okay right now i have 2 hard drive a a 30 gig and a 40 gig. my 30 is my master with the 40 being the slave i want to do a fresh install of windows on the 40 and make it the master whats the easiet way to do this? also which operating system do you think i should use i've heard XP isn't that amazing, but if its more stable and compatible with more hardware that be a definate plus. otherwise i'd probably stay with 98 or is ME better? lengthy questions i know, thanks for answering ahead of time. Ty

If you want opinions, win98 or win98SE is the most stable O/S. XP is having alot of trouble being compatible with drivers. Same situation with ME or 2000. Driver issues on all of them. Win98 on the other hand can handle just about anything you can throw at it. Again, just my opinion. Now on switching hard drives there are questions I would asked before I did anything. Like is this a computer that you built, or is it a manufacturer one that needs to have a restore disk run to recover the bios and special partitions and drivers? If not, just switch the jumpers and do a format c: on both and go for it. If it is a manufacturer computer, I'd get more facts before I proceed. Good luck. Terris WebSpace

If you are using 80 wire/40 pin ide data cables, then: the Master drive MUST be on the 'end' connector and the Slave drive on the 'Middle' connector

How right you are Terri. My brother in law shoved a new HD on a Packard "Hell" before I could comment and then found that there was a tattoo on the old HD so he couldn't put any drivers back off the PB restore CD's. I spent weeks collecting them off the net, then sorting it all out for him. He's OK now - at last

Well Derek, I have learned more by working on old Comqaqs than you could ever imagine. If you read some of my posts here you will see. I don't jump in and say format anymore. I ask what brand computer it is, because we all know if you got a Compaq and you format, you are in deep...... Nice to hear from you, drop me a line. Terris WebSpace