installing a second hard drive...

[xlh1000]

I want to install a second hard drive (IDE) in my computer.
The more i read, the more confused i became with differing opinions and procedures.
My questions pertain to the jumper positions of the master drive and slave drive.

1) first i read that the main hard drive jumper needs to be changed from 'master' to 'primary with slave'.
Then, i read that it is already set and should remain as 'master'. The latter being correct, i assume?

2) the hard drive i plan to install is used. It is a Samsung SP0802N.
The jumper pin settings are as follows.
As a slave, it shows 2 ways to configure. The first being with the jumper removed all together. I read that this is fine for storage, but not if i wanted to install a second operating system, which i do. (Linux)
The second configuration is 'limit capacity to 32gb'.
So which do i choose?

Thank you.

 

[vacunita]

Basically you want to keep your current drive as is. Master.

Then depending on where you are going to connect your second drive you'll have to jumper it differently.



If you plan on connecting it to the same cable your current drive is connected to, then your second drive needs to be set as slave. So no jumper.

If you want to plug into a second cable, usually occupied by an optical drive of some kind (CD,DVd, CD-RW DVD+-RW etc..) then you need to decide which drive will be master.

Usually hard drives are master and optical drives are slaves.

The 32GB limit should only be used if you plan on limiting the size of the drive, as only 32GB will be available for use out of whatever the size is.


----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[edfair]

Try primary as master, new as slave with no jumper and 32gb limit removed. See if it works.

There are several issues but nothing that will smoke if it is jumpered wrong.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[xlh1000]

Thanks vacunita and edfair!
That really helps a lot.
Would it be appropriate to use this thread for some anticipated questions on cleaning up up the drive after it is installed, installing linux, and maybe any other technical difficulties that might arise? (Murphy's law)

 

[vacunita]

Sure, fire away, as long as its somewhat related, go ahead.

Its not like your hijacking a thread(this being your thread and all), or totally going off into another topic.
Still related to the original topic in some way.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[edfair]

You could do that but there is one reason not to.

Once a thread generates several replies some long time support people quit responding since the thread appears to either have sufficient interest to get the issues resolved or it is generating blather.

Better to start a new thread with an informatibe tag line.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[xlh1000]

Everything went as smooth as one would like.
When i started it up the first time, all the lights on the keyboard stayed on, which from what i have seen in the past means it was froze.
So i restarted the computer again, but the lights failed to go out. I then shut the computer down and waited, but still, they remained on.
Now i shut the surge protector off and waited for the drain.
Fired it back up without a hitch and went into 'my computer'. The new hard drive was designated the drive letter 'G', while it's recovery was designated 'H'.
It is not as accessible as my main drive, meaning some operations lead to my programs or files on drive 'C'.
Do i need to re-format, configure or partition the hard drive, or is my assumption that it would be like working with a different computer system incorrect?

Because i think this remains on topic to installing a second hard drive, i will limit this thread to just that as edfair suggested. I will start a separate thread for installing the Linux O.S. onto it later.

Thanks guys!

 

[vacunita]

t is not as accessible as my main drive, meaning some operations lead to my programs or files on drive 'C'.
Do i need to re-format, configure or partition the hard drive, or is my assumption that it would be like working with a different computer system incorrect?

I'm not sure what you mean by that.

The Drive is just storage space at this point anything you do on it relies on your applications on C. not anything that would be installed in it.

So if you open a file that exists in it, t will open with an application form your C drive which knows how to handle the file.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[xlh1000]

Ok, so drive 'C' still has priority on deciding how something is executed. Thats understandable.
I guess what i mean is, my 'all programs' list in my start menu for instance contains only things that are on drive 'C', which makes sense, but i cannot access the list of programs on drive 'H'. Subsequently, i cannot figure out how to 'add/remove' programs from said list, ect. Basically, what i get when i go into 'my computer', and click on drive 'H' is identical to what you get when you click on 'my documents'.

Hope i'm not further confusing the situation.

