Dead PDC in 2K3

OK the hard drive in our PDC died with 2k3 server standard. We have a bdc running, their files are temp hosted there and they can log on and off. My question is when i go reinstall the server software onto a new hard drive how do i go about making the newly installed domain controller primary again? I have done PDC's then added BDC's, but adding a PDC with just a BDC in place is something i have never done. is it as simple as when i set it up, and the BDC will see everything like it did before as long as i keep the domain name and IP address the same? can it reverse replicate the info on the BDC onto the PDC?
any help would be appreciated.

 

Promote your BDC before you do anything else.

 

but we need that machine to stay as the bdc, due to the fact that it is older hardware, houses our backup and nav server already , etc

 

by the way thx for responding to the other posts i made tonite newt
YOU ROCK

 

Happy to help.

 

Could someone shed some light on this?

I thought PDC BDC went away with NT Domains?

 

AD only uses domain controllers with no Primary or Backup. However, lots of folks are still running classic NT domains but using newer server OS versions for their DCs so will still have PDC and BDC(s).

I know that 2000 server is happy enough playing in a classic domain structure as a PDC/BDC and assumed that 2K3 will as well. From his use of the terms, I gather that eannatone is running that way and answered accordingly.

 

Ahh thanks.
I was under the assumption that classic NT domains could only exist if the DCs were NT boxes and the 2k and 2k3 were only member servers.

 

Update

OK here is what i did. I took newts advice and made the BDC the PDC, figuratively speaking. But i had to do so by seizing the roles from the now non-existent PDC. However when i tried to add the new DC to the domain it could not find the DC. It took a 45 min period of head scratching till i realized that i set the ISP DNS servers to resolve INTERNET connectivity problems yesterday, and i had forgotten to set them back. so i did full reboots of both DC's and everything was sunny.
i managed to get the file serving, print serving, and the new DC back up and running with 2-3 hrs. (including install time) i would have saved time if i knew earlier about my DNS settings.
But Newts advice to make the BDC full control over the domain is the right way to go, this way you are not forcing a DC to be something it is not. you are adding new things to an existing domain, which is always easier.

thx