Slave reformated to by Master

[NewbieDBA]

Hi Folks,
I have a Maxor 4 (Gig) hard drive which is currently Slaved on my Home PC (Call it computer A). I reformatted the slave Maxor in computer A to be blank but formatted (Forgive me I am not a hardware guy). I am trying to stick it into several old 300mhz machines salvaged from the dregs of the server room (Call them computers B, C). I stick the slave maxor into the computer B or C in the master position (end of the Hard drive cable). The BIOS does not recognize the equipment in either B or C.

What approach should I take?
1. Install something into Slave Maxor in Computer A that might help B and C recognize the drive.
2. Look for something I'm failing to check with B and C, switches, cables, elves.
3. Walk it down the street head held in shame because of my ineptitude to the customer shop.
(Trying to help a broke student friend in Grad school come up with a working free PC).

 

[jeremybarker]

Have you changed the jumpers on the slave maxtor? If it was a slave on the original pc, you have to change the jumpers to master. Look on the HD to see if it has a guide on this. If not, visit maxtor's site, they have an interactive jumper setting guide for different models. I think if you move the jumper closest to the ide cable, that is the master setting on a 4GB maxtor.

 

[NewbieDBA]

jeremybarker
Good advice. I am setting the cable position correctly but I didn't know there was a small jumper piece that tells the hard drive that it is the master. Something to try tonight when aI get home.
Thanks

 

[ANFPS26]

Some old hard drives have DIP switches on the onboard circuit board for master/slave settings instead of jumpers on the rear. I had an old NEC harddrive like that. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing....."