So my motherboard went out on my old Gateway last week.  Got my new Dell today, and it's smokin'!

Anyway, Gateway (=assholes) wants $79 per CD to recover my HD info (the computer is 4 years old, so out of warranty).  So with about 8 gigs worth of info, that's roughly $790!!!  Well, that's obviously not going to work.

I only need a few important files.  Sooo, how can I connect my old HD to the new computer (are they compatible?) and copy over the essential files?  

My old computer had Win98, the new one has XP.  

I can provide more info if you need it.

Thanks!

That's an easy one :)

Open the cases of both computers.
Locate the HD in the old one, remove to screws that mount it in it's cage, slide out HD, leave the wide gray ribbon cable plugged into the HD, unplug it from the motherboard, remove the power cable from the HD (couple of red and black cables)
Look at the backside of the HD: move the little black jumper from Master to Slave, or Cable Select (should have markings)
Plug the loose end of thew ribbon cable into an appropriate spot on the motherboard of the new computer (yes, there should be at least 2, with 2 channels each, so you can run 2 HDs and two CD drives in one computer)
Locate a powerplug (looks just like the one you pulled out)
Start the computer (yes, it was turned off while you were working on it, wasn't it?)
Go into the BIOS (Dell, I think you have to hit F1, or F1, or Esc, or maybe Del while booting)
Locate the setting for the HDs, like primary/secondary HD or IDE or some such
Set it to Auto
Exit, reboot
Now WinXp should see both harddrives, and you could move the files you want to the newer one, or just run the compie with two harddrives.
It will boot from either harddrive, if it comes up with 98 instead XP, move the jumpers on each HD to cable select, make sure the HD you want as primary HD is plugged into the appropriate jack on the board.

In case of SCSI HDs, just daisy-chain the fellers :)

Well, presuming the old drive is IDE, it will be easy.  Just crack open the case on the new machine and locate the new hard drive.  Follow the ribbon cable back to the MB and you will find the IDE controllers.  There should be two of them, each of which will support two IDE devices for a total of four.  Depending on what other peripherials you have will depend on how many more devices you could hook up, but you should at least have room for your old HD.  On each controller, one device must be set up as master and one as slave.  The new HD should be set as the master device on the first IDE controller in the new PC.  Depending on how many CD drives you have (i.e., separate CD-ROM and CD-R) will depend on how the rest is set up.  If you only have one other IDE device, it could either be set up as the slave on the first controller or the master on the second (though the latter would be the better configuration).

You'll see the ribbon cables will likely each have three females ends on them - one to plug into the controller, and one for each device...

So, what you need to do is examine your existing configuration.  If you currently have two IDE devices plugged each, each set as master on a different controller, you'll need to set your old HD up as a slave (as it is likely currently set to master) and connect it to one of the free female ends on the existing ribbon cables.  Do do this, you'll need to manipulate the jumpers on the back of the HD.  These are just little connectors that bridge two pins on the device.  There will likely be three possible positions, one master, one slave, and one that is supposed to autodetect the state, but that is not really recommended.  They should be labeled in some way, but it may be on a sticker on another part of the HD and not right next to the jumpers.

If you have two devices and they are currently connected to the same controller on the same cable, then you can keep the old HD set up as master and just connect it to the second controller.  You'll likely need to supply your own cable for this.  

If you have three devices (like the HD, CD-ROM, and CD-R), just find the controller with a free space, plug your old HD in and make sure one device is set to slave and the other to master.  

That should be it hardware-wise.  You may have to go into your BIOS and set the state of whatever controller you plugged the old HD in to autodetect - instructions for your BIOS should come with the new PC.  Then just fire her up and the old device will appear as a new drive letter.  You can copy the files you need over, then reformat the old HD and keep it in there for some extra storage space.  If it is an older PC, it is likely a slower drive than your existing one, so I wouldn't install any programs on it, but it would be a good place to keep mp3's, pictures and such if you are into that.

Rocko

Okay, thanks for the great info so far, but I ran into another problem.

So I daisy chained the two hard drives with my new HD set up as the master (I think).  There is no switch or anything else on the old HD that can be set to 'master' or 'slave' as far as I can see.

So I power up the computer, and go into BIOS to set auto detect for the second drive.  The computer reads 'unknown device' in BIOS.  So I exit and save, and reboot.  So at this point the computer hangs up in the setup.  I can't tell  if it is working, no sound or blinking lights, so I waited about five minutes.  No error messages, but no progress.

No success, so I pulled the old HD and switch back.  Should I wait longer at the setup?

What's the make/model of the hd??  I'll try to link you to mfr's support page.  'Switches' you're looking for are actually jumper pins that get shorted with a little plastic jumper gizmo to select master or slave.  They'll be near the connector on the hd where you plug the ribbon cable.

-hanko

Naw, five minutes is plenty of time, that can't be it.
The jumpers are little, usually black suckers. About 3 millimeter in size. Located at the back of your harddrive.

________________________
(000) " " " ============
_________________U______
PWR   M S C    Data

That's what the back of a HD looks like, more or less, with PWR being the place for the power plug, MSC are the different positions for the little jumpers and Data, this is where the ribbon cable goes.

Now the power cable is pretty simple, that's a shaped plug, nothing you can do wrong here.

The jumpers can be pulled out and slid over the little metal prongs, according to what you're trying to do. Choosing Cable Select is not the most elegant way to do it, but a sure fire way. That way, the position of the drive on the cable defines wether the drive is master or slave. There's usually a diagram of the settings printed on a sticker, or stamped on the harddrive.

The Data jack:
Pin 1 is usually marked with a red or blue stripe, plus the plug is shaped to go in only the correct way (notch in jack, nose in plug) Make sure the plug is the right way around on all three ends.

The plugs: you should have three plugs on the cable, and they all should be blue. Grey might work, but the IDE ribbon cables with the blue plugs comply with the latest specs. The grey ones sometimes just don't work at all.

The plug at the end of the longest leg of the cable goes into the motherboard, the one at the end of the shortest leg into your master drive, the plug between them into the slave (master and slave will be defined by the position of the drive on the cable, hence Cable Select)

Before you install the spare harddrive, look for a diagram listing the number of cylinders, heads, sectors (C/H/S). Write this down, you might have to enter the values into the BIOS manually.

Can't think of anything else at the moment.

Got it!  Thanks Kar98 for the detailed assist.

Didn't know those were 'switches.'

Saved all my important files, pics, IE favorites, etc..., and am formatting as we speak.  Now I'll have an extra 10 gigs of storage.  This new Dell is VERY nice.

Thanks to all, as always, AR15.com proves to be a fountain of knowledge, and some of it is actually useful info! [;)]