Installing a new hard drive

[dj316]

Hi

The IDE Hard drive in my computer is about to fail, everytime I start my computer I get an error message saying someything about "SMART - Hard drive has bad sectors replace as soon as possible" and then the computer shuts downs and tries to restart again. It does this on a continuous loop.

Anyway I was looking at new hard drives and it seems that most new hard drives are SATA and not IDE connections. I have checked my computer and my MOBO does not have any SATA connections.

I was basically looking to know that if i bought a new SATA hard drive is there a conversion lead or card that I install to connect the new SATA hard drive to my existing IDE MOBO. Or do I have to buy a new IDE hard drive, which there doesn't seem to be as many IDE hard drives for sale compared to SATA hard drives.

Also I was wanting to know if there was any way of transferring the contents and XP OS on my old hard drive onto the new hard drive. And if I do install a SATA hard drive and conversion lead or card (if there is one) and transfer the XP OS from the old hard drive onto the new hard drive will the computer boot up ok or will I have to change some settings or files, and if so how.

Any help would be greatlly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[rickoh]

dj316

You say your MOBO dosnt have connections for sata?...Probably your winxp os dosnt have the drivers for it either.
Sounds like an older computer. I would only suggest you buy an ide hd. There are lots around...and getting cheaper too.
Once you have it installed..(if you go that route)...make sure it is set as your master...and change the pins on your old drive to be the slave. If you are lucky and the old drive is recognized...you can then just copy anything off your old drive to your new one.

 

[mailpup]

There are adapters to convert your IDE controller but I also recommend just getting an IDE hard drive. There are still plenty.