If you are installing a brand new hard drive then please read this!!!

There are 2 basic types of hard drive that most people will want to install.

They are 1 - Pata, also called ide and ata. Easy to recognise as they have a large 40pin socket and jumper settings.

And 2 - Sata, both sata 1 and 2 are set up in the same way. They are easy to recognise as they don't have a 40 way socket but have a 4 way instead.

There are also scsi hard drives but i doubt may people will be using them so i will not be dealing with them in this post!!


Pata - Pata's will connect via a 40 way data cable that has 2 plugs on it excluding the one that plugs into the mobo.

It is VERY VERY important to get the jumper settings correct or THEY WILL NOT WORK!!!!

There are 3 basic jumper settings, cable select, master, and slave.
The easiest way to set them up is to use cable select. The mobo itself will then assign master and slave as it sees fit. Usually it will set the drive on the end plug as master and the other one as a slave.

If you are running more than 1 pata drive on the same cable then you must insure they are both set to cable select or that 1 is set to master and 1 is set to slave. Having both set to master WILL NOT WORK, and having both set to slave WILL NOT WORK.

Once that is set correctly most mobo's will be happy and boot fine, if yours doesn't then you will need to check the bois settings. The instructions for doing this will be in your mobo manual!!!




Sata - Only 1 device is catered for per cable so there is no need for jumper settings.

Its just a case of making sure your bios picks it up correctly, again, you will need to refer to your mobo manual for instructions.



If, after properly installing your hard drive and checking the bios out it still doesn't show up in windows then it probably requires formatting.

For windows XP Pro, right click on your "my computer" and select manage, storage, then disk management. Locate your new drive on the right hand side and right click and use the format wizard.

Once all that is done you should have a new hard drive installed and working properly!!! Enjoy!!


P.S. I only have XP Pro so if anyone else can add the formatting procedure for other windows versions then please feel free to do so.

It may be worth mentioning 80-wire cables are used for ATA-66/100/133 (UDMA), which is identical to a 40 wire, 40-pin cable in physical dimensions, but do not always work interchangeably.

Also, SATA drives may not be detected under Windows until you install your SATA drivers are installed. Make sure to get your SATA controller installed.

And if you're installing Windows XP/2000 on a SATA drive, then you may need to have a floppy disk with your SATA drivers and your F6 key handy.

Something else, many hard drives have additional jumper settings such as 32GB clip and multiple master settings (Master with slave & Single Master). Keep your eyes out for these while installing your drive.

I would also discourage from using cable select. I've had too many problems with this in the past. It has improved much since ATA-66 and works fairly well these days, but its good to be explicit and define you master and slave... One less thing to go wrong.

One minor correction to avoid potential confusion. It's really a 40 pin, 80 wire cable. Most will know what you mean, however.