I got these directions off the internet-are they correct? My questions are in bold. I underlined some information that I question.
Installing a 2nd Hard Drive
IDE Channels:
Okay, lets talk IDE channels. This is where it can get a little complicated. There is a ribbon cable plugged into the back of your original hard disk. There should be one other connector on the cable, this may already be connected to your CD Rom drive/DVD drive or CD Writer. If not, just plug in the spare ide connector and away we go. Move onto section 2.
Okay, so, if you’ve got a CD Rom drive/DVD drive or CD Writer, we need to utilise the other IDE connector on the motherboard. You should have had another IDE cable supplied with your CD rom drive. This will plug in on the motherboard directly above/below where your first IDE cable is located. It will only go in one way, so be careful as there are pins involved that if broken will render your computer useless. Once connected, we need to decide where we want to put things.
For CD rom drives, I would place the CD rom drive on the second IDE channel (set as master) and the extra hard disk set as slave (see above) on the first IDE channel. I will write another guide about choosing the best IDE channels for your peripherals later.
Dell sold me a cable with the new HD-what are they saying above? Where do I plug in the cable? I don't want to mess with the CD or DVD drives.
Bios Settings: Okay, so now you’ve physically connected your drive, its time to tell the bios that we have a new hard disk. You need to enter the bios (basic input output setup) when you boot up your computer, this is usually done by pressing del, F1 or F2 when prompted, around the time when the system is checking RAM.
Once in, you will be greeted with the familiar blue screen. Most motherboards have an IDE autodetection option, you need to select this by using the arrow keys and selecting with the enter key.
Then you need to select autodetect and select your drive as and when it finds it.
What in hell does this mean?
Then, save settings and exit the bios.
Preparing the disk for use:
Okay, now to configure the hard disk. The easiest way to do this is to use FDISK (fixed disk utility) You need to drop into dos mode for this, once there, type FDISK and press enter.
You will have a menu. At the top of the menu, it will say current fixed disk 1 or something, you need to change to fixed disk 2 – just select change disk and select your new drive (should be fixed disk 2). Now, just to double check, we need to select display partition information, there should be nothing there. If there are partitions defined, you have selected the wrong hard disk.
Now, you need to make a new primary dos partition, select this option from the menu, it will ask if you want to make it the maximum size available, select yes.
It will do a few things and then inform you that you must restart your computer, do this now and drop into dos again. It should have set your new hard disk to drive D: . To check this, type d: and then Dir. It should say invalid media type. Press cancel and type
Format d:
I already have a D drive (zip)-so what do I call it?
This can take anything up an hour, so be patient. Once done it will ask for a volume label, you don’t have to give it one. Once this has done, restart your computer.
If you are running Windows XP -- and I seem to remember you are -- it will do almost everything for you.
(1) BOTH hard drives should have their jumper settings set at "cable select" (see the diagram on the label on the hard drive).
Your original hard drive will probably already be set this way.
(2) Your ribbon cable should have two connectors on the cable. The one on the END is the "master" and should be connected to your ORIGINAL "C" DRIVE. The one in the MIDDLE is the "slave" and should be connected to your NEW hard drive.
Your computer probably already has the correct ribbon cable already. If not, the new cable you purchased should be as I described.
Both hard drives MUST be on the same ribbon cable! Do NOT mix hard drives and optical drives (CD/DVD) on the same ribbon cable!
(3) Windows XP will AUTOMATICALLY recognize your new hard drive, assign it a drive letter (which will be the next available letter in your computer's configuration) and properly set the Bios.
If you're running Windows XP, pay attention to what I've written and DO NOT follow the instructions you posted. ASK QUESTIONS HERE if you need more help!
(4) If your computer doesn't recognize your new hard drive immediately when you boot up, you may need to format the drive. However, MANY hard drives are already formatted for Windows PCs.
IF you are prompted to format your NEW drive, do it. Be sure to choose something like "format as a additional storage drive" if given any options. Otherwise, don't worry about it.
BE SURE YOU DO NOT ACCIDENTLY MESS WITH YOUR "C" DRIVE! It is extremely unlikely that this could happen. However, just be sure you don't try to format your "C" drive before you click anything to commit :)
Above, it says where to plug it in. "we need to utilise the other IDE connector on the motherboard." :)
I have the feeling, because of your question, that this is all new to you. Is that correct? If so, that's ok. It is not rocket science.
It has been a few years since I've done much of anything inside the cases of the computers around here. Therefore I feel a little rusty to be trying to answer your questions with specifics. I'm sure somebody else will jump in here with that for you soon.
In the meantime, I'll make some comments.
I suggest you get familiar with the insides of your computer. For now, just look around in there, identify things, and then you'll have a better idea of what to ask when you come back here.
Shut it down, turn it off, unplug it. Unplug everything connected to it. Pay attention - write things down. Label the wires if necessary, else you'll be wondering where things go when it is time to re-assemble.
Find a steady table with good lighting. Put the box on it, and take off the covers. Usually there are a number of screws to remove. Again, be sure it is unplugged!
Touch the frame of the case frequently. Discharging any static. You don't want to go poking around with your finger, at various chips, throwing off static sparks! This is not a good thing. Causes dead computer.
Locate your present hard drive. See the big flat cable running from it to the motherboard? It is probably folded up and maybe even appear to be just jammed in there. Hopefully it is not. These cables can be somewhat fragile - in other words, don't kink them or strain them or jam them.
That cable has a connector at each end and most likely one in the middle. On one end is the motherboard, and the other end is the hard drive. The connector in the middle may or may not be connected to another drive, as in a CD or DVD drive.
