PCTech Forums

Hi to all. I am just about to add a 160GB hard-drive to run along side my exsisting 80GB HD. The new one will just be for storage of files etc.
My questions are, 1 will I have to ad an OS to this after formatting?
2. Will one have to be master and one slave? (or will the pc set this up).
3. Any other problems that I need to be aware about??
Thanks in advance Pete

Ok,in the order you asked...

1)Nope,no OS will be needed
2)Yes,Your 80GB will need to be set to master (it should already be set as master) and the 160 will need to be set as slave
3)Enter your bios after you install the drive and boot back up,the 80 gig should be recoginized as primary master and the 160 gig as primary slave.

Now here's a tip on your cables..
Primary IDE aka IDE 0
The cable should start from the motherboard then connect to the slave drive (160 gig) using the middle connector on the cable.From the middle,it should go to the master drive (80 gig) connecting on the end of the cable.

Secondary IDE aka IDE 1
The cable should start from the motherboard and connect to the cdrom using the end of the cable IF there are no other drives installed.

If you have 2 cdroms then use the same instructions listed above for a master/slave configuration.

That should have you up and running

Just one other thing.. if you are using UDMA (or conductor 80 as it is sometimes called) cables.. you will need to set the jumpers on each drive to Cable Select.

Most PC's use UDMA cables these days.. the wires on the ribbon are much much finer than on the old IDE cables..

liljims advice about which connectors to use is valid for this type of configuration.. and is in fact only true when using UDMA cables.. when using the old cables, only the jumpers affect the master/slave configuration and they can be connected in either order.