fitting second hard drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter mike
  • Start date Start date
M

mike

I want to download info. from previous computer's hard
drive onto my new one. I believe this can be done by
something called slaving.
Can anyone tell me if this is a difficult process for the
inexperienced. Are there any particular pitfalls?
If the answers to the above are favourable where would I
look for instructions on the procedure?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Hi, Mike.

Sounds like some computer terminology is confusing you.

The typical PC today comes with two IDE channels built in. These are called
the Primary and Secondary channels. Each can accept two hard drives or
other devices (such as CD/DVD drives), so each cable that connects the
drives to the mainboard has connectors for two drives. The first drive on
each cable is the Master; the second is the Slave. The newest system uses
"cable select" to determine automatically which drive is master; older
drives need to have "jumpers" set to distinguish them. A jumper is a sleeve
that fits over a pair of pins on the drive to electrically connect the pins.

For a newbie, the hardest part might be working up the courage to actually
open the computer case and start poking around the unfamiliar insides.
Actually doing the job is no harder than changing the spark plugs in your
car. The job (both this first one and all future such upgrades and repairs)
will be MUCH easier if you read the manuals - and look at the pictures -
before you begin. You should have documentation for both the
computer/mainboard itself and for the HD, since different manufacturers use
different jumper settings and even change details between their own models.

With all that behind us, all you need to do is to power down, open your
computer, plug in your second drive to the cable, and reboot. Leave your
main HD (your "boot device") as Master on the Primary channel. Add the old
drive as primary slave, or on either position on the secondary cable,
depending you what CD/DVDs you have connected. If your computer doesn't
automatically recognize the second HD, recheck the mainboard manual to see
if you need to set the BIOS to recognize it. If the computer sees the
drive, then WinXP should see it, too.

In WinXP, use Disk Management (Run Diskmgmt.msc) to explore all your drives,
including the one you just added. Assign it a drive letter that does not
conflict with the letters you are already familiar with so that you can copy
files to and from it without confusion. Then simply use the normal Windows
commands to copy from the old drive to the new one. When you have retrieved
everything useful, you can use Disk Management to repartition and/or
reformat the old drive and use it for additional storage, if you like.

Read the manuals, open the case, and begin. If you get stuck, tell us what
you did and what happened. We are a few steps ahead of you on the learning
curve, but we got here the same way you are about to, so we have a pretty
good idea of how you feel. ;<)

RC
 
Hi

Further more, before you open the chassis, unplug the AC power cord from the wall socket
After opened the chassis, touch the metal frame with both of your bare hands to discharge any electro-static force
DON'T TOUCH any chips on the mobo with your fingers as it may cause damages to the chips
Usually the harddisk is set to cable select from the factory
If the IDE cable is a 40 Pin 80 conductors shielded cable, you can use the cable select for both harddisks
For older PC, the IDE cable may be a 40 Pin flat ribbon cable
You can easily identify that if this cable is the same as the one that connected to the CD-rom.
Buy a new 40 Pin 80 conductors IDE cable if it is the case

Mount the new harddisk underneath the old Hdd and fix with the screws at both sides
Connect the old harddisk to the adapter/connector at the far end (primary) and the new harddisk to the middle adaptor/connector (slave) , check that the connectors are not reversly connected.
The red line on the cable should be connected to Pin 1 (near the 12 V power socket)
than connect the 12V power cables to both drives

Connect the IDE cable to the mobo with red line to Pin 1 (usually it won't reversly connected as most mobo has right protect, refer to mobo user manual if you are not sure

Afterall, re-check all connections to ensure no losen/incorrect connections
Re-check all PCI devices to ensure those devices were not losen accidentally during the installation process

Close the chassis and replug the AC power cord
Start the PC, the new hdd should be detected
Right click My Computer/Manage/Disk managemen
Double click disk management, in the right pane, you should see Disk 0 and Disk 1 (the new slave drive
Right click on Disk1 and select initialize drive
Thereafter, right click on the volume (adajcent to the disk1) and assign a drive letter, than format and partition the drive to your needs

BTW, i would also suggest you to boot into BIOS and check that the primary IDE channel is set to auto-detect and enable UDMA mode

Good luck

Pete


----- R. C. White wrote: ----

Hi, Mike

Sounds like some computer terminology is confusing you

The typical PC today comes with two IDE channels built in. These are calle
the Primary and Secondary channels. Each can accept two hard drives o
other devices (such as CD/DVD drives), so each cable that connects th
drives to the mainboard has connectors for two drives. The first drive o
each cable is the Master; the second is the Slave. The newest system use
"cable select" to determine automatically which drive is master; olde
drives need to have "jumpers" set to distinguish them. A jumper is a sleev
that fits over a pair of pins on the drive to electrically connect the pins

