Moving Windows 98/Me to a new Machine

First, get the hard disk setup information from your old PC's CMOS setup program you'll need this to ensure that the drive will work properly in your new PC. Enter the CMOS setup program by hitting <Delete>, <F1>, or another indicated key combination during start-up. Go to the menu and write hard disk setup down the setup parameters for the disk. These should include numbers for Cylinders, Heads, and Sectors record the mode (Normal, Large, and LBA). Your new PC will likely detect these settings when you install the drive but there's an outside chance you may have to enter this data manually. A very important step is to uninstall (That's right 'Uninstall' not disable) any anti-virus software on the new PC, and any anti-virus software that is installed on the old hard drive.

Now copy the setup directory from your old system's Windows CD-ROM to your hard disk. That way, if things go wrong with CD-ROM drivers on the new PC, you can still access setup files and update components. For Windows 95, it's the Win95 directory. For Window 98, it's the Win98 directory. You only need to copy the files in the directory, not folders or sub-directories. Make sure to have your new PC's driver disks handy in case Windows needs them.

Before unplugging the power cord or touching any components or wires, ground yourself by touching the metal frame of the case. Disconnect the drive's power cable and the flat IDE connector cable. Then look carefully at how the hard disk attaches to your computer. It's often easier to remove the drive bay assembly than it is to remove the drive itself.

Most Pentium and later motherboards have two built-in IDE connectors, one for the primary channel and one for the secondary. Each channel supports two hard drives or other devices. One device is designated the "master" and the other the "slave," distinguishing between the two devices installed on a single channel. The hard disk that came inside the new computer will most certainly be the master device on the primary channel. If you intend to attach the old drive to the primary channel-provided a CD-ROM or other drive isn't already installed there you must set the jumpers on the outside of the old drive for slave operation. If possible, we recommend setting up the old drive as the master on the secondary channel. A diagram on the hard drive case usually illustrates the proper jumper settings.

Need information on your old or new drive? Then visit our Drive Manufactures page for phone numbers, and jumper settings.

Now attach the hard disk and mount it inside the appropriate internal bay. Power up the system and reenter the CMOS setup program. Go to the IDE hard disk auto-install or autodetect menu, select the hard disk you just installed, and configure it.

The look of these menus varies depending on the BIOS manufacturer, but using them to do the configuration should not be difficult. Typically, autodetect looks for four drives a master and a slave on both the primary and secondary channels. For the just-attached drive, toggle selections until you come to the proper channel designation, and select the drive. When in doubt, check your system's documentation.

Next, prepare the new disk to accept data from the old. For this task, you will need to boot from a Windows 95 or Windows 98 startup floppy. You will first prepare the partition by running Fdisk. Running Fdisk is a straightforward task. Keep in mind that if the new drive is to use FAT32 you must answer [Y] yes to the question "Do you wish to enable large disk support". If you're not presented with this question, you have an original Windows 95 build, and you are limited to creating at maximum 2GB partitions. Once the partition is setup, you will need to reboot from the floppy, and format the new partition (Logical drive(s)).

Now comes the tricky part. The Windows setup you moved onto that new drive is configured for your old system's motherboards hardware configuration, BIOS, and components. The first time you boot to Windows 9x in the new system, Windows will start reconfiguring itself, Windows 98 is good at this, Window 95 to a lesser degree.

Once Windows completes its first boot, check Device Manager (select Control Panels System) and make sure all your hardware is working. If a device is missing from the list or a yellow circle appears next to a device name, that piece of hardware is not properly installed. In this case, try rebooting again once or twice. If the trouble persists, run Windows setup program; it will perform a complete re-installation which will re-detect your hardware configuration, while keeping your installed programs (Software configuration) intact. If that tactic doesn't work, you'll need to manually install the driver for the device in question with the Add/Remove hardware wizard in Control Panel.