TECH CHAT FAQ

SCENARIO ONE:

YOU WANT TO ADD A SECOND HARDDRIVE

1. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN OPEN DRIVE BAY (THE ROOM WHERE YOU INSTALL THE HARDDRIVE)

2. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN UNUSED 4-PIN POWER SUPPLY CABLE INSIDE THE PC FOR THE NEW HARDDRIVE (OTHERWISE YOU'LL HAVE TO SPLIT AN EXISTING ONE)

3. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN OPEN IDE CONNECTOR (40- PIN CONNECTOR) ON THE IDE INTERFACE CABLE OF YOUR EXISTING HARDDRIVE OPEN (THE IDE CABLE HAS 3 CONNECTORS (ONLY 2 OF WHICH CAN BE USED TO PLUG IN AN IDE/ATAPTI DRIVE), ONE AT THE END, ONE IN THE MIDDLE AND ONE THAT PLUGS DIRECTLY INTO THE IDE CONNECTOR OF THE MOTHERBOARD)

BEFORE YOU INSTALL ANY NEW HARDWARE TO YOUR PC, UNPLUG THE PC AND MAKE SURE THAT YOU DON'T INSTALL IT WHILE YOU'RE ON A CARPET SINCE THE CARPET CREATES ELECTRIC STATIC WHICH COULD BE FATAL FOR THE SENSITIVE COMPUTER PARTS. I'D SUGGEST TO INSTALL ANY NEW HARDWARE WHILE WEARING AN ANTISTATIC WRISTBAND WHICH YOU CAN BUY AT ANY PC STORE FOR A FEW DOLLARS.YOU HAVE TO CONNECT THE ANTISTATIC WRISTBAND TO A METAL PART WITH THE ALLIGATOR CLIP INSIDE YOUR PC BEFORE EVEN UNPACKING A NEW HARDDRIVE.

SOME OF THE NEWER HARDDRIVES HAVE 9-PIN CONNECTORS FOR THE JUMPER SETTINGS.

BEFORE YOU INSTALL THE NEW HARDDRIVE YOU HAVE TO CHANGE THE JUMPER(S) ON THE EXISTING HARDDRIVE TO THE "MASTER WITH SLAVE" OR "DUAL (MASTER)" SETTING (WHEN IT'S THE ONLY HARDDRIVE IT'S SET TO "MASTER ONLY" OR "SINGLE"). THE JUMPERS ARE VERY TINY LITTLE PLASTIC COVERS. PLEASE REFER TO THE MANUAL THAT COMES WITH YOUR NEW HARDDRIVE ON HOW THE JUMPERS HAVE TO BE SET, THE SETTINGS VARY FROM MANUFACTURER TO MANUFACTURER.

AFTER YOU HAVE DONE THAT, YOU HAVE TO CHANGE THE JUMPER SETTINGS ON THE NEW HARDDRIVE TO "SLAVE" OR "DUAL (SLAVE)".

YOU'RE READY TO SECURE THE NEW HARDDRIVE INTO THE DRIVE BAY WITH 4 SCREWS NOW, MAKE SURE THE SCREWS ARE TIGHT AND THE HARDDRIVE IS NOT LOOSE IN ANY WAY.

NOW YOU HAVE TO CONNECT THE NEW HARDDRIVE WITH THE IDE INTERFACE CABLE. MAKE SURE THAT PIN SOCKET 1 ON THE IDE CABLE (INDICATED BY THE COLOR STRIPE) IS CONNECTED TO PIN 1 ON THE BACK OF THE HARDDRIVE. CONNECT THE 4-PIN POWER SUPPLY CABLE TO THE POWER CONNECTOR ON THE DRIVE.

THE END OF THE IDE INTERFACE CABLE SHOULD BE CONNECTED TO THE MASTER DRIVE, THE MIDDLE CONNECTOR SHOULD BE CONNECTED TO THE SLAVE DRIVE AND THE BLUE CONNECTOR SHOULD BE PLUGGED INTO THE IDE CONNECTOR DIRECTLY ON THE MOTHERBOARD.

YOU'RE ALL SET NOW, AFTER YOU PLUGGED THE PC BACK IN AND BOOT UP THE NEW HARDDRIVE SHOULD BE DETECTED BY WINDOWS RIGHT AWAY, IT'S NOT FORMATTED AND PARTITIONED YET THOUGH.

