Installing a new hard drive

[La Huesera]

I am going to install a new hard drive..going from 6 mg to 80. The installation guide gives me three choices for formatting the hard drive..
1)Installing hard drive as a Boot Drive
2)Installing hard drie to replace an existing drive
3)Installing hard drive as an additional hard drive.

I think the best would be #2, use it to replace an existing drive.
What does everyone think..is that the way to go?
Also, any tips you can give me would be of a great help...I have never done this before.

 

[Guest]

La Huesera-Haul Arse+e

 

[Pseudomoniker]

I'd recommend keeping both your hard drives in the system if you're comfortable enough with setting it up that way. Keep your 6 gig drive for your OS and primary program installations and the 80 gig as your storage area. Plus, that way you will have an initial backup of all your files, and anything you forgot to transfer over would still be accessible.

 

[Killswitch]

I suggest installing the third option, that way you dont have to reload windows and any other programs you have on your current HD. Use the second HD as a storage device only.

 

[JerseyBoy]

yup...#3 is the way to go!

Good luck!

 

[La Huesera]

My friend had said to use my small hd as a master..and the new one as a slave. The guy at Best Buy said that I should put the new one in as a master because the system would run faster that way.
Also, what is this stuff about a BIOS Capacity Barrier.. is there a way I can tell if my computer won't take this big of a hard drive without installing it first? Would it matter if I used it as a slave?

 

[Killswitch]

My friend had said to use my small hd as a master..and the new one as a slave. The guy at Best Buy said that I should put the new one in as a master because the system would run faster that way.
Also, what is this stuff about a BIOS Capacity Barrier.. is there a way I can tell if my computer won't take this big of a hard drive without installing it first? Would it matter if I used it as a slave?

Great Question, and I am going to need more info on this as well since I will also be adding a new big gig HD soon.

Apparently it has some affect on how much of your 80 gigs you will be able to use.

And if that is right and we have older machines, how do we change the bios barrier, or can we not?

 

[Weird Harold]

My friend had said to use my small hd as a master..and the new one as a slave. The guy at Best Buy said that I should put the new one in as a master because the system would run faster that way.

I doubt that you'd notice the improved speed as long as the older drive was still in the system as either master or slave. If you're just adding the drive for more capacity, install it as a slave to the original drive.


Also, what is this stuff about a BIOS Capacity Barrier.. is there a way I can tell if my computer won't take this big of a hard drive without installing it first?

I don't think you'll have problem with the BIOS capacity barrier, although you might have to partition the new drive to meet an OS limitation on partition size.

You can try looking for the maximum drive size limitation on the manufacturer's website, or the BIOS maker's website. You'll need to find the version number of your BIOS to get a definitive answer.

Would it matter if I used it as a slave?

If the drive size is a problem for the BIOS or operating system, then it will be problem in either master or slave position. Since the original drive is 6GB, I don't expect that you will have a problem -- Older systems have problems with drives/partitions bigger than 2.2GB; your original drive is already larger than the "barrier."

I gather that yo've found that your system can take two drives after all? On your earlier thread about partioning the new drive, you were convinced you had to replace the old drive because of a lack of mounting space.

 

[Killswitch]

Note: Anytime anyone sees Harold responding to a computer question, I suggest taking a look; he seems to have a fair amount of knowledge about computers.

So, if I have an 8 gig Hard Drive, you dont think I will have a problem installing a say 80 or even a 200 gig drive as a slave?

Partitioning.....is this someting a lamen can handle?

 

[Draco]

I'm a qualified PC technician....and WH's advice is ALWAYS on the money.

Partitioning is something you really need to understand first before tackling. Do a Google search about it. There are many good partitioning utilitys around, the best (IMHO) is Partition Magic from Powerquest. Easy to use, simple guides to follow, and everything can either be done within Windows or in DOS, with almost the same interface.

A word of caution tho. Read all the help guides first. IF you DONT feel comfortable, DONT attempt it. One wrong step and you WILL lose EVERYTHING.

Think of a Hard-drive as a warehouse.
You build walls in your "warehouse" to seperate one area from another. One for frozen goods, one for perishables etc.
Partitions in a Hard-drive are similar. One area for the Operating System, another for Music etc. (Its entirely your choice, a HDD can have up to 23 partitions Labeled from C - Z)

Once again, read everything you can find about it first. Only proceed if you feel comfortable and understand all the terminology. Knowing the difference between a Primary Partition, an Extended Partition & a Logical Drive are critical here.

