How do I make a Hard drive a slave or master?

Question

I have three hard dirves that I want to install on my old computer with another hard drive. I anybody know how I go about doing this?

Answer 1

This can depend on whether you have Serial ATA drives or the older IDE drives. The easiest way to tell is the size of the cable that plugs into the motherboard. IDE's have the wide, flat, ribbonlike cables whereas SATA drives have a cable that might be only a 1/2" wide. If you have the IDE you will do as the first two respnders to this question said. If you have SATA drives AND your mobo supports this feature there will be a third option other than Slave and Master. It is for automatic configuration and it will be determined by which slot on the motherboard you have it on. If you motherboard doesn't support that feature or you have all IDE drives you wil have two masters and a slave. That slave will be paired with your primary and they will be the primary Master and Primary Slave. Your third drive will be a master and will be designated as Secondary Master drive. Even newer SATA drives have a fourth option but I forget what it's for. Place the plastic conductor piece (known as a jumper) on the pins for what you want. After you put the jumper on the correct pins, you may have ot configure everything again in your BIOS when you start up your computer. If you don't know how to get to that, most computers will have you hit F1, F2, or Del when you turn it on to enter Setup. Configure everything in that.

Answer 2

If you look at the back of each hard drive, on the right (facing you), you should see a socket with 5 or 6 pairs of wire connectors. There should also be a plastic piece which will fit over one pair of the connectors. There will be a diagram nearby showing you which pair you should cover with the plastic piece, to designate that drive a slave or master.

Answer 3

Look for a piece of small plastic in a recessed hole on the back of the drive. It will be in a vertical position. Above the recessed hole there are usually etched onto the drive the letters "MS", "SL", and "CS". The "CS" stands for "Cable Select". "MS" for "Master" and "SL" for "Slave". Move the piece of plastic to the row of vertical pins that you would like the drive to be. Don't lose the plastic piece! It's rather small and hard to handle.

Answer 4

there should be a set of six pins on the back of the HDs. Three columns of two. Above them should be an indication of which pins indicate if it is a slave(SLV) or master(MST). there should also be a rubber plug to place over the correct pins. atleast, thats how it was ten years ago.

Answer 5

I believe there are jumper settings on the back.