YOU CAN FORMAT AND PARTITION THE NEW HARDDRIVE THE "OLD" WAY WITH FDISK ETC. NOW.

A REALLY COOL FEATURE WITH WESTERN DIGITAL HARDDRIVES IS THE "DATA LIFEGUARD EZ INSTALL" FLOPPY THAT COMES WITH IT FOR EASY FORMATTING AND PARTITIONING OF THE NEW HARDDRIVE, YOU CAN ALSO COPY FILES FROM ONE HARDDRIVE TO THE OTHER WITH IT.

SCENARIO 2:

YOU HAVE TWO HARDDRIVES ALREADY AND WANT TO ADD MORE HARDDRIVES

SINCE THE MOTHERBOARD ONLY HAS 2 IDE CONNECTORS AND THEY'RE BOTH ALREADY IN USE (TWO HARDDRIVES AND CD-ROM AND FLOPPY DRIVE) YOU'LL NEED TO INSTALL AN ULTRA ATA 66 CARD. THOSE CARDS ARE CONNECTED TO THE MOTHERBOARD IN A PCI SLOT. THE ADVANTAGE IS THAT THEY'RE ACTUALLY SPEEDING UP YOUR HARDDRIVES, ALLOWING THEM TO WORK FULL SPEED. THOSE ULTRA ATA IDE 66 CARDS HAVE TWO IDE CONNECTORS WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO CONNECT 4 HARDDRIVES ON THE CARD ITSELF AND OPENS ONE IDE CONNECTOR ON THE MOTHERBOARD FOR ADDITIONAL DEVICES LIKE A CD RW DRIVE ETC. ASSUMING YOU HAVE TWO HARDDRIVES INSTALLED ALREADY, YOU SIMPLY INSTALL THE CARD AND HOOK UP THE IDE INTERFACE CABLE OF THE EXISTING HARDDRIVES TO THE FIRST IDE CONNECTOR ON THE ULTRA ATA 66 IDE CARD. THOSE ARE PRIMARY MASTER AND PRIMARY SLAVE. IF YOU INSTALL ONE MORE HARDDRIVE, SET THE JUMPER(S) TO "MASTER ONLY" OR "SINGLE". THEN YOU CONNECT THE IDE INTERFACE CABLE AND POWER SUPPLY CABLE TO THE BACK OF THE NEW DRIVE, SECURE IT BY SCREWING IT IN THE DRIVE BAY, HOOK UP THE BLUE END OF THE IDE INTERFACE CABLE TO THE SECOND CONNECTOR ON THE ULTRA ATA 66 IDE CARD AND IT'S AUTOMATICALLY SECONDARY MASTER. IF YOU INSTALL ONE MORE DRIVE, CHANGE THE JUMPER SETTINGS OF THE FIRST SECONDARY DRIVE TO "MASTER WITH SLAVE" OR "DUAL (MASTER)", CHANGE THE JUMPER SETTINGS OF THE NEW DRIVE TO "SLAVE" OR "DUAL (SLAVE)", PLUG THE MIDDLE CONNECTOR OF THE IDE INTERFACE CABLE AND POWER SUPPLY CABLE IN THE BACK OF THE DRIVE AND IT'S THE SECONDARY SLAVE.

SUMMARY:

NO ULTRA ATA 66 IDE CARD:

1 HARDDRIVE = MASTER (SINGLE)

2 HARDDRIVES = MASTER (DUAL), SLAVE (DUAL)

ULTRA ATA 66 IDE CARD:

1 HARDDRIVE = PRIMARY MASTER (SINGLE)

2 HARDDRIVES = PRIMARY MASTER (DUAL)

PRIMARY SLAVE (DUAL)

3 HARDDRIVES = PRIMARY MASTER (DUAL)

PRIMARY SLAVE (DUAL)

SECONDARY MASTER (SINGLE)

4 HARDDRIVES = PRIMARY MASTER (DUAL)

PRIMARY SLAVE (DUAL)

SECONDARY MASTER (DUAL)

SECONDARY SLAVE (DUAL)

IF YOU HAVE ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS, FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AT Jabby4evr@aol.com