dual hard drive problem

[LyleT]

Hi Folks!  This post is related to one I sent in last weekend. My problem then was a dead computer, ( board and cpu bad) and at the time I had some options.  So, what I have done is I have purchased a decent compatible tower from my work ( used but adequate) instead of buying a whole new computer. My old computer was just for surfing, etc, but I had good antivirus loaded on there(loaded by a tech so I have no disc!) as well as a music site that I pay for annually ( I make cd's but rarely store files). So here is my dilemma now>> This tower I bought is clean and bare bones. 40g h/d, 512 ram, etc. etc. My OLD comp was the same. Both towers have a Western Digital hard drive, same size. SO I loaded my old hard drive into this tower thinking I could plug it in and run it, but it does not show up. I reconnected it as a slave drive, using the drive the new tower came with as the primary, which now the primary runs ( I'm here writing) and the old one still does not show up anywhere. I might have it jumpered wrong? I would like to use the old drive as my primary, and the "new" drive as my slave for storage, etc.  Does this make sense? I need clear directions on how to be able to do this.  Any takers for the mission? Thanks in advance! Lyle.  PS. both towers have XP. 

[alan5home]

you need both h/drive jumpers set 1st h/drive set to master 2Nd h/drive set to slave on the same ribbon ide 1 then have CD ROM set on ide 2 set as master this will help but set it in the bios try auto set up if not the set it up manual this should work

[LyleT]

It is a little bit difficult to understand what it is that you are saying I should do.

I have ribbon already set up the way you described. I think my error(s) are at initial start up.  My tower still does not read the "old" drive, just the other one which is set on slave.

I don't know what you mean by jumpered....I used that term in my post to describe the way I have the ribbon and wires attached to the drives in series.

Are you describing something else?

Lyle

[patio]

alan you need to use some punctuation when giving advice so others can actually understand you.

Lyle there are a few things to consider here...
If the OS on both drives is newer than WinME the drive from the old machine will not boot on the new tower...this is by design.
The jumpers for a drive are located between the power and IDE cable hookups on the rear of the drive.

Each drive is different somewhat so check the diagram on the drive for the proper placement.
These must be set correctly for Windows and or the BIOS to see the drive.
Cable them this way:

II====================================II==========II
MBoard                                                        Slave                  Master.

The new drive for the tower if it worked before needs to be master with the old drive set as slave.
Make sure the jumpers are set accordingly.

NOTE: Some drives including WD's have a master w/slave setting which the master should be set at.

After doing this re-boot the system and see if both drives are shown in Windows Explorer...if so you are good to go.

p.s. If the slave shows up but you can't access the data..Check Here