For a newbie, the hardest part might be working up the courage to actuall
open the computer case and start poking around the unfamiliar insides
Actually doing the job is no harder than changing the spark plugs in you
car. The job (both this first one and all future such upgrades and repairs
will be MUCH easier if you read the manuals - and look at the pictures
before you begin. You should have documentation for both th
computer/mainboard itself and for the HD, since different manufacturers us
different jumper settings and even change details between their own models

With all that behind us, all you need to do is to power down, open you
computer, plug in your second drive to the cable, and reboot. Leave you
main HD (your "boot device") as Master on the Primary channel. Add the ol
drive as primary slave, or on either position on the secondary cable
depending you what CD/DVDs you have connected. If your computer doesn'
automatically recognize the second HD, recheck the mainboard manual to se
if you need to set the BIOS to recognize it. If the computer sees th
drive, then WinXP should see it, too

In WinXP, use Disk Management (Run Diskmgmt.msc) to explore all your drives
including the one you just added. Assign it a drive letter that does not
conflict with the letters you are already familiar with so that you can copy
files to and from it without confusion. Then simply use the normal Windows
commands to copy from the old drive to the new one. When you have retrieved
everything useful, you can use Disk Management to repartition and/or
reformat the old drive and use it for additional storage, if you like.

Read the manuals, open the case, and begin. If you get stuck, tell us what
you did and what happened. We are a few steps ahead of you on the learning
curve, but we got here the same way you are about to, so we have a pretty
good idea of how you feel. ;<)

RC
 
Hi RC
Many thanks for that full and generous reply. The manuals
are out, I'm on the way!
 
I have some questions,if you would be so good as to give
me further advice.
Is the socket that is mounted "piggy back" on the ribbon
cable about six to eight inches from the existing hard
drive, the one to plug the old hard drive in to?
Peter, who has also kindly offered advice, says that if it
is a 40 pin flat ribbon cable, which it is, I would need a
new cable. Is that correct?
My motherboard manual-- I assume Peter's "mobo" means
motherboard?-- says extra hard drives can be fitted using
the onboard IDE connectors but not as a RAID array. I
think that refers to the arrangement for connecting 2
drives together so that thay work faster? Not something I
would want. It goes on to say that however it is set up it
will function in the ATA-133 protocol.
The manual describes 16 different jumper switch settings
but none of them refer to adding a slave hard drive. do
you have any suggestions for that?
The old hard drive jumper switch was straight forward to
adust to the Slave option.
Thanks again
Mike
 
Hi, Mike.

See inline...

Mike said:
I have some questions,if you would be so good as to give
me further advice.
Is the socket that is mounted "piggy back" on the ribbon
cable about six to eight inches from the existing hard
drive, the one to plug the old hard drive in to?
Click to expand...

Yes. Newer cables have labels on these connectors. With older ones, it
doesn't matter which of the two connectors is plugged into which drive, so
long as the jumpers on the drives are properly set for Master or Slave.
Some, though, insist that the Master be at the end of the cable, with the
Slave on the middle connector.
Peter, who has also kindly offered advice, says that if it
is a 40 pin flat ribbon cable, which it is, I would need a
new cable. Is that correct?
Click to expand...

Newer "80-pin" cables actually still have only 40-pin connectors. The cable
itself, though, has 80 wires. It's hard to tell them apart at first glance,
but a close look will show that the 80-wire cables have much finer traces so
that they can get 80 wires into the same width as 40-wire cables. The extra
40 wires allow the high-speed drives/controllers to move data to/from the
drives at much higher speeds. Either cable can be used for either drive,
but your speed will be limited by the slower of the cable or the drive (or
the controller).
My motherboard manual-- I assume Peter's "mobo" means
motherboard?-- says extra hard drives can be fitted using
the onboard IDE connectors but not as a RAID array. I
think that refers to the arrangement for connecting 2
drives together so that thay work faster? Not something I
would want. It goes on to say that however it is set up it
will function in the ATA-133 protocol.
Click to expand...

Mainboard = motherboard (since that's what "daughterboards" plug into) =
mobo for short.

I've never used RAID, but my two IDE drives are plugged into the HighPoint
RAID connectors on my EPoX mobo, using 80-wire cables, so that they are the
Master drives on the two connectors. (These drives were connected to the
"standard" IDE connectors, but now only my CD/DVD drives are connected
there.) Others here can explain RAID or point you to information about it.
My HighPoint controller just lets my ATA-100 and ATA-133 drives work at
their full speeds. My system normally boots from a SCSI drive and uses both
IDEs as secondary drives.
The manual describes 16 different jumper switch settings
but none of them refer to adding a slave hard drive. do
you have any suggestions for that?
The old hard drive jumper switch was straight forward to
adust to the Slave option.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if you mean the manual for the mobo or for the RAID controller
or for one or more of the hard drives. What is the make and model of each
of your HDs, for your mobo, and for your RAID controller if it is on an
add-in card?

I've never seen hardware offering 16 different jumper settings. Usually
there are just Master w/slave; Master (w/o slave); and Slave. Some newer
ones also have one for "CS", or Cable Select.
Thanks again
Mike
Click to expand...

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
 
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