Two HDD help

[c0mp4ter]

howdy gangs

i bought a new hd yesterday so can i put these two hds in my rig i am sure it will.
but the question is:
i wanna the old HD which my OS has been installed on remain there and i use my new HD to store some movies and other files.
do i need set "master" and "slave" relation between the two.

if no,
i just need fix it in the hd bays the OS will recognize it automatically right? or need future configuration.

thank you guys i really need your help

 

[technology-sponge]

For the OS drive, set it to Master, and the Secondary storage drive to slave. Master is the default boot hdd. Having both on master will cause your computer to not boot.

The OS should recognize the drive, you may have to format it first before you can use it though.

 

[BustedSony]

Assuming that we're talking about IDE the DVDrom will generally be on the secondary Master, so yeah, put the new drive on the Primary Slave connection (middle of the IDE cable) and set jumpers accordingly.

If it's Sata then there are no jumper settings for Master and Slave, but if the Bios is set to IDE mode rather than AHCI, then the drive may not work if it's in a slave Sata connector with the associated Master connector unused.

 

[technology-sponge]

Sata has no slave or master at all. Having the HDD's set to IDE in the BIOS just configure them, so there seen as standard hard disks (all of them "master"), with no RAID, NCQ, TCQ, delayed spin-up, hotplug, etc.

 

[BustedSony]

Sata has no slave or master at all. Having the HDD's set to IDE in the BIOS just configure them, so there seen as standard hard disks (all of them "master"), with no RAID, NCQ, TCQ, delayed spin-up, hotplug, etc.

Not true, under IDE or Standard mode Sata ports still have a slave and Master position, the drive is set automatically to one or the other however. Many older boards like the P5W-DH MUST have the Master slot used first if it's in IDE mode. The first device must be put on the red connectors, 1 or 3, before the slave positions 2 and 4, can be used. (The P5W doesn't have position 2, it's used for EZraid) Put a device on just the Sata slot that is IDENTIFIED as the "slave" or Black and it won't be recognized. If it's AHCI it indeed doesn't matter. There have been many threads here wondering why a user's one and only Sata device doesn't work, and this has been the reason.

The Master/Slave (virtual) configuration was maintained in Basic Sata mode for software compatability with IDE drivers. http://www.directron.com/sataultraata.html

 

[c0mp4ter]

thank you guys i am a newbie and my hds are both sata so there is no such options of master or slave things. what i need to do is to fix them on the HD bays and partition my new hdd. it will works fine, right?

 

[technology-sponge]

Not true, under IDE or Standard mode Sata ports still have a slave and Master position, the drive is set automatically to one or the other however. Many older boards like the P5W-DH MUST have the Master slot used first if it's in IDE mode. The first device must be put on the red connectors, 1 or 3, before the slave positions 2 and 4, can be used. (The P5W doesn't have position 2, it's used for EZraid) Put a device on just the Sata slot that is IDENTIFIED as the "slave" or Black and it won't be recognized. If it's AHCI it indeed doesn't matter. There have been many threads here wondering why a user's one and only Sata device doesn't work, and this has been the reason.

The Master/Slave (virtual) configuration was maintained in Basic Sata mode for software compatability with IDE drivers. http://www.directron.com/sataultraata.html

Seems like I do learn something every day

 

[technology-sponge]

thank you guys i am a newbie and my hds are both sata so there is no such options of master or slave things. what i need to do is to fix them on the HD bays and partition my new hdd. it will works fine, right?

Yeh, just make sure your hard disk with the OS is plugged into the first SATA port, or the "master" port. Most new motherboards will try booting from the disks in sequential order (disk 1, then 2, then 3 etc...)

 

[c0mp4ter]

oh so bad!
The western Digital i've bought doesn't work properly since it's dtected in the bios but not in the partiton menu while installing vista or XP 64bits.

i've another hard drive plugged in i used it to install Xp 64bits. I've noticed that the system boots in less than 15 seconds but if the wetern digital is plugged walong with the hitachi, the system doesn't boot.

DOA? or i miss something?

 

[technology-sponge]

Can you give any more details?

HDD Model and specs
Motherboard/chipset
Other HDDs plugged in.

In the BIOS, does it detect the hard disk features correctly? If not, manually set them (cylinders, heads, sectors, capacity etc)
Try flashing your BIOS to the latest version.
On Western Digital's support section, you can download hdd diagnostic tools to test that the HDD is ok. WD Diagnostics or something. Use the bootable DOS floppy or CD ISO to check the HDD.
Try using jumpers to force the hard disk into legacy Sata 150 mode. (The position for the jumper should be on the WD HDD label) If this doesn't work, then undo it.
Does XP/Vista need drivers to detect your hard disk controller?