Adding 3rd HD

  • Thread starter Thread starter jazu
  • Start date Start date
J

jazu

Hi.
My MB is Asus K8V SE. OS WinXP
Right now on my comp I have 2 HDs, Cd-RW and DVD-RW.
Looks like all my ports are taken.
I'd like to add one more HD. I was told I can disconnect CD and connect this
3rd there.
I did that, but when I start comp I don't see this 3rd HD and I don't see
DVD drive.
What should I do to finish my installing?
thanks
 
Have you checked the links on the back of the drives to make sure one is
Master and the other is Slave?
 
"jazu" said:
sure, but i have problem with 3rd HD
Click to expand...

So the third hard drive and the DVD-RW share a cable ?
If the DVD-RW is at the end of the cable, it is master.
If the third hard drive is in the middle of the cable, it is slave.
The cable should be the 80 wire type, and not the 40 wire type,
as that allows the faster UDMA transfer rates to work.

You could set the two devices on the cable both to "cable select",
and on the back of the DVD-RW that would be "CS". Cable select
usually requires the 80 wire cable to work, as the cable is
modified (cut) to make the cable select work.

Or, if the DVD-RW is on the end of the cable, you set it to
Master and set the hard drive to Slave.

It'll work once you get the two devices jumpered properly.

Paul
 
Paul said:
If the DVD-RW is at the end of the cable, it is master.
If the third hard drive is in the middle of the cable, it is slave.

Or, if the DVD-RW is on the end of the cable, you set it to
Master and set the hard drive to Slave.
Click to expand...


It doesn't matter whether the device at the end of the
IDE cable is Master or Slave. If there is just 1device
on the cable, all that matters is that the device be put
on the end connector to avoid the signal reflections
coming back from the unterminated cable end. When
there are 2 devices on the cable, all the controller
needs to know is enough to differentiate them - position
on the cable matters not a whit to the controller. If the
Master/Slave setting is determined by Cable Select
mode, the end device is Master and the middle device
is Slave, but the cable could just as well be wired to
make the middle device Master and the end device
Slave, and the controller still wouldn't care.

The only other impact of the Master/Slave designation
is in the default HD boot order in the BIOS - the DEFAULT
order puts the Master HD on ch. 0 ahead of all the other
HDs. If there is no. Master HD on ch. 0, the Slave HD
on ch. 0 will be at the head of the HD boot order. If there
are no HDs on ch. 0, ch. 1 is inspected in the same way.
This HD boot order is referenced by the "rdisk()" parameter
in the boot.ini operating system entries for the boot menu.
The boot loader, ntldr, interprets "rdisk(0)" to mean the
HD at the head of the HD boot order. It also interprets
"rdisk(1)" to mean the HD next in the HD boot order, etc.

So if you change the Master/Slave role of the HDs, you
will change which HD is searched for the partition containing
the boot files and then on which HD those boot files indicate
there is an operating system. (Note that I've been referring
specifically to the "HD boot order", not the "boot order" -
which includes HDs as just one of the categories of boot
devices.)

*TimDaniels*
 
Mike said:
This is a good time to get a PCI card with SATA ports.
Click to expand...

That's what I did in a similar situation. I have a spare connector in my
secondary IDE but preferred to go the PCI-SATA/EIDE route. More flexible
that way.
 
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