New Hard Drive

[Laddey]

Hello
So i just got a new hard drive, all i need to do is plug the 2 plugs into the back of it and install windows? is it that simple or is there more stuff to do, i dont want to get starting and have to do something i dont know how to etc, so i thought id ask first, thx

 

[Cylian]

in theory yes, that's all.

though you'll want to check first how the jumpers (next to the plugs) are set.
Usually it's

M - Master (1st plug, then ending of the cable)
S - Slave (2nd plug, the one in the middle)
CS - Cable Select (smart mode! the drive takes what it gets)

put it on CS if you aren't too sure about how to connect the stuff.
most cables are colour-coded by now, check your Mainboard manual for that.
then check which controller you'll want to plug the cable in on your MB.
Most boards got 2-4 of those, usually 2 (E)IDE to connect slower drives like CD/DVD-Drives and eventually 2 more for S-ATA Drives etc.
The boot drive should be on Primary Master (not extremly important anymore, but more 'tidy').

CD/DVD-Drive can go on Primary Slave or any of the Secondary ports, just check the jumper settings.

afterwards it's switch on, put the OS boot CD into the drive and install it.

 

[Laddey]

Ok, so BIOS isn't auto detecting my new hd. any soloutions around this ? Manually put the data in?

theres Not Detected, User and Auto. I've tried reading the websites but i dont understand some of the things thats on it. So anybody have the time and good will to put it into basic english? thx

 

[mze]

Put on auto detect, if it doesnt detect the HDD, that usually means problems with jumpers, just got to get em right, look at the picture on HDD, hard to go wrong .

Is it IDE (wide oldsk00l cables) or S-ATA (slim cables ) ?


edit/: also if your motherboard is sort of old and HDD is like 200GB or whatever size, older mobtherboards might have trouble detecting it and you might have to flash the BIOS, which i would let someone with more comp knowledge to do .

 

[Laddey]

Old school cables, wide ones, i've got 2 40chip sockets, ones going into my cd drive and the other is going into my old harddrive, its only a 40gig harddrive (new one) and my motherboard is fairly new. but whats new with computers?

ive got 2 sockets with 4 holes (think thats the power lead) and another smaller one with 8tiny holes which does actually fit into the back of the HD, 40Chip Sock, then the tiny 8holes then the larger 4hole one

 

[Herjulf]

There are also master/slave cables.

One side is marked PC put that on the IDE <0-1> socket on the mainboard.
The other might be marked Master and slave, Master usually have a black "sticker" with white text reading MASTER. Slave grey w black text.

If it is IDE it also needs to be set MASTER or SLAVE. if it is alone on the IDE cable it is advisable you set it MASTER. See the back or the sticker on the harddrive on how the jumpers are supposed to sit.

So if u set the harddrive as MASTER attach it to the MASTER connector on the cable.

Next attach 12V DC cable.

Start up the computer, if everything worked ok you should now see the harddrive as BIOS detects IDE devices.
if you have a OLD mainboard, infact VERY old you might ahve to add it manually.

If you have a S-ATA disk you have to supply the installation with S-ATA drivers.

 

[Laddey]

ok so im getting somewhere now, should i set my new HD up as Primary Master or Secondary Master? and is it vital i set it up as primary or sec