 

[vacunita]

I guess what i mean is, my 'all programs' list in my start menu for instance contains only things that are on drive 'C', which makes sense, but i cannot access the list of programs on drive 'H'.

Correct, because Your Windows installation doesn't know anything about the other drive, other than it can be used for storage.

Each drive is independent of the other, so if you want to look for the installed programs, use Explorer and go to H:\Program Files, that will show you what was installed on that drive.

You could also navigate to Documents and settings\USERNAME\Start Menu, to see what was originally Available there.

But Windows is not going to magically create a list of applications installed on an old Operating system in a drive you just added to it. It just sees it as storage nothing more.







----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[wahnula]

The "C" drive has your operating system installed on it, and it knows about all the programs installed to that disk and how to run them when the OS starts up. If there is an operating system on the hard drive you added, you can try and boot to it, but don't expect much. You would go into BIOS (look for prompt during POST startup for which key to press, sometimes Delete, sometimes F12, F1 etc.) and adjust your boot order to boot to the H: drive first...now don't expect much, but you probably won't do any damage trying this.

There are many ways to have multiple OSes on the same PC. To install an OS to the H: disk, you would boot to the install CD, then point it at the H: disk to load up the operating system, then choose H: as boot disk (again in the BIOS) to use the new OS. My advice would be to disconnect the C: drive to avoid problems. Of course this will change drive letter assignments, but it's the safest way to learn.

The reason an old OS probably won't work on a different PC is that it is not familiar with your present hardware configuration.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[xlh1000]

Thank you vacunita.
Understood.
Because i started this thread for the physical installation of the hard drive, i will refrain from going any further into the usage of it in this thread.
You and edfair have been extremely helpful and i thank you both.
One last thing. Is this the correct forum for asking questions about installing Linux onto the second hard drive, or is there another one more suitable?
As a programmer, this should be right up your alley.
Thanks.

 

[vacunita]

You should ask about it in one of the Linux Forums this one for starters:

forum619



----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[edfair]

You could put additional programs on the new drive.
When a program is added, provided it is properly built, one of the questions is where to put it. All the program files are put where you order and the links in the registry point there. Pretty much a seamless operation.

This is one of the things we do when we run out of space. It saves having to redo a system. But it also requires that the existing stuff mostly has to stay on C: since the registry knows of it there.

You might want to relocate the drive to D:. Makes it more understandable to have the drives together. And you can move any of your defined storage stuff to the new drive. If it isn't controlled by the registry you can move it around to your heart's content.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[xlh1000]

Thank you vacunita, edfair, and wahnula.
All very helpful and informative information.
Edfair, what does relocating the drive to D: involve? Can you elaborate on this a bit as to how it operates?

 

[edfair]

Start , control panel, administrative tools, computer management, disk management, right click on the drive and choose "change drive letter".

This is assuming that everything comes up this way.

 

[xlh1000]

Edfair, D: is already assigned to the recovery partition for the C: drive.
Otherwise, everything comes up as you described.

 

[edfair]

Just as a matter of principle I would move the recovery away from what would be data in any earlier systems, then move the new drive to D:.

For me, it is to keep the new stuff acting like the old stuff. But since I have more of the old systems running, and they can't be manipulated anyway, it is easier for me to move the additional drives with XP.

All of this is personal choice anyway. It would drive me up the wall to have it like that, but that is the way my brain organizes things.

 

[wahnula]

It would drive me up the wall to have it like that, but that is the way my brain organizes things.

I hear ya buddy...One time I built a system, the card reader grabbed C:, D: and E:, the OS installed to F:. It worked fine, everything installed fine, but I knew it was not right and could not let it out the door like that .

And I learned to connect stuff AFTER installing the OS...

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[xlh1000]

Ok, now i'm confused.

The C: drive remains as is. The G: drive goes to D:
The recovery partition is already D:, the CD is E:,the CD/RW is F: and the current G: drive's recovery is H:.

Do i just alphabetically prioritize them?
Does this change how things work, or is it just an organizational thing? Not sure i understand what actually happens here, sorry.