Member Avatar for Deliriou5

Recently I purchased a new computer with Vista Pre-Loaded on it. So far, no major problems till I tried to connect the hard drive from my old computer to the new compuuters motherboard. I poped the restrictor that would make it a master out, so the new hard drive is booting properly. The old Hard Drive is IDE, there is a spot on the motherboard to plug it in, it has power and it starts when the computer is turned on. The old hard drive had XP on it and all I am wanting to do is make it so the hard drive from my old computer can be used as storage. Thing is.... I cant get the computer to regognize it. It does not show up in device manager at all. Someone told me that I may need to activate it in the BIOS. I dont know exactly how to do this. I was under the impression that Vista was a plug and play like XP. It seems to have picked up all my other hardware that is plug and play, including an external hard drive. I thought maybe the IDE port on the motherboard could be for a CD or DVD rom drive, but if it fits the slot I thought it should work.

Can anyone post the instructions for activation in the Bios, or can anyone tell me what I might be doing wrong? (also is there an adaptor I might be able to purchase that plugs into the but of the IDE hard drive and would connect to a SATA slot on the Motherboard?)

Thanks in Advance.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by lasher511
Member Avatar for lasher511

Ok yeah Vista and XP are plug and play however that is differnt to the bios. When you first turn your computer on it will come up with the logo of whatever brand computer you have bought. Down the bottom of this page there should be something that says press f2 to enter setup or press DEL the keystroke varies from computer to computer. This will give you access to your BIOS page.
Usually these vary from computer to computer as well as to the layout. but somewhere on this page there should be your Hard drive settings. If it is not on this main page try looking under hardware IDE devices etc.

Basically you are looking for a list that looks something like.

Harddrives
1. SATA Western digital 320GB
2. AUTO detect
3. AUTO detect

or
Harddrives
1. SATA Western digital 320GB
2. None selected
3. None selected

or

IDE Devices
1. LG CD/DVD RW
2. none/autodetect
3. none/autodetect

As i said how it will look will vary but what you have to do once you find the right spot is change one of the none/autodetect spots to the hard drive that you have installed (if it has been found once u press enter it should give you a list of options) and save and exit the bios.

Once you do this your computer should reboot and you should then be able to access the hard drive.

If you need any more help or need anything clarified because my instructions are a bit confusing then let me know.

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