T30 HDD swap about ??

[boac69]

Greetings all

I have 2 T30's and not much experience on either other than as a user. I have just aquired the 2366-R7G and want to know is it permissable to swap HDD's between the machines ??
They are both flashed up to the latest BIOS and embedded controller standard and are both running winXP sp2.
The only obvious difference I can see is one has a TCPA chip.
I ask this question because I want to install a new 60gb HDD and use the 40gh HDD in the -R7G but want to use the data from the 15gb HDD that is currently in the -R7G for both machines. I can borrow a second HDD caddy from a friend and have access to Norton ghost, I want to move HDD's to save swapping Ram modules about to meet the requirements of the ghost prog.

Many thanks for any advice offered
Regards
Graeme

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

You should be able to swap the drives between these two machines with no issues, apart from possibly having to add a driver or two.

Good luck and let us know.

[boac69]

Thank You

Swapping HDD's worked with no problems and no issues.

I have yet to upgrade the HDD to 60gb as it arrived from ebay as I went on a weeks vacation. I need to read up on formating a brand new drive, it seems I have to find a copy of FDisk, looks like a google task ??

The s/h memory modules I won on ebay arrived while I was away and on fit only one module was recognised so they were swapped about till it was apparent the the front memory slot was inop. I now know why this computer was so cheap but I did buy it for spares. Not deterred I reshearched the site, shapened up the point of an old 25w soldering iron and performed the recommended repair, something I would not have done without the support of this great site!
Again my thanks and admiration to all the contribitors who have helped all novices like me.
I am really enjoying playing with this spare parts machine as I have also cleaned and reseated the fan assembly, it now cycles as it should without the cpu tripping out to cool down,so I am beguining to feel confident and the magic is being revealed, I am thinking maybe I will end up with a complete spare machine to back up my old faithfull friend.

Kind regards
Graeme

[RealBlackStuff]

You'd be better off downloading the trial version of www.acronis.com TrueImage HomeEdition 11. With that you can make a backup of your current small 15HD and/or transfer it to the new larger HD.
A great help would be a USB enclosure for IDE 2.5" HDs.

[boac69]

Thank you RealBlackStuff, I dont want to sound "thick" but could you please explain why a USB 2.5 enclosure would be useful ??

I had a quick look at the software you recommended but it is only valid for 15days and it seems to do the same as Norton Ghost 12 which I have, also I have the offer of a 2nd HDD caddy for £5 from a friend who has never used it, is this item woth collecting ?? I can just borrow it.

I seem to have had a bit of luck recently in that a casual conversation in the pub yeilded a couple of old Travel star HDD's 20gb + 40gb and a Think dock 2631 all of which I think will work with my T30's from a guy who has gone over to Sony laptops and all for a couple of pints.

As to fitting the new 60gb hdd, my plan is to FDISK and format c:/s
then move hdd's so that 60gb is in the 2nd caddy and ghost the 15gb C hdd data to it. Then repeat the exercise for the old 40gb for the R7G.
What do you think ??

[boac69]

Formatting band new 60gb HDD: What a nightmare!!!
I F-disked and made the partition active, when I tried to format c:/s I got an insufficient memory message - - panic! not what I was expecting, back to google for help, I could not find an answer so I just loaded XP pro, the HDD boots etc etc but now I need to get the right data on it. After my recent successes I think I have got over confident for a novice. My new plan is to delete XP file by file and then ghost the data I want onto the HDD. Any helpful suggestions are warmly welcomed

Many Thanks
Graeme

[RealBlackStuff]

Back to the original 2.5" HD case.
You can put the 15gb HD in there, then connect it with the supplied USB Y-split cable to either of your T30s to copy the user-files over.
Windows Explorer (or equivalent) will see it as just another drive.
Please note that you can NOT copy programs over, they need to be installed on each T30.

You don't need any special program to copy files across, just Explorer.

For next time, if you want to install on a new hard disk, just insert the Windows CD. It will offer to partition & format it for you. No need to mess about with FDISK and FORMAT.

On such a big HD it is advisable to install 2 partitions. One partition about 15-20GB for Windows and programs. This can be 'sized' during XP's initial install.
Once installed, you can partition/format the rest of the HD, using Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Computer Management/Storage/Disk Management.
In there you should put all your user data such as My Documents, your emails, photos, music etc.