I installed a new hard drive and reinstalled the existing copy of Windows XP on it (along with all the updates and service packs). I tried to connect the old hard drive to copy data over by two means. First by installing both hard drives on the IDE cable (yes, it's an older computer; my brother's), and second with an external USB enclosure. In neither instance did the computer recognize the drive. I had the jumpers set correctly for the ribbon cable option, and both drives were recognized by the BIOS at startup. The enclosure was powered up, the hard drive was spinning, and the found new hardware started then disappeared before it began looking for drivers (i.e. the box to walk through the process of installing new hardware never showed up).
This could be a hardware issue, however somehow I doubt it since the hard drive was working fine when I pulled it.
I am leaning towards it being a software issue with Windows realizing that there are two hard drives with Windows installed (with the same product key). Perhaps it is not recognizing the older drive due to copyright issues? Or just self-preservation because Windows doesn't want to get confused on which drive is the root system?
There are a bunch of pictures, songs, etc that my brother does not want to lose in this process.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. The computer is a Dell Dimension 3000 desktop with 1GB of RAM (in case that has any bearing on the convesation).
Best,
Lochlain
This could be a hardware issue, however somehow I doubt it since the hard drive was working fine when I pulled it.
I am leaning towards it being a software issue with Windows realizing that there are two hard drives with Windows installed (with the same product key). Perhaps it is not recognizing the older drive due to copyright issues? Or just self-preservation because Windows doesn't want to get confused on which drive is the root system?
There are a bunch of pictures, songs, etc that my brother does not want to lose in this process.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. The computer is a Dell Dimension 3000 desktop with 1GB of RAM (in case that has any bearing on the convesation).
Best,
Lochlain