At 07:23 PM 12/12/98 -0700, you wrote:
>I am contemplating replacing a slave HD with a higher capacity one. Last
>time I upgraded my primary HD, it was a disaster that required a complete
>O/S install.
>I have a 2.1 GB WD primary and a 1.6 GB WD slave on the primary IDE
>controller. A CD is on the secondary controller. I know I can install the
>new HD on the secondary controller as master and copy the contents of the
>slave HD to it, then use the new HD to replace the old slave unit. This is
>very tedious as it requires multiple changes to the BIOS in addition to
>hardware changes.

My advice would be to swap the hard drives the first time you open the
computer.  What I mean is put the new HD in the Primary Slave position, and
move your old one to the Secondary Master (CD to secondary slave).  Then XCOPY
everything from the old to new (E: to D: assuming one partition on each
drive).  When you are done copying, all you have to do is take out the old HD
and move the jumper on the CD to master.  Of course, you will still have to go
into the BIOS and make the CMOS changes, unless your computer is set to auto.

>What about if I used a parallel port tape storage device to store the
>contents of the slave HD? Then I could remove the old HD and install the
>new one in one hardware changeout. Then restore the contents from the tape.
>So, unless there is a better way to do this, are there any suggestions on
>the external tape drive? I would appreciate any help.

Well, this is another way to go, but with a parallel tape device you will be
moving painfully slow compared to doing the XCOPY above.  Of course, a good
backup is always a good thing to have around 8-)

If you need the syntax for the XCOPY, send me a private e-amil and I will help
you out.

Good Luck!


Eric

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