Installing a Second HD

[Magniitude]

So basically the Windows on my Dell won't boot up, after trying like a bajillion things. I was hoping to plug the HD into the Sony so I can start it up and copy the files from the 2nd HD into the first one as a form of backing up the files before i reformat.

So i decided to remove the HD from the Dell, and plug it into the Sony. I made sure the jumper thing is on slave (the second quarter) and then plugged the cable using this (srry bad sketch)

|-------|(1st HD)----|(second HD)

Ive placed the little cable into it as well.

So as i boot up the Sony, i enter BIOS and go to the Hard drives, and find my first 1 all set, set to auto, listing the capacity and some other info i dont know. The second one (primary slave) is set to auto, showing capacity at "0 MB" and some stuff like that. Well anyways, i started the computer and it asks for me to put the boot disk in, and I never got to windows.

Also, my sony has it so when it boots up, it shows a screen where i press my F2 to access the bios, or F1 to continue, something like that. On it, after putting in the Hd, it says, Primary Master Failed.

I remember one of the options in the hd options were like "User HDD" , hoping that rings a bell.

Sorry for being so vague, I really need to recover those files.

Thanks,
Magniitude.

 

[Samstoned]

do not use the same ide cable as the OS boot drive uses
use your 2nd cable if you can that has the cd or dvd rom on it
set the drive to slave make sure cdrom is set to master
go back to bios
set first boot drive as drive 0
2nd boot device as cdrom
thrd boot as the drive 1 or floppy
I have my floppy boot disabled,floppy seek is disabled

check to see if your running a sata drive you may need to look for boot options like udma and sata1 or one or the other or both plus there's sata raid

 

[Magniitude]

Thanks alot, ill try that tonight.

 

[Magniitude]

my DVD drive is way up on the top of the case so the IDE cable wont reach...any suggestions?

EDIT: Nevermind, i just unplugged the IDE cable from my DVD drive, computer recognizes the hard drive in BIOS, not sure about a full boot, ill keep this posted.

 

[Samstoned]

disconnect the dvd drive or put the hdd up there with it
do you have a adapter for 3.5 to 5(tray)(sled)
move dvd closer(lower)
if none are option
make sure the master (1st ide drive )jumper on drive is set to master
set jumper on (new)drive to slave
in bios first boot is drive 0
fisrt boot drive is at end of cable
2nd boot drive is in middle
I'm think'n your master drive jumper was not set to master,but CS