Consider cannibalism.
And no, it's not about inviting some irritating anti-techie to dinner.
If you've purchased a new PC and are wondering what to do with the old one, consider its juiciest part the hard disk drive. It can add functionality to the new machine and it's already paid for.
While I was looking for an easy way to back up data in case of hard disk failure or operator error, the inspiration of laziness struck me: What about installing a second hard disk? A 1.5 gigabyte hard disk from an earlier machine was available. And like most recent systems, the motherboard on the current system was capable of supporting four IDE drives a primary and secondary master and slave, two to each connector.
Master controls
Master? Slave? Nothing about whips and leather boots, folks. It's about the system addressing the hard drives.
The primary IDE interface master drive is almost always the boot drive. IDE hard drives look like a thick tobacco can with three connections on the back. The first, for a 40-pin ribbon cable, connects the drive to the motherboard. The second, a little plastic jumper, tells the drive whether it is a master or slave.
If you're smart enough to have saved the documentation that came with the old system, it will tell you how to set the jumper correctly. If not, in general, try: jumper in the middle of the double row of three pins is master, jumper on the left is slave.
The four-pin connection on the drive's extreme right as you look at it is for the power.
Remove the power connection from the drive to be transplanted and remove the 40-pin ribbon cable from the old motherboard, but leave it attached to the drive. You'll need one of those pocket-protector-type screwdrivers to unscrew the drive from the housing and attach it to the new PC. The screws are tiny, and easy to lose.
While doing all this, remember to guard against static electricity by grounding yourself before handling the parts, and keeping fingers away from the connectors.
Turn off and open the PC that's going to eat the old hard drive. Slide the old drive into a vacant spot in the drive case, and reattach it. The hard drive and CD-ROM of your new system are connected to each other and, by a ribbon cable, to the motherboard. Follow the cable down, and next to where it's plugged to the board. You'll probably see a vacant socket that says "IDE 1" or "IDE 2," depending upon whether the board's manufacturer started counting at 0 or 1. Whatever, that's your target.
Final arrangements
Be careful while making the connection not to bend the pins. Most recent ribbon cables and slots have a slot-and-tab arrangement that helps you align the right pin with the right wire. If not, one side of the ribbon cable will be colored to identify pin one and there will be a tiny, hard-to-read designation on the motherboard.
Once the ribbon cable is connected, connect the power supply from that tangle of multicolored wire that you see going to your existing drives.
Ready to roll almost. If you're not absolutely sure of the jumper settings, leave the case open and power up the system. After the system does a quick self-check, it will say "Press DEL to enter SETUP." You've got to tell the BIOS about the newly installed drive, so press DEL.
A menu will appear, navigated by the keyboard arrow keys and others the keys are at the bottom of the screen. The menu looks different across many systems, so general instructions are that you're looking for IDE auto detection. And the purpose is to tell the system that it has another hard drive and what kind it is.
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