how to use two hard drives

  • Thread starter Thread starter Linda in Iowa
  • Start date Start date
L

Linda in Iowa

I crashed a hard drive some time ago. I reinstalled WindowsXP home on a new
hard drive that was the same brand and model. I thought I would be able to
slave the old hard drive to see if I could recover any data but when I do I
can't get it to start windows from the main drive. Both drives are Western
Digital. It is set up as cable select and I also tried setting the jumpers
for master and slave. It says something like "Can't find boot file" when
the bad hard drive is connected even though the good drive is the master.
Any thoughts on how I might be able to see if any of the data on the crashed
drive is still readable would be greatly appreciated.
 
By default,any time another hd is plugged into the pc,it becomes the 1st
boot device,on start-up,enter BIOS,reset boot priority,save & exit..Also,use
master/slave pin configuration,in most cases it works best.
 
Linda in Iowa said:
I crashed a hard drive some time ago. I reinstalled WindowsXP home on a
new hard drive that was the same brand and model. I thought I would be
able to slave the old hard drive to see if I could recover any data but
when I do I can't get it to start windows from the main drive. Both drives
are Western Digital. It is set up as cable select and I also tried setting
the jumpers for master and slave. It says something like "Can't find boot
file" when the bad hard drive is connected even though the good drive is
the master. Any thoughts on how I might be able to see if any of the data
on the crashed drive is still readable would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
You do not have the cable attached correctly.
The free end connector goes to the master drive which in your case is the
one that contains Windows.
The intermediate connecter goes to the slave drive which in your case is the
old hd.
Make sure that the jumpers are set for "cable select". WD drives may have
different settings for a single drive and for a dual drive setup.
Jim
 
Cable was attached correctly for cable select and jumpers were set for that.
When that didn't work I tried setting the jumpers for slave and master. It
still couldn't start windows.
 
Check the boot order in the BIOS, and make sure that the old drive is
not set to boot before the new drive. On some BIOSs it is a two step
process. You might have a section (for example) labeled "Hard Drives",
where you set the HD order, and then another section where you
specify the boot device priority. Floppy, HD, DVD, etc..

You might also try putting the old drive on a different IDE port, if you
have one available. (i.e. disconnect or slave to CD/DVD)
 
Linda in Iowa said:
Cable was attached correctly for cable select and jumpers were set for
that. When that didn't work I tried setting the jumpers for slave and
master. It still couldn't start windows.
Click to expand...

Try using the secondary drive on a secondary channel - perhaps plug it in
instead of the optical drive.

Alternately, use an external USB2 case or drive adapter. Most of the time
these want the drive jumpered as Master, but some drives require no jumpers
at all.

HTH
-pk
 
I crashed a hard drive some time ago. I reinstalled WindowsXP home on a new
hard drive that was the same brand and model. I thought I would be able to
slave the old hard drive to see if I could recover any data but when I do I
can't get it to start windows from the main drive. Both drives are Western
Digital. It is set up as cable select and I also tried setting the jumpers
for master and slave. It says something like "Can't find boot file" when
the bad hard drive is connected even though the good drive is the master.
Any thoughts on how I might be able to see if any of the data on the crashed
drive is still readable would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Some day you wil need a drive to store backups on - so get yourself a case for
USB2. Place your old drive in that and read to your hearts content.

B|rge in sunny Perth, Australia
 
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