How do I set it in such a way that my HDD is recognised in both bios and in my computer? Currently the primary master and primary slave is set to auto in the bios. Any help? @Rabbit01
How to add new hard disk and RAM?
- Thread starter amalsk
- Start date
Another update. I tried going into my BIOS and saw that only my new HDD(Primary Master) and my DVD Drive(Secondary Master) is only present. The other 40GB old drive is not recognised. :/
Will do that and report back if I still face any problems. Thank You.
cliffordcooley
Posts: 13,141 +6,441
Usually when IDE has a drive that will not respond, the jumpers are not set correctly or the drives are not compatible with each other. Since your drives are of newer IDE design, I wouldn't think compatibility was an issue. Having data on the drive will not leep it from registering, not even if the data is an operating system.
Make sure the port in the bios is not disabled. If the port is not set to scan for a drive, the drive will not appear. They are labeled as Primary and Secondary ports, with Master and Slave on each port. All four devices can be disabled through the following settings.
I would configure them this way:
That would make both HDD's master drives on their own cable. With the exception of the DVD drive set as slave on the primary cable.
Make sure the port in the bios is not disabled. If the port is not set to scan for a drive, the drive will not appear. They are labeled as Primary and Secondary ports, with Master and Slave on each port. All four devices can be disabled through the following settings.
I would configure them this way:
- Primary Master - Boot Drive (If I understand you correctly this would change from 40GB to 80GB)
- Primary Slave - DVD Drive
- Secondary Master - Data Drive (Secondary would be the second port (aka:cable) on the motherboard)
- Secondary Slave - Free for any other IDE device you may have.
That would make both HDD's master drives on their own cable. With the exception of the DVD drive set as slave on the primary cable.
So which one's OS would boot up? The Primary one's, right? I can access the data of my old HDD without any problem? And can I delete/format the C drive of that old HDD and merge it with the D drive of that same HDD? One more thing, I have 2 partitions both for the 4GB as well as the 80GB one. How will it appear in My Computer if they had the same names? Thanks
cliffordcooley
Posts: 13,141 +6,441
Yes the Primary Master will be the boot drive. You do have the option of changing the boot order and booting to any of the 4 devices first. I however usually keep to booting the primary master as the main drive.
I wouldn't worry about deleting and formating until after you are completely setup with the new drive. The 40GB will be it's own drive letter. Unless you have raid functionality on the motherboard or have a special raid card, merging the drive with another drive will not be possible.
I wouldn't worry about deleting and formating until after you are completely setup with the new drive. The 40GB will be it's own drive letter. Unless you have raid functionality on the motherboard or have a special raid card, merging the drive with another drive will not be possible.
Will try what you said above. So what you are telling is that I can't merge C:\ drive with D:\ drive of the same HDD(40gig one)? I thought I could.
cliffordcooley
Posts: 13,141 +6,441
Wait, don't get drives and partitions mixed up. Partitions are usually referred to as drive letters. Drives should always be thought of as mechanical devices not partitions on the drive.
If you have more than one partition on a drive, all of those partitions can be merged. You just can't merge two physical drives without raid capabilities.
If you have more than one partition on a drive, all of those partitions can be merged. You just can't merge two physical drives without raid capabilities.
My bad. That is exactly what I meant. Please post how on your next reply, will you?
It would be really great.
cliffordcooley
Posts: 13,141 +6,441
Once you get an OS up and running on the 80GB, it is simple within Disk Management. There are also 3rd party partitioning boot disk that can be used, such as Partition Wizard BootCD.
The concept remains the same which ever program you use. First you delete all partitions on the drive. This create one large unallocated space. After which you would create a partition using all of the space. Once the partition has been created, you would then need to format the partition with a file system and assign a drive letter if one was not assigned through the format process.
The concept remains the same which ever program you use. First you delete all partitions on the drive. This create one large unallocated space. After which you would create a partition using all of the space. Once the partition has been created, you would then need to format the partition with a file system and assign a drive letter if one was not assigned through the format process.
Another thing, I have some valuable data on my D:\ partition. Won't deleting it delete my data?
cliffordcooley
Posts: 13,141 +6,441
In that case I would suggest using the BootCD and stretching the volume. Once the first partition has been deleted the second partition can be stretched. XP however doesn't have this feature in Disk Management. Regardless though they always advise to have backups, before doing this process. But with that said, I've never had data loss from stretching or shrinking a volume.
Did it with EaseUS Partition Manager and what more? SUCCESSFUL!!
Thanks a lot each and everyone for your help.
Some moderator+ please close this thread and change it to solved!
Lol, TBH, I just interchanged the IDE cables with that of my DVD drive and made the 40 gb one slave with that. I found that it was working in that way. So I just took the cable of DVD drive and did what you guys told me earlier, made the 80gig primary and the other one slave. No jumper settings, just as such. I guess the way I connected the IDE cable was somehow wrong, not sure. Coz, one end is long and the other end is small and it is connected systematically, right? Like the long one to the MB and the other one to the HDD. I guess I did it the other way or the slave/middle connector of my previous IDE cable was faulty? Anyhow, The problem is solved and I'm happy!
Thanks once again for your help cliff and Rabbit!
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