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Jan. 27, 2002 How To - Add a second harddrive to your computer Note: these instructions apply to a computer with Windows98 and Windows2000 installed in a dual boot configuration having a Promise ata100 PCI IDE controller card in an ABit BP6 motherboard. See disclaimer below. Before proceeding make sure you have the following handy:
Turn the computer off and preferrably unplug the power cable. Remove the screws on the rear of your computer tower that hold the case sides on. There are either 4 or 6 usually on the back outside edges. Your case may differ. Open the sides of the case to reveal the components inside. You'll need to open both sides so you can have access to either side of the mounting area where the harddrive will be mounted. There are one or two wide identical ribbon type cables running from the motherboard (largest circuit board in the box) first to the existing harddrive, and possibly to a cd-rom drive. If you only have one cable you will need to go and purchase another cable. These are only $5 bucks at the computer store. If you have a newer computer (ie. less than 3 yrs old) you may have an ata66 or ata100 or even an ata133 IDE controller. In this case purchase the ata66 type IDE cable Make sure there is an extra 4-pin power connector dangling in the box for your new harddrive. If not you'll need to buy a y-adapter power cable from the computer store. Usually $5 bucks. They have male and female ends so connect it if you need it. Unpack your harddrive from it's protective plastic cover. Handle it carefully and don't drop it. On the back of the drive where the connectors are there are one or two jumpers. These jumpers indicate to the computer (IDE controller) whether or not the harddrive will be the PRIMARY or SECONDARY (Master or Slave). If you are adding a second harddrive, generally you need to put the jumpers in the correct orientation to SLAVE. There is usually a sticker or diagram on the harddrive itself so follow that. Each manufacturer may have a slightly different configuration.
Mount the harddrive in your computer where in the same area where your original harddrive is with at least 3 or 4 case type screws. Case screws have course threads so make sure they are the right ones for your model harddrive. Plug an available IDE cable connector into the back of the drive as well as the 4-pin power connector. If installing a new IDE cable plug one end into the second IDE controller connector in the motherboard and then one of the two connectors into the harddrive. These usually only go in one way. Otherwise check for Pin #1 on the motherboard and pin #1 on the harddrive for the correct orientation. Power up your computer. Before windows starts up press the F4 key or F8 key. If windows loads up simply select to SHUTDOWN and RESTART IN MSDOS mode. Windows2000 may be more difficult. Hopefully you have a dual boot with Windows98 still available. In any case you'll have to run the computer in MSDOS. Running a MSDOS window doesn't work properly. Once at the MSDOS prompt which usually looks like this: C:\WINDOWS > Type in "FDISK" and press <ENTER> Select option #5. Change current fixed disk drive. A list of fixed disk drives will pop up. Choose the one that says 0% which is your new harddrive. Usually this will be fixed drive #2. Fixed drive #1 will probably be your main original harddrive. Now choose option #1. Create DOS Partition. It will say "Verifying drive integrity and go from 0 - 100% slowly as it checks the drive. This could take some time with a large drive such as 60GB. Then it will ask, Do you wish to use the whole size for the PRI dos partition (Y)? Select Y for Yes. Then again it will say, Verifying drive integrity 0 - 100%. Then you will have to RESTART your computer. Turn it off or press CTRL, ALT, DELETE together. Start up again in MSDOS mode. At the command prompt, usually: C:\WINDOWS > Type in "D:" <ENTER> or "E:" <ENTER> (whichever is your new harddrive) Type in "dir" <ENTER> , if no list is shown or any files shown then you have found the new harddrive. Now, if it is "D:" then type "cd c:" <ENTER> to go back to the C: drive prompt. Type in "FORMAT D:" <ENTER> It will ask if you are sure as this will erase all data on the D: drive. (make sure you are sure of this!!!) Select (Y) for Yes or <ENTER> key. This format can take quite a long time, especially larger sizes such as 60GB. When finished it will ask for the volume name for your new drive. Call it "Secondary" or "Video" if you are storing video clips on it, etc. Any name you want, but keep it short. Turn off the computer and RESTART it in windows. In windows, go into MY COMPUTER. You should see the new drive listed there. That's it, you're done. Note: I assume no responsibility if you turn your computer into a PITA. Follow my instructions at your own risk. Variations on instructions: Without a promise ide controller going into a regular motherboard IDE connector you will need to press the DELETE key when your computer first starts up to enter the BIOS setup. In the BIOS setup (use ESC key to exit pages) set your IDE controller to AUTO for all 4 settings. You will see PRIMARY and SECONDARY ide channels and a MASTER and a SLAVE for each channel. Upon restarting your computer should be able to see the new harddrive when those settings are set to AUTO. Then go to the DOS prompt and follow the instructions as shown above. Note: Very old computers (ie. 486, Pentium 100, etc) can usually only control harddrive up to 2GB in size and you can use a larger harddrive but will only be able to use 2GB of it. Kind of useless. You can circumvent this by installing a hardddrive ide controller card such as a Promise ata100 card. This is a BIOS system limitation of the older machines. Back in those days nobody ever thought we'd see 20GB or larger harddrives! |
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Copyright
2001-2003 Peter Ferlow