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Adding a hard drive

post #1 of 6
12/13/04 at 3:56am
Thread Starter 
Since I got my new AW, my broken old Sony is sitting in a corner looking sad. About the only thing still working on it is the hard drive. How hard would it be to pull it out and put it in my new computer?
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post #2 of 6
12/13/04 at 11:48am
If these are two desktop systems, of relatively recent vintage (that is, they both use IDE ATA interfaces), it's easy.

Unplug both,
Open the Sony, find the drive bay, detach it (see your computer's owners manual for the details). Remove the cables.

At this point, look for a jumper on the drive - you want it to be either in "cable select mode" or "slave mode". Most drives have a label that explains what the jumper positions are printed on them.

Open the AW, find the drive bay, insert the drive and secure it (again, see the AW manual for how to do this.). Insert the cables (the connector to use should be the one that is closer to the drive controller, not the one on the end of the ribbon cable).

Close everything up, and boot up.

ed
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post #3 of 6
12/13/04 at 1:53pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkfire
Open the Sony, find the drive bay, detach it (see your computer's owners manual for the details).

Thats kind of funny. When I got the Sony, the owners manual had all kinds of dire warnings about opening the computer myself, and it had stickers on it saying I voided the warranty if I opened the case. And I'm sure it said somewhere in the manual that by opening the case, I hereby forfeit my first born to Sony.

Anyway, how do I tell if it is IDE ATA? Its about 3 years old, and Sony doesn't tell you all this wonderful stuff.
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post #4 of 6
12/13/04 at 2:58pm
Is this Sony a tower-style desktop, or is it a laptop?

If it's a laptop, then all bets are off as to whether it would even fit in your new machine.

ed
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post #5 of 6
12/13/04 at 3:35pm
If the Sony is not working at all and you are not sending it for repairs, who cares about warranty. If both your computers are desktops, just take the hard disk and put in another. If both are laptops (or at least the new one is), take out the harddisk and use an enclosure to make this an external hard disk. You will need a 3.5" or 5.25" enclosure for desktop harddisks or a 2.5" enclosure for notebook harddisks.
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post #6 of 6
12/13/04 at 6:46pm
Thread Starter 
It's a desktop. And it's way out of warranty, I'm just saying they didn't tell me anything about any parts or how to open it up or anything like that.
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