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Mum says thanks so much for the concise instructions! I think we're good to go now...

Hopefully my next post will report that everything works! 

You're too kind.....

OK 4wd - let me see if I have the 'Ducks in a Row!" 

I have 4 Bays so I'll end up with:
 
Bay 3 - SATA Optical
Bay 4 - Seagate SATA

Maxtor underneath

How do we connect the optical?

Thanks....

CleverCat, sorry to see you are in South Africa. If you were anywhere close to me I'd have been more than happy to road trip over to fix you up.

Now wouldn't that be ideal! It's a very nice gesture...

Which is the best option for maximum result?

I didn't put it together - but my IT guy/friend who has a Degree in Computer Engineering did! 

Yikes - I think I need physical help and I know where to get it..... I don't think Mum's up for all the above! 

Will keep you posted....

Thanks 

The one optical connected at mo is an IDE! Its 8 years old. But the disconnected one is SATA....

No more Road Blocks - Pleeeeeeze.........

I've been asking about the Slave/Master config for years but keep getting - "It's not a problem" - I don't agree....

Anyway - here are the pics Mum took (on the floor, in her nightie wearing a dust mask - there was a whole family of Dust Bunnies' living in the case which she cleared with canned air!) 

4wd - have sent PM

 

Thanks 4wd - will absorb info then decide 

Mum says she's willing to delve into the case if necessary, but I've just got to make sure we unplug the right drive! 

Thanks again - BTW I'm always fully backed up..... or did u mean the BIOS?

 

ECS
Model   G31T-M7

Will check manual - only just got here as we had no power all morning!  

Unfortunately not myself as I'm disabled and can't walk and Mum's skills don't stretch that far!   She's quite savvy with all the connections like USB etc so maybe she could...

If it's the only way, I'll have to plead with my local PC shop to send their guy who hooked up new one to disconnect then return to reconnect....  

I have detailed MOBO manual with lots of pics so will see if Mum is willing!   Bear in mind she's just turned 84! 

I have EasyBCD! Thought I might need for this...

I'm unable to physically unplug Maxtor - how do I 'remove?'  So I do this just during initial install?

Gonna need to get my ducks in a row for this! 

I would have put my old MOBO and CPU in new case, but they couldn't take Win7.....

At least all my Data is backed up on an external drive! Plus, I have an external enclosure drive....

Another complete PC would cost around R4000 

The 'Bank Of  Mother' doesn't stretch that far 

Prices to high here - already cost me over R2000 - 2 months pension to upgrade MOBO and CPU. Laptops cost around R3000 for Netbook!!

I have one PC with 2 Hard Drives  Or is that what you meant?

I'm planning to reinstall Win 7 - here's my plan:

Current Setup: 7 year old Maxtor 160GB partitioned ATA Drive with Win 7 installed
                     Brand New Seagate SATA 500GB partitioned and ready to go! (100GB for system - yes I know it's overkill but I've found Win 7 seem
                     to take up more space than XP) rest for Data
                     
Here's my plan: (After 18 months of using Win 7 it's become messy and slow and I now realise I need to do things differently and I neglected to make an Acronis bare bones Image after install)

I want to rebuild on new drive while continuing to be able to boot into current system until I've 'tweaked' new build to my satisfaction. As long as I wipe old system before the 30 day Activation is up, will I run into issues with licensing? 

I plan to use old drive for Open Source OS.

Any advice would be welcome!

Thanks 

I <3 them too.... 

This looks very promising - can't wait to try it! 

Or you could just use this:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/restart_explorer.html

Works on Win 7 

Forgot u need to right click  

But, PDF XChange Viewer does it on hover! (Pdf only) (Not sure about XP though)  

Windows 7 previews image and text files on hover in Explorer for me!  

Not sure if u need Windows 7....

Yes - with Quick Pdf Tools you can do that and much more! I find it invaluable... and its FREE 

Quick Pdf Tools

Mine all organized with the PortableApps.com Platform - works great! 

Not sure if these fit your needs, but I find them invaluable! Good price too...

http://www.debenu.com/quick-pdf-tools/index.php

http://www.pdfsam.org/