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Installing alternative HDD
Hi all,
I have a Dell Dimension E520 - XP Media - RAM 2Gb with 2x160Gb HDD installed but not in RAID configuration. I want to remove the Primary drive and replace it with a new Seagate Barracuda ES 500Gb drive before installing Windows 7. The second drive is intended to be left in place so as to allow file transfers from backups. The BIOS has been updated to V.2.4.0.
I have been able to install the drive, format it and arrange a number of Partitions using a Spotmau boot disk. However, when I try to install the OS the program initiates and then crashes with a BSOD.
Can anybody suggest what I am doing wrong and how I may be able to correct the situation?
Many Thanks
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fireberd
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March 14th, 2010 16:00
I would suggest just formatting the drive with the disk drive manufacturers program, leave out the 3rd party program that claims to work miracles on everything. If you want to partition the drive, Windows 7 has that capability built in, there is no need for a 3rd party partition program.
I used to partition drives back in the old slow computer days, but not anymore. I'm currently using a 1TB drive on my Win 7 installation and there are no partitions. The OS could care less whether it's partitoned or not - it makes no difference to the OS.
Do you have all the needed Windows 7 drivers? You need at a minimum Vista drivers for most hardware (some such as SoundBlaster sound cards require Windows 7 specific drivers). Dell has both Vista 32 bit and Vista 64 bit drivers so you should be OK. Keep in mind, when you do get the new hard drive formatted correctly with NTFS, that the correct and required install sequence is (1) Install Windows, (2) Install Intel Chipset Drivers (3) Install Device Drivers including the Dell sound drivers, video, ethernet, etc. DO NOT skip the chipset drivers as they are key to a successful install. The chipset drivers define (identify) all the hardware devices on or attached to the motherboard.