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Friday, October 12, 2012

IDE/EIDE Hard Drives



Not if, but when, you run out of space on your hard drive you will need to replace it. There are a number of options available to you in order to keep the information you currently have on your hard drive. I have placed these options in order of my preference.

Purchase an imaging program such as Nortons Ghost is the most preferable and time saving method. Imaging allows you to add your second (new) hard drive as the slave and then Ghost (image) your existing hard drive onto the new one ( I will explain master and slave drives in a minute). Once your ghost is complete, you simply swap the drives and reboot, your existing files and programs will be on your new drive and you can use the old drive also.

A little about storage devices: All IDE and EIDE compatible PC's will allow a total of four storage devices connected directly to the motherboard via cable slots labeled IDE 0, and IDE 1 (this is how they should be labeled on the motherboard, it may say IDE 1, IDE2). IDE 0, is the primary IDE connection and may be labeled that way on the motherboard and allows two connections, IDE 0 Master, and IDE 0 Slave. This means that you can add two devices either hard drives or some other storage device such as CD-Roms, DVD, or CD-Writers. IDE 1, is the Secondary connection for two storage devices and may be labeled Secondary IDE 1, on the motherboard. As you can see this configuration will allow for four storage devices in your computer.

Lets take a look at the four connections. The first is your Master on the primary or IDE 0 connections. This the most important because it will be the Boot drive for your computer (or "C" drive), you will want to use your largest/fastest hard drive for this one. Second is the Slave on your IDE 0 primary connection often used for second hard drives and may be used for CD-Roms. Third is the Master on the Secondary IDE 1 connection and is normally used for CD-Roms, CD-DVD or CD-Writers. The fourth is the Slave on the Secondary IDE 1 connection and is normally not used or is used for CD-Roms. Sound confusing, here is how it looks:

First cable, with two connectors Primary IDE 0:

First Drive (Boot "C" Drive) Master on Primary connection to motherboard IDE 0.

Second storage device. Slave on Primary connection to motherboard IDE 0.

Second cable, with two connectors Secondary IDE 1:

Third storage device. Master on Secondary connection to motherboard IDE 1.

Fourth storage device. Slave on Secondary connection to motherboard IDE 1.

If you really want to get down and add a new hard drive the hard way follow these steps:
First you need to find out what kind of configuration you currently have. Most PC's should have one hard drive as the Master "C" drive on the primary cable attached to the motherboard in IDE 0. You should also have a cd-rom attached, it may be the Slave on the primary cable attached to IDE 0, or it may be the Master connected to the Secondary cable attached to the Secondary IDE 1. It's not that hard to figure out, if you have two cables just follow them to see what they are attached to.

If your old drive has crashed and you can't retrieve any data from it or you don't want to keep the old drive follow these steps:

OK, but I wouldn't do that, you should keep your old drive as a slave for additional storage space. But if you don't want the old one:

1. If possible create a BOOT DISK in Windows (you should have received this floppy disk with your PC), if you didn't, you will need to create one or borrow one from someone. You must have a BOOT DISK before you go any further.

2. At this point you should have the new drive and Boot disk. It's time to open the computer case. Please read, REMOVING COMPONENTS before proceeding. Also, you are using this guide at your own risk, you must be careful when working inside the computer. If you are not sure you can do it, you should seek professional installation. If you are not sure how to open the case, consult your users manual. Once you have the case open, look for the flat cable, probably gray or light blue, with two or three forty pin connectors. One end will be attached to the motherboard Primary IDE 0 connector and the other end will be attached to the hard drive. Carefully remove this cable from the hard drive with a rocking motion, remove the power connection from the hard drive the same way (NEVER pull on the wires, grab the plug itself), remove the hard drive.

3. On the new drive, look on the back where the connections are made and make sure the pin is set for Master Drive (drives normally have a setup guide on the label or with the instructions) . Install the new drive in the reverse order of removing the old one. Make sure the cable Pin number one is attached to Pin number one on the hard drive. The best way to do this is to remember that Pin one on the cable will have a different color on the wire strand of one side, this is always Pin one. The hard drive should be labeled and show you which side is pin one, normally pin one will be next to the power connection, but not always. Once you have mad the connections check them again to insure they are tight. While you have the case removed you should check the other cable connections to make sure they are tight also.

4. Before you close the case, start the computer to make sure it comes on, then shut it off.

5. Replace the cover, insert your boot disk in drive A: and start the computer. Follow the new hard drive manufacturer instructions from this point. You will need to install Windows and any other programs you have.

6. Look at the back of both hard drives using the guide written on the drives set both the new and old drives to MASTER, and make sure the Cd-rom is set to slave.

7. Install both drives in the computer, place them close together and make sure you are able to install/remove the cables without any problem.

8. Install the new drive in the reverse order of removing the old one. Make sure the cable Pin number one is attached to Pin number one on the hard drive. The best way to do this is to remember that Pin one on the cable will have a different color on the wire strand of one side, this is always Pin one. The hard drive should be labeled and show you which side is pin one, normally pin one will be next to the power connection, but not always. Do not connect the old drive or Cd-rom yet. Once you have made the connections check them again to insure they are tight. DO NOT replace the cover.

9. At this point you need to create a partition and format the new drive. Insert the BOOT Disk, once the boot process is complete you will be at the A: prompt. Type FDISK and hit . Choose "Y" if asked to use large block mode. Choose number one to create primary DOS partition, follow the prompts and then reboot your computer with the BOOT disk again.

10. Now, you must format the new drive. Once you see the A: prompt again type FORMAT C: /s and press (you must type it as shown FORMAT(space) C:(space) /s. The "/s" copies the Windows system files to the new drive.

11. Once the format is complete you will be prompted for a volume name, insert a name or leave it blank. remove the floppy BOOT disk and restart the computer to confirm it will boot to the new drive.

12. Shut off the computer.

13. Remove the IDE cable from the new drive and connect it to your old drive. Connect the new drive to the Secondary cable. At this point you should have the old hard drive in it's original position and the new hard drive connected to the separate Secondary ODE 1, cable.

14. Reboot the computer without the BOOT disk and you should be right back to your old drive configuration again.

15. Click on MyComputer and you should see your current old drive as "C:" and your new drive as "D:" drive.

16. At this point you need to make sure that you can view all the files, from MyComputer click on VIEW, OPTIONS, VIEW and make sure Show All Files is checked and that Hide System Files is NOT checked.

17. At the same time press the Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys. The Close Program Box will appear, click on each program and hit end task except EXPLORER and SYSTRAY, do not end these two. Close the Program Box.

18. Open MyComputer, then open drive C:, Open MyComputer again and open drive D:. You should see both drives opened in two separate windows. Make sure you move them so that they do not overlap and you can see both. Make sure that you are at the root directory of both.

19. At this time you will need to copy all files (except WIN386.swp), on the drive from C: to D: drive.

20. It's time to take a break, this will take a while!

21. Once all the files are copied shut down the computer and remove the cables from both drives.

22. Connect the Primary IDE 0, to the new hard drive (DO NOT connect the old drive yet). Start the computer and make sure it boots to the new drive, windows starts and your programs work.

23. If everything looks OK, congratulations you have setup your new drive correctly. You can now connect your old drive as the Primary Slave on IDE 0 (make sure you change the jumper on the back of the hard drive to slave). or place it as the master on the secondary cable. Connect your Cd-rom and your done. 21. IF this did not work, chances are you missed a step, don't worry, you still have all the information on your old drive and should be able to start these instructions all over again.

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