Compare it to the new cable you received. Should be the same design. Length may be different - don't disconnect at this point, to compare - just eyeball it. Look at your new cable closely - does one edge of the long flat part have a red line running the length of it? Look at the connectors. Use a magnifying glass if necessary. If I recall correctly, there are 40 pin connections. See the one labeled "1"? Keep that and the red line in mind.
Now look at the back of your new hard drive. See the matching 40 pin connector? Try plugging your new cable in to it. Match the red line to connector number 1 on the hard drive. Don't force it. You can feel it when it goes in correctly. Get familiar with how to do this.
Which end goes to the new hard drive? Assuming your new cable has three connectors on it - one will be on each end and another in the middle - the connector in the middle will be closer to one end. That's the end for the drives. The 'long' end goes to the motherboard.
Look at the back of your new hard drive again. See some jumper pins? Probably with some tiny little jumpers already connecting some pairs of pins? Your quoted instructions above don't go into enough depth about master and slave drives. That's what these pins do - they tell the drive if it is a master or a slave. There should be documentation with your new hard drive explaining the various ways to configure the jumpers on your new hard drive. Hopefully you have documentation that came with your computer to give you the same info for your current hard drive - if not, it is usually easy to find diagrams on the internet, at the hard drive manufacturers website.
Here is where you'll need to hear from somebody else. I'm fuzzy, and have not looked it up as I type this. Your current hard drive will need to be configured to be the master and whatever other drive you connect to the same cable will need to be configured to be the slave. Do not assume that the current jumper pin settings on your old hard drive are ok as is. They may or may not be!
Further fuzzy on my part: See the stuff about IDE channels you quoted? This has to do with optimizing performance. Some 'rules of thumb'. I think it is best to put the hard drives on different cables, if possible. In other words, suppose you have 2 hard drives and one CD drive and one DVD drive. I think the best arrangement would be one hard and CD drive on one cable, and other hard drive and DVD drive on second cable. Again, watch the settings for master and slave on each cable.
So far, you've just been looking around and familiarizing yourself with these parts, right? :) Not actually installing anything. I have the feeling you'll be back with some more and better questions before you start the install. By the way, doing the stuff I've described so far probably takes less time than reading this. :)
By now, you've found where your current flat ribbon cable connects on the motherboard. Isn't there another connector, just like it, right beside it? That's where the second cable plugs on. That's the answer to your first question way above. :)
Again, since you ask, it looks like you are unfamiliar with it. Get familiar first. Reboot your computer. Notice what is happening. Stuff that you probably usually ignore on the screen. Look for something like, "Press F1 to Setup". It won't appear for long. Whatever it says, to enter Setup, do it.
Caution: For now, just look around. Don't make any changes. Instructions on how to look around, and move around, and change screens will be on the screen.
Press Esc to get out of Setup. When it asks you if you want to save changes, since you were just looking around - say No. Exit without saving.
For now, see if you can locate the auto detect function for the hard drive(s) mentioned in your quote.
I'm going to wait for somebody else to comment on using FDisk. It has been a while for me. I'd be fine if it saw it in front of me, but I'm hesitant to try to lead you.
The instructions above seem ok to me. I would emphasize: be sure you are FDisking your new drive and not your old one! You can tell which is which, if you take your time and pay attention to what is on the screen.
Seems to me that the assignment of drive letters was taken care of automatically. So don't be surprised if your new hard drive becomes D: and all the others - zip, CD, DVD - get bumped down by one. In other words, your Zip drive might become E: .It will take a while to format a new drive. How much storage is your new drive?
Just out of curiosity, where did you get those directions? What website?
As I'm sure you are aware, some sites are more reputable than others. Here is one that I have found to have well written articles. These people do know what they are talking about. You might like to read: Upgrade Guide, at www.pcworld.com
Everything in that article does not apply to you, of course. For example, you are not using a SCSI drive - yours is IDE. But you will still get good information out of it. Please note the date on each page though! It may not be current, so you have to read it with that understood.
back up all your important data before starting!!!
The Drive should have come with an install CD to help step you through the process and give you the option of tranferring the data from the old drive to the new one.
If not visit the manufacturers web site for detailed documentation (ex Maxtor downloads and Install Guides)
I got it from Dell, but the brand is Seagate (maybe that's who makes Dell's HD's). No CD, no directions. They referred me to a Dell site for instuctions-but the instuctions were not basic enough. I know absolutely zero about a computers "guts"!
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nietzsche Deactivated User
5470 Posts 8/03
Posted - Mar 26 2006 : 6:54AM
This is why I'm afraid of working on the insides. Everyone you meet says 'it's easy, just do this and this and you're finished'. It never works that way. That's why I used external drives.
plug it in, make sure the jumpers are set to "channel select"/CS with no legacy jumper attached. meaning there should be one jumper on the drive, period.
i didn't see mention of you plugging anything into the psu, which you need to do, little adapter that takes four prongs.
hit f1, esc, or delete and see if it's recognized in your bios, assuming it is, go into administrative tools>disk management. find the empty space, right-click on it, hit format and follow the directions.
I ended up taking the computer to a local computer shop. When I opened the case it was stuffed so full that I could not make heads or tails of where to put the HD.
The tech looked inside and told me there was no room for anything else. (I have the zip-floppy-CD-DVD) He said he could add a IDE card or remove my CD & DVD and replace with a Sony dual CD/DVD drive. I chose the dual drive.
The total cost was $84 for the dual drive and installation of hard drive.
While I was there he downloaded the new King Kong movie (the day before it hit the retail market) to a DVD. No charge. I don't know how he did it but the 3 hr. movie downloaded in 10 minutes.
Now a question--I want to move my entire My Documents folder from the old HD to the new one. How do I do this?
PS: You guys are great! Your help is greatly appreciated.
