No, the CD drive is not necessary to install a new drive. It is only
necessary if you want to install an OS on it unless the Win98 setup files
are on your harddrive already. Most manufacturers place them in
C:\Windows\Options\Cabs although they may place them elsewhere. Use find to
see if you can locate them, many will show as win98_##.cab.

In the named box type: *.cab
Select the c: drive to look in and click find.

If you happen on a folder with many many .cab files named as above, bingo,
you've got them on hand in the drive. Write down the entire path to the
folder to use in DOS. If any directories or folders have names longer than
8+3, 8 characters for the name +3 for the extension then you will need to
get the DOS name of the directory/folder. To do this right click on the
folder and click Properties. The dos name will be shown in the window that
comes up.
ex: Program Files has the DOS name Progra~1

In this case, after you have partitioned/formatted the drive:
Shut down and install the second drive as explained previously
Boot with a 98 boot disk as stated previously
Select "boot without CD support"
At the prompt type and press Enter after each:

cd
d:\ **Note:use the actual drive letter that the setup files are on if not
on d:**
Type in the full path to the folder where the setup files are and include
setup.exe, such as:
d:\windows\options\cabs\setup.exe

Your Windows install should now begin using the files on the hard drive.

Have fun and good luck.


--

Brian A.

Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"Larry" wrote in message
...
I'm glad I asked this. My CD drive hasn't been working lately and I
hadn't bothered getting it fixed. It appears from what you say that the
CD drive is necessary to install a new hard drive. Or is there a way
around that?

In any case, I've obviously got to get that CD drive fixed or replaced.



Brian A. wrote:
If you plan to purchase a hard drive larger than 120GB, then you will
also need a controller card that supports 48bit addressing, Windows
does not support drives larger than 137GB. As well, depending on the
size of the drive you may need to update windows FDISK for drives
larger than 64GB and possibly the BIOS if yours doesn't support LBA.

Once you have the new HD, look at the backend where the ribbon cable,
jumpers and power connects. Most drives have a diagram on the top of
the drive for jumper settings. Set the jumper on the new drive to be
the Master and set the jumper on the old drive to be the Slave.

For now pull the old drive from the machine and install only the new
drive to avoid possible corruption or worse, fdisk and format the
wrong drive. Connect the longer end of the ribbon cable to the
Primary IDE on the motherboard and the other end, where the
connectors are closer to one another, to the harddrive. Make sure the
drive is set for either Single or Master, Single doesn't always work.
Connect the power to the drive.

Either use the manufacturers disk if supplied to partition/format the
disk or
Put a 98 boot disk that has CD support in the Floppy drive and boot
the machine
Select Boot with CD support from the presented menu.
Note the drive letter assigned the CD drive near the end of boot.
fdisk (partition) and fromat the drive.

How to Use the Fdisk Tool and the Format Tool to Partition or
Repartition a Hard Disk
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q255867/

Once the drive is partitioned/formatted, place the Win98 setup disk
in the CD drive. Then type at the prompt and press Enter:

NotedCDdriveLetter:\setup.exe **Note: type the actual assigned CD
drive letter you noted earlier.**

Make sure you have your ProductKey (not the ProductID) on hand as you
will be asked for it.

Once you have a fresh install of Windows with all the drivers needed:
Shut down and install the old drive as the Slave on the connector
between the Master drive and mobo IDE on the ribbon cable.
Boot up and you will be able to drag/drop data files to where you
want them or keep them where their at and set the path to them within
the app that uses them.

Have fun and good luck.



"Larry" wrote in message
...


I'm planning to buy a new hard drive as my present one may be
failing. However, my present one may also be ok, in which case I
would want to keep the old drive and use it to back up the data on
the new drive.

Two questions:

How do I copy the data from the old drive to the new drive? Is
there a simple, one-step way of doing this so that I don't have to
go through a big job of backing all my stuff onto other media as
insurance?

If I decide to have both drives installed (using the old drive as a
backup medium), how do I do that?

If this is relatively simple, I will look to buy an inexpensive hard
drive and do the job on my own. If it's complicated, I will more
likely buy the HD from Dell so that their tech support can walk me
through it.

I have a Dell Dimension with Windows 98.

Thanks much.

Larry