Ping: Anyone who has installed a second hard drive

[JeeberD]

OK, I bought a second hard drive for my computer a little while ago, and I finally got around to installing the sucker tonight. The installation process went quite smoothly since my computer's owner's manual gives pretty good instructions. After the installation, I went ahead and started up my computer, and it started up just fine.

When the computer was getting started up and starting up programs (AIM, MSN Messenger, etc) a little box popped up saying that the computer had found new hardware. I clicked on the box thinking that it would take me to an installation wizard of some sort, but nothing happened. About ten seconds later, a second box popped up saying that the computer had found a new hard drive, and I clicked on it again, thinking again that an installation wizard or someting would come up. Once again, nothing happened.

Since nothing happened, I assumed that it installed automatically. I went to My Computer thinking that it would show the new drive next to my Local Disk (C: ), but it's there all alone. I right clicked on the C: drive to see if the two disks had merged or something, but the properties of the C: drive state that it's still a lousy 18.5 GB. The new hard drive is 80 GB, by the way.

After that, I went to the Control Panel and tried to install new hardware, but the computer couldn't find anything to install. Now I'm all out of ideas of how to get my computer to find the new drive.

Of course, I'm kind of an idiot when it comes to computers, so I'm not even certain how the computer would display the new drive. Would it show up next to the C: drive in "my computer" like I was expecting it to? Would it merge with the original C: drive like I later thought? How in the hell does it exactly work? I guess I really should have asked some of these questions before I bought and installed the damn thing... :redface:

If anyone can help me out with this I would really appreciate it. Here's some info about my new drive, if it helps at all...

DELL
80 GB Internal EIDE Ultra ATA/100 7200 RPM Hard Drive for Dell Dimension Desktops

Form Factor: Internal
Features: S.M.A.R.T. Compliant
Weight: 1.2 lbs
Average Latency: 4.2 ms
Average Seek Time: 9.5 ms
Bytes per Sector: 512
Cache / Buffer Size: 2 MB
Data Transfer Rate: 100 Mbps
Device Type: Hard Drive
Dimensions (WxDxH) / Weight: 4" x 5.78" x 1" / 1.2 lbs
Formatted Capacity: 80 GB
Heads / Physical: 16 / 4
Interface Type: EIDE Ultra ATA/100
Spindle Speed: 7200 RPM
Voltage Required: 5V, 12V
Cylinders: 16,383
Heads: 16
Shock Tolerance Operating / Non-Operatin: 63 Gs @ 2 msec duration / 350 Gs @ 2 msec duration
Seek Time: 9.5 ms (Read), 10.5 ms (Write)
Shock Tolerance: 63 Gs @ 2 msec duration

Product Highlights
80 GB storage capacity
7200 RPM spindle speed and 2 MB cache for faster data access
EIDE Ultra ATA/100 interface with data transfer rates of up to 100 Mbps
This product has been tested and validated on Dell™ systems to ensure it will work with your computer
Supported by Dell™ Technical Support when used with a Dell™ system

[mckerney]

Hmm... I'll see if I can think of something. This is the kind of this I'd be able to do if I were there as I've installed hard drives 3 or 4 times without any problems, but not knowing everything you did or didn't do in installation it's tough to know what it could be. Only thing I could think of right now is running any software that came with the harddrive.

[JeeberD]

It didn't come with any software...

[3ric]

You should get an extra drive, labeled D:\ or E:\ if the install was OK. Did the manual mention anything about setting the drive as master or slave?

[Mr. Wednesday]

There's not really any "setting up" to do on a new hard drive, as such. You've got to handle the plugging in, which you did (most modern boxen have enough IDE channels that you don't need to worry about master/slave just yet, hard drives get their own, faster channels).

At this point, you probably need to partition and format. Partitioning will most likely involve little more than saying "No, I don't want to split up the hard drive into multiple drive letters." Formatting involves waiting a while for it to finish. Depending on your operating system, someone here should be able to walk you through exact steps. (I can do it if you have Windows 2000, but I'd guess you'll have Windows XP?)

[mckerney]

Slave/Master setting is a possibility, which would involve opening up the case to check.

One thing I'd check is the Device Manager. Chances are under 'disk drives' it will be there with an yellow exclamation mark over the logo. Checking the properties from there may give some insight into why it's not working correctly.

[Mr. Wednesday]

You guys are making this too complicated. The only thing that should be required is opening up the disk manager (which I can do in Windows 2000 but I don't know what the steps are in XP), partition, and format.

[sovereignstar]

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/howto/install_xp_disk_mgmt.html

[mckerney]

There's not really any "setting up" to do on a new hard drive, as such. You've got to handle the plugging in, which you did (most modern boxen have enough IDE channels that you don't need to worry about master/slave just yet, hard drives get their own, faster channels).