If this scares you, forget it and leave the HDD well alone.
If you want more help, PM Me or WH. I'll help where-ever I can

Draco
A+/Net+ Certified Technician
K C Computers & Laptops
Christchurch
New Zealand

 

[Weird Harold]

So, if I have an 8 gig Hard Drive, you dont think I will have a problem installing a say 80 or even a 200 gig drive as a slave?

Partitioning.....is this someting a lamen can handle?

I'm positive you won't have any trouble with an 80GB drive. I don't know for sure about a 200GB drive, but I'm fairly certain it would be no problem either. Draco would have the more difinitive opinion on this issue because he's working with current technology everyday.

Partioning is fairly simple if the drive is new and hasn't been formatted yet. There are programs out there that claim to be able to partition a drive after it has been formatted without losing any data on it, but I've never used them.

Personally, I have 6GB and 30 GB drives partitioned to 1 MB as drive C: and seven 5 GB partitions. I don't really recommend quite that many partitions for the typical user, but a single 30 GB partition just makes maintenance (defrag and scandisk) an all day task and finding files harder than necessary.

 

[Draco]

Killswitch, next time you boot up your PC and get to the SECOND screen, the one with the Energy Star Logo, hit the PAUSE button on the keyboard...this will temporarily pause the boot process.

At the lower left of the screen is a text. This is called the BIOS ID String. Copy it down exactly and PM it to me. It has the version code/date/manufacturer of your systems BIOS. It will tell me if using the 80 GIG HDD will be OK on your system.

As a general guide, anything dated AFTER mid-98 should be fine.

Once you have copied it down, hit SPACE to resume the boot.

Very early BIOS's (BIOSII...?) have a limitatin of 2.2 GB as WH said, some slightly later ones have a limit of 8.4 GB, most nowdays will take anything (almost) that you can put in there.

Check with th e drive manufacturer for really big drives 160-200+ GIG, as these may need and "Overlay Driver" supplied by the manufacturer. Some do, some dont.

 

[Guest]

 

[La Huesera]

but a single 30 GB partition just makes maintenance (defrag and scandisk) an all day task and finding files harder than necessary


So, what you are saying is that partitioning just makes it easier to defrag and scandisk?


Thanks for all the help people.

 

[La Huesera]

Draco is right


But I can guarantee you that your 80GB HDD will NOT work in your system unless you flash the BIOS or get a shitty overlay.


Overlays are crap, you're far better flashing

You will need to do it

Hanns, what the hell is flashing? Shit, just when I think I have a handle on things, someone brings something else up.

 

[Killswitch]

Draco,

I will do that the next time I boot. Thank you for the advice and assistance.....all three of you.

Just a few notes.....my comp was probably built around 98....its a clone with an AMD 350 mhz processor. I recently upgraded the ram to 196 ( I know Hanns, your calculator has more Ram....so does my kids...heh) and it has an 8 gig actual HD, but the properties says its a tad bigger than that.

I am not purchasing or installing a new HD right away, but probably within the next month or so...I am also going to ad a CDRW.

But I will pm you that info as soon as I retrieve it, probably later tonite.

Thanks!

 

[Draco]

Not only that, but data security is increased by partitioning.

Lets pretend that Windows 98 has crashed (seriously, it happens, LOL) and its completely screwed itself and the only way to fix it is to reformat the drive and re-install 98 and all your programs again. You have lost it all, because you only had one drive (C:\).

Everything you have ever installed, downloaded, saved has GONE. Think of all the time wasted.

Now, on a partitioned drive (C:\, D:|\) in the same scenario, only (C:\) is damaged, and all the backups you made and stored on (D:\) are safe. Within a couple of hours, after formatting ONLY (C:\) you can be back up and running, with most of your data intact.

Partitioning any drive of decent size (4 gig +) makes sense, and you'll soon get the hang of working with multiple drive letters.

My own personal setup is, 1 40 GIG HDD partitioned as
A:\ = 1.44mb Floppy Drive
C:\ = 5.0gig (Windows 2000 and Programs)
D:\ = 5.0gig (Windows Install and System Drivers & Client Records)
E:\ = 20gig (Games, Movies, Downloads, My Documents)
F:\ = 10gig (Music, Porn)
G:\ = DVD Drive
H:\ = CD-RW

Now, to some this may be confusing, (all those drive letters to remember) but in time, it becomes familiar.

Note: Windows see's each of these drives as a SEPERATE drive, almost like you had five HDD's in your machine.

