Trying to install a 2nd hard drive!! Please help!!

[babygurl666]

Ok this is my problem. I'am using Compaq Presario 5410US, Seagate 40 gigs HD Model ST340810A, WinXP Home Edition SP2. I'm trying to install a old 3.2 gig Western Digital Caviar 33200 (I know I know, not much but what the hell!). This drive was in my old PC which was running WinME. I want old HD to be slave and my C drive to be master. Now I did all that jumper thingy. I've been reading forums all DAY! When it boots up I notice quickly something saying "No IDE Fixed present" When I go to Bios I do not see either drive. ALL I see are the Cd-RW, DVD and floppy drives. When I use the bootup disk I created says "Starting.....Windows ME" and I get A:/>.

Now I tried to switch it around and made the C drive Slave and the Old drive Master. Oh lookie here the bios see both drives. Then WinME Started I stopped it cuz I got scared, didnt want anything to happen to my C drive.

restarted PC with boot disk but got the same thing "Starting.....Windows ME" and I get A:/>.

Whem I try to type "fdisk" it says bad command or file

I was thinking maybe the boot disk?? I created it by formating it into MS-Dos Startup disk. I tried to download the Winxp boot disk. but it tells me I can't run it. something about system file can not run MS-Dos.

I Know I'm doing something wrong but can't get what it is.
Can any help me??? for the love of 3 gigs please help!!
Thank you in advance. Please let me know if there is any more info you need that might help.

 

[Freestone]

Try cable select on both drives, with the newest drive on the connector at the end of the cable.

Seagate ST340810A jumpers:

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/ata/st340810a.html

Western Digital AC33200 jumpers:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...F9mbmwmcF9wYWdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD0zMzIwMA

 

[wolluf]

you could also try pairing the old drive with the CD-RW and making the DVD slave to the 40GB drive (so the hard drives are on different connectors).

but wondering why you want to do this!

btw - if the 3.2GB is not at least ATA33 (its IDE interface speed), it will slow down your 40GB drive if they are both using the same connector, even if you do get it running correctly (ie, both will run at the speed of the old drive)

 

[babygurl666]

Try cable select on both drives, with the newest drive on the connector at the end of the cable.

> I will try that thank you.

you could also try pairing the old drive with the CD-RW and making the DVD slave to the 40GB drive (so the hard drives are on different connectors).

>Sounds good. I will try that if the above does not work.

but wondering why you want to do this!

>I really need some extra space, I'm down to 1.3 gigs now! I unstalled alot of programs that I do not really use. I've done alot of what is suggested to recover more disk space. I even preformed a factory original State install and it didn't do much.
Why is that?

If anyone has anymore ideas I would love to hear it. I know I can buy a bigger hard drive but lack of JOB and money kinda prevents me from this. LOL

btw - if the 3.2GB is not at least ATA33 (its IDE interface speed), it will slow down your 40GB drive if they are both using the same connector, even if you do get it running correctly (ie, both will run at the speed of the old drive)

> I didn't know it would slow my 40 gig drive down. I thought it would make it a bit faster. Thats good to know. I think I might just try your suggestiom.


I also realized that I have a System Sav_D Which is harboring 6.67 gigs. It's normally 10.96 gigs. but I went in and noticed it has my Compaq files I believe it's some kinda back up.

So I took like 5 gigs from that and made a G drive. Was that a good idea???

Thanks for all your help.

 

[TekTippy4U]

I rhink I recall reading compaqs are backwards where cable-select is concerned - or - you need "their" proprietary cable

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
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[TekTippy4U]

"I also realized that I have a System Sav_D Which is harboring 6.67 gigs. It's normally 10.96 gigs. but I went in and noticed it has my Compaq files I believe it's some kinda back up.

So I took like 5 gigs from that and made a G drive. Was that a good idea??"

Did you delete part of your Diagnostic/Restore partition?
Compaqs are a PITA to say the least;
read these

http://webpages.charter.net/dperr/compaq.htm

http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-02-06.htm#1

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc...klPUyBDb2RlIG9uIE5vbkRvcyBhbmQgQ29tcGFx&p_li=

mind you - not as a direct answer, but for overall compaq info. I think you got a mess to clean up

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs

 

[jward52]

Your 2 HDDs should be on seperate channels no matter what type/age they are. You don't need to frog with the cable select setting, just keep the devices at master/slave. If the secondary IDE has one optical drive on it jumpered as master, just add the old HDD as a slave.

Yes, you goofed by swiping space from the system sav_d. It might cause problems later. You might be better off by seeing someone who knows what he/she is doing and start all over instead of using tips on this site that you might not understand.

Here's what I would do with that 40gb drive:
Make 2 partitions, one 10gb for the C: drive and put only your operating system on it. The 2nd partition will be 20-something GBs after Compaq makes its hidden system_sav partition. Use this D: drive for your software and make another folder called My Documents (keep the one on the c: drive empty).

Your optical drives will come in with the letters F: and G:. Then add your old 3.2 HDD to the secondary channels as a slave. You should use this drive for file backups, ones that are important should be on a different drive.
Jim

 

[babygurl666]

Well, all the folders that where on the System_Sav drive are still there. It was taking up almost 10GB of my 40 gigs. it's only using alil over 2GB for the recovery folders. I took 5GB and left the rest untouched. So well my PC still be goofed up?

You mentioned putting my OS on the C Drive using 10gb, and the rest on D. I would love to do that. But what steps do I take to do that. Mind you Compaq never gave me a WinXP Cd-Rom. I only have a compaq recovery disk.

I'm pretty good with computers, and can easily follow instructions pretty well when it comes to this. If you can just lead me to a place where they offer instructions I would be more then thankful!!

I gave up putting the 3GB HD in my PC. I came to realize that size HD is not worth all this trouble. I want to thank everyone who helped me out!!

 

[jward52]

I'm not sure why the system_sav was bloated like that. That shouldn't happen. Anyway, you'd need partitioning software that works in windows to make another partition to house your software. Again, I would get with someone who knows what he/she is doing with this type of job since it is easy to mess things up. Partition Magic 8 works well in XP and I've never had a problem with it. The best part about this type of setup is if windows crashes or there's other problems, your data is safe on the other partition.
Jim

 

[TekTippy4U]

Your 2 HDDs should be on seperate channels no matter what type/age they are. You don't need to frog with the cable select setting, just keep the devices at master/slave. If the secondary IDE has one optical drive on it jumpered as master, just add the old HDD as a slave.
That's NOT the way ComCrud works

babygurl;
visit comcruds site and type in your make model in the Product box;

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...=softwareCategory&tool=softwareCategory&os=20

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs