Adding a hard drive

[augie]

Not being a hardware wiz , but wanting to add a second drive, is this a
valid approach?

The system now has CD and DVD drives as PRIMARY master/slave.
The ATA hard drive is the SECONDARY master. (This has worked fine for years.)

Can I assume that adding the new HD (P)ATA is a matter of…

Jumpering it as the slave.
Plugging the second connector on the SECONDARY master ribbon cable (along
w/power) into the drive.

Anything missed?

Can I further assume that changing boot order in BIOS will bring up the
desired drive, or that a multi-boot loader can be utilized?

Grazie

 

[GHalleck]

Replied in-line:

Not being a hardware wiz , but wanting to add a second drive, is this a
valid approach?

The system now has CD and DVD drives as PRIMARY master/slave.
The ATA hard drive is the SECONDARY master. (This has worked fine for years.)

No problems. This type of arrangement works OK.

Can I assume that adding the new HD (P)ATA is a matter of…

Jumpering it as the slave.
Plugging the second connector on the SECONDARY master ribbon cable (along
w/power) into the drive.

Need to know what type of cable is being used, whether or
not it is a true IDE or Cable-Select (CSEL). There should
be directions on how to set jumpers (required for IDE cables)
or to position the different drives for CSEL. No directions
came with the drive kit? Should have gotten the retail kit
and not the OEM...for beginners.

Anything missed?

Can I further assume that changing boot order in BIOS will bring up the
desired drive, or that a multi-boot loader can be utilized?

Not necessary. Boot order remains the same since the Master HD
is still the boot drive. But go into bios setup to make sure that
it will auto-detect the new HD. (Have a copy of the bios manual
handy.)

However, the new HD might need to be prepped. Best way to do this
is after the computer boots and Windows start. Do it by going into
Control Panel and then to Administrative Tools, Computer Mangement
and, finally, Disk Management. Be careful not to muck around with
the existing active drives.

If unsure or have any doubts, get a computer tech to do the job;
watch and learn for the next time.

 

[JS]

Note: OEM versions may not included: Instructions, Diagnostic CD (you can
download this software directly from the manufacture's web site) and Ribbon
cable.

If you plan to Dual Boot then how you partition and format the second (new)
drive is an important consideration.
You also did not state the size of the new drive and how old you PC is. Some
older PC's may not fully support Large Drives.

JS