 

[Weird Harold]

So, what you are saying is that partitioning just makes it easier to defrag and scandisk?

That's part of it, but primarily it makes organizing your files easier.

On My system,
Drive D: is for drivers and utility programs.
Drive E: is where the erotica is kept.
Drive F: is for Fun Stuff -- games and such.
Drive G: is for graphics -- graphics programs and picture files.
Drive H: is for audio -- audio players and sound files.
Drive I: is for everything else -- (mostly what ends up in the C:\program files on most single drive systems.)

Drives E, F, G, and H seldom get fragmented because there isn't anything that is being modified on those drives. What's on those drives don't have to be moved around to fix the fragmentation on drives C & I where most of the file modification from routine operations is going on.

FWIW, "Originally posted by Hanns_Schmidt" = "This person is on your Ignore List" because I haven't seen anything he's posted that's worth reading.

His comment about "flashing the bios" is pretty much irrelevant to the discussion. If your BIOS is old enough to be problem, it's probably also too old to be flashable. If your BIOS is flashable, it probably doesn't need it.

My five year old ASUS motherboard has a flashable BIOS. I've checked about three times in the last five years to see if there is an upgrade for my BIOS, and the version currently loaded is the same as that available for my motherboard model.

The only time you should need to flash your BIOS is if the manufacturer has issued a bug fix or the BIOS has been corrupted somehow. Checking for an upgrade isn't a bad idea, but it probably won't have any effect on whether a particular drive is compatible or not -- it's a very "last resort" sort of option if you have problems with installing a drive.

 

[La Huesera]

Oh.. ok I see now. Thanks Draco. What about this flashing stuff Hanns was talking about? Thanks also WH

 

[Draco]

Hanns, what the hell is flashing? Shit, just when I think I have a handle on things, someone brings something else up.

Flashing....a term for updating the BIOS code to a newer version.
Now and then, the BIOS manufacturers release a new version, supporting new features, like faster CPU's, better Power Managament techniques, Larger HDD sizes etc.

Flashing is the mode of updating from your existing version to the new version. You download the BIOS flash from the Motherboard Makers site, unpacking it to a bootable floppy and start your PC from that floppy. You follow the program thru its steps and the BIOS update is carried out. You remove the floppy and restart the PC and it fires up with all its new features.

You can then add the new CPU, or that bigger HDD without any drama's. The Overlay Driver I mentioned earlier is usually a "stop-gap" measure buitl by the drive manufactuer until the Motherboard Manufactures catch up with a BIOS update.

As Hanns stated, Flashing IS the best way to go, but some motherboard makers are woefully slow, and can take up to 6 months to release a flash once new HDD or CPU sizes hit the market.

 

[Weird Harold]

The Overlay Driver I mentioned earlier is usually a "stop-gap" measure buitl by the drive manufactuer until the Motherboard Manufactures catch up with a BIOS update.

BIOS extension or "overlay drivers" are usually drive specific and often better than the BIOS support added later for generic drives of a given size or type. The only time I've ever really encountered a problem with them is in single drive systems where getting the drive recognizable as a boot drive so the BIOS extension can be loaded is sometimes a problem.

In this particular case, flashing the BIOS is NOT likely to be necessary -- 80GB drives are well within the size limits of most modern BIOS revisions.

 

[La Huesera]

Ok, got the crazy thing in. Now, I am having a little trouble in configuring the system Bios. Once I get into Bios, there is no place to auto-detect IDE/HDD.. the manual I have says if there is not, choose the standard CMOS option to detect hard drive. What the hell is this, and where do I find it?

 

[La Huesera]

*bump* for WH or Drac

 

[La Huesera]

*bump* for anyone that can help me.

 

[ridddder]

I wish you luck there, configuring the bios is a hell game at best. If your HD isn't seen by the bios, under auto detect meaning the specs for it aren't there when you get to the bios screen you can try set it up manually using the info off the tag on the drive, sectors....etc. Word of advice make sure you have the HD configured correctly before you boot up. This means taking this little thing that about the size of a match tip, and is black plastic. I think it is called a terminator or something like that. You put it on the pins on the rear of the drive to tell the drive whether it is a master, or slave. Depending on which IDE bus you used, and playing around with your cables. This should waste the better part of a day. If you configure the drive wrong, the bios may not see it at all. Sometimes you have to play around with the postions of how the drives are plugged into the IDE cables. If you are using bus 1 or 2, and plug one or 2. Older bios chips are finicky. Well have fun, you will need it.

LOL