second HDD install into older Emachine

[rick1948]

I'm testing this on an older maxtor drive (330mb)just to see if
I can do it. So far, I can't.
Specs :
etower 433, 4.3GB drive
already added more memory (192mb) and a CD-RW
A drive - floppy
C drive - 4.3gb
E drive - CD ROM
F drive - CD RW
All hardware works fine.

Procedure :
removed pin from J20 to make it a slave
added 'piggy-back' for extra power connection
replaced ribbon (single connecter) with one that has double connection
connected drive
booted into DOS,
ran FDISK
- it seemed to recognize new drive (D)
- deleted old partition
- created new partition (LBA -style)
restarted computer
Windows 98 does not recognize new drive
everything else works normally (even though the
controlpanel/system/devices display now indicates
an error in my IDE controller.)

What have I done wrong ?

 

[wolluf]

ran FDISK
- created new partition (LBA -style) - what does this mean?

Did you reboot to dos to format the drive?
What happens if you reboot with win98 boot floppy - can you see/format drive?

Does the LBA refer to bios setting (Large Block Addressing)? Because that's probably wrong on a 330MB hard drive (CHS?). So, is bios recognising drive correctly (it will be PIO mode rather than ATA also - 4.3GB may be ATA33)?

 

[rick1948]

Hey Wolluf, thanx for responding.

Yes, LBA refers to the Large Block Addressing setting in FDISK.
I used that, but maybe that was not right for that old drive.
I'll try it without .

I did NOT format it before starting windows. I have been told that I can format it from windows after partitioning.
When I attempt to format it from a dos window (dos-boot),
it also does not recognize the D: drive. ('invalid drive specification').

You have given me some things to try , though, THANX.

This is just a test, though. Once I know i can add a drive,
then I'll get a new 60GB drive, and install that.
Of course the settings will be different then
(ata vs pio? , LBA vs CHS ?)

 

[TomCologne]

Rick,

Even if you get this old drive to run on your machine, installing a 60GB HDD is a different issue and the results of your test can hardly be applied to it.

You're probably going to have to deal with HDD size support/recognition. The mb's Bios will most likely not detect all the GBs.
If there's no Bios upgrade available to solve this problem, there is still the option of using the software that comes with a lot of drives.

So I'd recommend not to put to much effort into the Maxtor and go for the real thing, although I'm not 100% sure about 60GB. I upgraded a mid 99 computer from 4GB to 30GB without problems.

One more remark, adding a drive means more heat and may require an additional fan. The PSU should have enough power for some more devices, but it doesn't hurt to check its specs to avoid overload and electrical problems.

TomCologne

 

[rick1948]

I think that old drive was defective , or the BIOS just
couldn't deal with it.
I went down and bought a new 40GB drive, followed the same
procedure, and it came up fine .
I didn't think about the heat problem though. The new drive
does get pretty warm. But it seems to cycle . Powers up
when needed, then down when not.
Should I keep the case off, for better ventilation, or
is the case designed for optimum ventilation when installed?

 

[TomCologne]

JP,

If you can, leave it off.

Heat is not necessarily a problem as long as it's dissipated, but if your case is as crammed as ie a 98/99 HP Pavilion (1 CPU fan,no case fan), it could become an issue.

Better safe than sorry, basically.

TomCologne