Just bought a p7-1234. I have some questions...

[Dubez]

I had a hp a6000 that died due to a power outage, so i went out and bought a new computer. I needed to upgrade any way. Anywho, the a6000 had 2 320gb drives in it, I'm praying that the one with the main information on it is aokay. Here's my dilemma.

I have a hard drive enclosure, but its not compatible with the drives out of the a6000. They are hitachi Deskstar sata drives.

Question 1, how difficult is it to pop one of the drives into the new computer to see if the information is still on there. Also if that is a possibility, would there be a problem because it has Windows Vista operating system on it?

Question 2 can I take the dvd-r drive from the a6000 and put it in the expansion bay of the p7-1234?

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

These HP 'how-to" articles should be helpful. This manual should also be helpful.

I don't see any issues with the hard drives unless they were a RAID Array.  The drive cage in your PC might only be provisioned for two hard drives.

Your PC should have an empty optical bay so the optical drive should work.  No drivers are needed.

You will need a SATA data cable for each hard drive and the optical drive.  Look for extra power connectors near the optical drive and at the hard drive cage.

Forget about VISTA if it's an OEM license as that would not be legal even if it did boot. 

[Dubez]

Thanks for your reply. The 2 drives are Hitachi deskstar sata drives. So I should be able to use the connecting from my old computer to hook the drives up?

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

Please reread my above reply.

If the Hitachi hard drives were install internally in your a6000 not used in a RAID array and are in fact SATA hard drives then I don't see any issues unless you haven't disclosed other details about those hard drives.

The motherboard in your PC has six SATA ports so there should be data ports available.  These SATA cables will work.  If you don't have enough SATA power connectors then you will need aSATA power splitter.

There is an outside chance that you might need a bigger power supply but I would give it go.

BTW, I am using two Hitachi Deskstar 1.5 TB SATA III hard drives in my PC without any issues.

[Dubez]

Dave what is Raid Array? My a600 had 2 320gb drives one was a c: used for every thing, and the other drive was barely used, dont really know why.

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

Don't you mean a6000?

[Dubez]

Actually, thanks for all your help. The tutorials were great, everything is running perfect!

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

Of course it's running perfect.