At this point, you probably need to partition and format. Partitioning will most likely involve little more than saying "No, I don't want to split up the hard drive into multiple drive letters." Formatting involves waiting a while for it to finish. Depending on your operating system, someone here should be able to walk you through exact steps. (I can do it if you have Windows 2000, but I'd guess you'll have Windows XP?)

I think it should come preformated, as I think the last WD drive I installed was. I was wondering about having to format it as some drives I've worked with in the past came with a bootup CD or disk to use to format the drive. If not and it wasn't formatted, I think that'd be something that would come up while windows was installing it, such as a box saying "click OK to format now"

[mckerney]

You guys are making this too complicated. The only thing that should be required is opening up the disk manager (which I can do in Windows 2000 but I don't know what the steps are in XP), partition, and format.

Probably making it to complicated, though mainly because it's answering the question over the internet. I've never used XP to install, though how to do these kind of things I've always been able to just figure out by doing it, and not knowing everything that was done makes me think of basic stuff that can often be missed when installing hardware.

[JeeberD]

D: is already taken as my CD-Rom drive, and E: is my CD-RW drive. Should it have come up as F:?

All it says about about master/slave stuff is in step 13 ( :eek: )...

"Locate the extra connector on the drive cable that is attached to your first hard drive and attach the connector to the second hard drive.

Your computer uses cable-select drive cables, which means that the device connected to the end connector of the drive cable is the mast device and the device connected to the middle connector is the slave device. Be sure that the jumper setting on the new device is set for 'cable select' (see the documentation that came with the drive for information)."

Hmmm, what in the heck is the "jumper setting"?

[Mr. Wednesday]

The way jumpers work is, on the back of the drive there are six pins sticking out (3x2). The jumper is set so that it bridges two of them, this tells the hard drive how it's operating. The manual for the hard drive should have a diagram showing which jumper settings are appropriate for master, slave, or cable-select. IME, most HD mfrs use the same jumper settings to mean the same things.

Does your computer give you a rundown of the hard drives (and other hardware) right after bootup? If so, did your new hard drive show up in the list?

[mckerney]

I believe jumper setting is the master/slave settings. On the back of the hard drive there's are 6 pins which have 2 plugs, each one covering 2 pins. The location of these plugs determine the setting of the hard drive, such as master or slave. There should be a diagram with the installation instructions on where the plugs are supposed to go for each setting.

I'd only open the case back up and check if you can't figure anything out for a while, or you get some indication that tells you it's not set properly to be the slave hard drive.

[TazFTW]

I would use the link sovereignstar gave.

[Tasan]

If it said it found it, 2 things.

1. its probably jumped correctly
2. you are probably on winxp

Most hard drives these days DON'T come preformatted because of the current FAT32/NTFS decision in win xp. You're more than likely ready to format and set up in disc manager, just let us know for sure what OS you are on and I'm sure we can help. Heck, disc manager will tell you definately if the drive is there or not anyway, you should check there first.

[Mr. Wednesday]

I would use the link sovereignstar gave.Yes, definitely try that first. As long as the drive is installed correctly, that will take care of getting it so you can use it. You'll only need more help here if there's a problem with installation.

[JeeberD]

Yeah, that link is helping a lot. The drive is there, it just needed to be initiallized. The only problem I'm having is figuring out what size to make the partition. I think I used the full drive capacity. It is currently trying to format...

[JeeberD]

Dola-

Oh, and I an indeed on XP...

[Mr. Wednesday]

Full capacity is fine. Formatting an 80 GB drive will take a while. When it's done, you should be all set.

[mckerney]

I don't know how you got by on 18.5 GB.The My Documents folder alone on my computer takes up about 10

[JeeberD]

Yeah, after five or ten minutes it's only at 2% formatted. I think I'll let it finish while I'm sleeping... :)

Thanks so much for your help, guys. That's certainly nothing I would have ever figured out for myself. You guys rock.

I swear, I don't know what I would do without this place... *sniff sniff*

[JeeberD]

I don't know how you got by on 18.5 GB.The My Documents folder alone on my computer takes up about 10

Lots of deleting old files when I found some good porn to download... ;)

[sovereignstar]

Yeah, that link is helping a lot. The drive is there, it just needed to be initiallized. The only problem I'm having is figuring out what size to make the partition. I think I used the full drive capacity. It is currently trying to format...
http://www.desktopdynasties.com/forum/images/thumb.gif

[Airhog]

JeeberD: you mean you dont have a partition dedicated to porn? shame on you

[Draft Dodger]

Yeah, after five or ten minutes it's only at 2% formatted. I think I'll let it finish while I'm sleeping... :)

Thanks so much for your help, guys. That's certainly nothing I would have ever figured out for myself. You guys rock.

I swear, I don't know what I would do without this place... *sniff sniff*

in the future, the Quick format option would have worked just fine for you, and would have taken about a minute.