Changing HDD

I have two HDD & some spare drives. I was wondering can i switch them at will with new drives & keep the data on the old drive & just stick it back in when i need the data from it? Also if i have a certain OS on the first drive is it possible to take out that Drive & put in a different drive with a different OS on it & I will still see the second drive without having to do anything else, or this new drive to see the second drive or even the first with the previous OS?
Or do i have to run some utility or application?????????
Any answers to this question would be much appreciated

 

clonex,

Several questions:

I think so. Try. I'd go into BIOS Setup to see if the drive is recognised

Yes again, but check Bios as above.

Yes, as above.

As above. You had better familiarize yourself with your BIOS Setup program; read your motherboard manual.
It all sounds like too much bother to me, but, on the other hand, experimentation is good for your soul

 

Make sure the IDE detect in BIOS for Primary and secondary is set to Auto on all.

 

Hi clonex (welcome to the BBS),

DOS based operating systems like Win 98 or 95 cannot read partitions formatted as NTFS. If you would like universal read/writing you will need the partitions formatted as FAT32 (Win 2000 and XP give you the choice of which format system to use, they read both).

Matt

 

Hi Clonex,

I thoroughly recommend using a rack for your HD's. I have a rack fitted and three HD's - one has Suse Linux on, and the other two have XP Home, both kept up to date. It means buying three racks at about $12 each, but much easier than opening your box each time.
I just power down, change the HD's and reboot. Never had a problem yet!
(I think that I may regret saying that!!)

Roger