

Here's a link in case you want to see this explained another way:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/static/html/hdinstall.html

[computerfreak]

thanx alot, neuroking. great advice!

[computerfreak]

ok, so i opened both the computers and took out the old hard drive. in the new comp, i found an unused power cable but no extra spot for the thick grey cord that looks like its a bunch of cords put togather

[neuroking]

Hrm, I didn't think Dell would be that cheap. Usually you get 2 PATA and 2 SATA heads on there. Is your primary hard drive plugged into a cable that is much more narrow (probably about a finger's width wide)? What about your DVD drive?

The problem is that your old drives are PATA, and your new comp has, it sounds like, only SATA. If there is no other PATA header on the mobo, you have 2 options:
1) Get a PATA to SATA adapter for each drive (pain the ass and costs about $60 total)
2) Get 2 USB/firewise enclosures and use the drive as an external storage drive. (about $40, but good versatility)

Of course there are tons of places offering 250GB drives for <$100, so not sure now much sense either makes.

Another thing, if you have a similar cable (big gray one) going to your DVD drive, there might be another plug along the cable. If not, and one of the other comps had a 2 head gray cable, you could swap them, and make sure the dvd is plugged into the end one. If you set one of the old HDs to slave, you might be able to salvage one of them at least.

Oh and third option. Might be the best one. Get an IDE controller card, and pop it into an open PCI slot. $15 only. If you have a PCI system (not sure if your is PCI, PCI-X, or PCI-Express but i think the below item will work for either PCi or PCI-X), something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16816124001

Poopy Dell and their poopy parts. Check around the mobo again. Sometimes they place tha second header in a weird spot.

[computerfreak]

there is a second grey plug with a thing in the middle (both old hard drive and dvd drive), but they are both recieveing ends and obviously wont connect

[neuroking]

That should work. If you notice, the pins are always on the mobo and the drive itself. Just make sure it's oriented correctly. There should be a plug, then long stretch, then 2 plugs closer together. The lone plug goes to the mobo, the second goes to the slave, and the last goes to the master. Like this:

|---------------|-------|
mobo slave master

All will be 'female' ends.

[computerfreak]

how do i get all the 'female' ends to connect--i get the order but the slave has no way to connect to the master

[neuroking]

So in the above diagram, the rightmost goes to your DVD drive. The middle goes to your newly installed hard drive (with jumpers set to slave), and the left most goes to the mobo. The CD/HD/mobo headers should all be male (lots of little copper pins), adn the ribbon cable should be all female (all black plastic).

[computerfreak]

oh wow that was really easy... now i get it. thanx again, neuroking