Tech question for the class...

I have my last desktop computer (5 years old) that I am going to turn into a backup computer/file server for storage for my new desktop and current laptop.
Currently, the configuration is a 30G master hard drive and a 120G slave. I want to make the 120 drive the master and 30 a slave, just in case I need it.
The drives need to be reformatted and Windows needs to be reinstalled.
But, how to do this? Do I reformat the drives, then swap settings on master slave, or swap then reformat?

I'm a decent techie, but would appreciate the help of someone who's done this before....

 

Typically for IDE hard drives (on a five year old computer I assume you don't have SATA drives), you just move the actual cable connected to the hard drive. There is a place to connect the Master and a place to plug in the Slave. Check the writing on the physical hard drive to see where your cable is connected.

 

You're right on the drive, but I seem to remember (And I haven't cracked the case yet), that it isn't a matter of the cable, but a matter of setting a connector over two pins in one of three slots... kinda like pluging in a 2-prong lego ...
Still, my question is the order -- reformat, then swap order of drives or drives then reformat? And any potential problems... the 120G drive is about a year old and so is the memory. The hardware is fine.

 

Oops, forgot about that part of the question. You'll want to set up the new drive as a slave first and reformat it. Then you will begin the process of swapping the master/slave order.

I have never heard of anyone losing information on their drive by doing this, however it never hurts to back up your data just in case. Most likely you have too much information to copy stuff to CDs, so I recommend backing up onto a network or an external hard drive.

 

Sorry, I should have explained. This was my computer till I bought the new one a month ago. I moved everything over to the new one. But, my plan is to reformat and reinstall windows on the old one, then use the larger (and current slave drive) as the primary drive withthe intention to store copies of files. This will be the backup server
So as I asked: Do I swap functions of the drives from primary to slave then reformat or reformat, then swap...

 

Slappy, don't mean to jack your thread, but we also just bought a new computer and are stuck on moving the stuff over from the old one. How do you do it? I have never done it before and don't want to move everything over, just some stuff. But having never done it before, I have no idea how to do it this time.

 

Flash drives are the way I did mine. Got a nice 8GB one from Woot a couple months ago for $35 that I use any time I'm bouncing around computers.

Just got a new laptop last month, had five years' worth of files on my old computer, plus about 1,500 MP3s. Only made two trips from computer to computer -- once for the music, once for everything else. Piece of cake.

 

I used a transfer cable and software...
Once you run the software, you can pick and choose what you move.
Makes sense for a lot of files and if you want to keep settings on software; not as much if you're transfering a smaller about of files. Then flash drive or burning a DVD is the way to go.

 

Thanks, 'preciate the help.