Re: Moving a hard drive w/ a Gateway-installed OEM WindowsXPto a new mobo

On 1/17/07, Scott Klement <pctech@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

<snip>
So, instead, they just put an extra wire in between.  So the 40-pin
connectors are still used, but now they're used on an 80 wire cable.
Alternating wires are used, with the unused wires in between to act as
"shields".

Interesting.  That's the first I've heard about that.

So for the best performance, you want to use an 80-wire cable with a

40-pin connector, and not a 40 wire cable.  If that makes any sense?

Perfectly.

The controller can only send data back and forth between once device at a

time on an IDE channel.  So if you try to access them both at the same
time (for example, copying a file from one to the other) the system will
have to alternate between the two, rather than reading from one at the
same time as writing to the other.   There are times when this speed
difference is noticible -- especially when using sofware mirroring or
RAID.  But, if you rarely try to access them simultaneously, it shouldn't
matter.

This is not my PC, but I will check whether they ever moved the swap file
off of the C: drive.  I'd guess not.  This is my normal practice.  I set up
different partitions in my own systems and I try to isolate my data in one
partition for easy backups.  Some applications, unfortunately, don't embrace
separating data from the application and insist on storing data in a
subfolder of the application in the Program Files folder.

BTW, I "resurrected" Windows and (hopefully) solved the bootup BSOD in this
system last night by "re-installing" it from the Gateway XP CD.  I got the
logon screen, with the two users from the family this belongs to.
Hopefully, that means that all of the applications and data are still
intact.  Unfortunately, Windows stopped me dead in my tracks there because
it wanted to activate, and wanted a product key.  Bleahh.  I tried the
online activation, but that puked, so I called the 800 number and talked to
some Joe in India, and no help there.  I was hoping to at least get a few
days of activation while I shopped for a WinXP disc.

Anyway, it would appear that I am past the BSOD and the hard drive
"problem".

- Dan