Adding an IDE Hard Drive.?

Question

I have this motherboard:
http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Motherboards/Asus-A7N8X-X/

I want to add another IDE Hard Drive. I already have a Western Digital 70GB hard Drive installed in there.
1) Do I just attach the new hard drive to the free port on the motherboard? Or do I attach it to the ribbon that's connected to the existing hard drive?
2) Are ATA, P/ATA and IDE Hard Drives the exact same thing just with different names?

EDIT>> I just realized that I can't connect anything with the ribbon that's connected to the hard drive. It's already connected to my DVD-R Drive. Are there any ribbons that'll allow me to connect all three?

Answer 1

attach it to the "ribbon". I will suggest take your computer to a professional mate!!!

Answer 2

If you have a free IDE slot on the motherboard, that's where you should install your new drive. This will give you better performance than adding your hard drive to the existing ribbon cable.

Answer 3

Hi!

1 Connect it to the ribbon... Make sure one is Master and one is Slave (see the jumpers on the back).

2 ATA, SATA and IDE (EIDE) are NOT the same thing. IDE drives are usually ATA (regarding transfer). SATA is a serial (read high speed ATA) and are NOT EIDE. PATA is parallel ATA, also, not a IDE, but it might be possible to find PATA drives that are IDE (Enhanced IDE, EIDE) compatible.

Good luck!

Answer 4

If you set it on the same ribbon cable you will have to change the jumper. The label or site will tell you how. Only one on each cable can be the master. Hope this helps

Answer 5

I would put the HDD as Master, DVD as Slave, but it's up to you. The jumpers should reflect this. So (my configuration): HDD: Master (or "Master with Slave Present" if that's an option) DVD: Slave. It doesn't matter which goes on which connector, just remember, that the red wire on the ribbon usually goes near the power port (DO NOT put the ribbon cable in upside down)

Answer 6

usually there are two connections on the main board for IDE drives, each connection will support two drives.
so you should be able to put four drives total in your unit, one of then being your cd/dvd rom drive.

good luck
TV

Answer 7

I can give you a link that deals with hard drive problems.
Some RAM/ hard drive problems can be easily fixed yourself by using easily available tools. I found the info at http://fixit.in useful

Answer 8

1)

Before Installation
Installing a hard drive is a medium level job. You can do it, but it might not be fun. If you are confident in yourself and would like to save the money a computer guy would charge to do it, go ahead and do it yourself. It won't be that bad.

The worst part about installing hard drives is setting the jumpers on the drive so that it works correctly with your current hardware. Luckily, the newer Serial ATA drives do not require you to change jumper settings, and so they're very easy to install. If you have a motherboard with a free SATA port and are willing to spend a bit more on the drive, getting an SATA drive instead of an IDE or SCSI one may result in less frustration.

You should plan out the new layout of your drives in your case; if you are adding another drive, try to keep it on a separate channel from your optical drives, as optical drives usually use an older, slower protocol from hard drives and thus will slow the hard drives on the channel down to the speed of the old protocol.

You will need:

Hard drive
Copy of the hard drive manual (if you need to set jumpers; this can be downloaded if your drive didn't come with one)
Controller card (optional; use this if you don't have a spare connector on the motherboard or space on an existing ribbon cable to connect your drive to. Make sure you get one that matches your drive - Serial ATA for an SATA drive; ATA/100 or ATA/133 for an IDE drive; SCSI for a SCSI drive.)
Data cable for the drive (if you aren't installing the drive as a slave on an existing cable)
Power cable Y-splitter (if you don't have a spare four-pin power connector)
Ultimate Boot CD (if you want to clone your old hard drive to your new one)

How will you be using your new drive?
If you are replacing your primary hard drive, make sure you back up any data you want to save before you start. If you don't want to reinstall Windows, you can clone the contents of your old hard drive to your new one using the setup utilities that hard drive manufacturers provide, or you can use a specific cloning program like HDClone or PC Inspector Clone Maxx. All of the above-mentioned utilities are available on the Ultimate Boot CD (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/), so you can download and burn that and then choose the utility that is easiest for you to understand. (If you don't have access to a high-speed internet connection, you can order a CD for a small fee.)

If you are willing to reinstall Windows, make sure you have disks for Windows and all your programs. This will prevent problems further into the installation process.

If you are simply installing a secondary hard drive for storage, you don't have to make any changes to the configuration of your current hard drive. However, you will need to set jumpers if you are installing an IDE or SCSI drive, in order to tell the computer that your new drive is not the primary drive.


Setting Jumpers: IDE Drives
IDE can accommodate two drives per channel, with most computers having two channels built in (although newer Intel motherboards that accept LGA775 chips only have one channel). The primary drive on a channel is called the Master, and the secondary one is called the Slave. The IDE channels are also labeled as Primary (or IDE1) and Secondary (or IDE2). The hard drive that the system boots from is usually the primary master, generally if you're adding a second hard drive you would set it up as the primary slave. (The secondary master and slave are usually used for optical drives, although they can accommodate hard drives if needed.)
Most drives come set to be used as masters, so if you want to use one as a slave, you'll have to change the jumpers, which are located between the power connector and the IDE connector. Each manufacturer has different jumper settings, so I can't give you exact instructions here. However, there is often a diagram on the top of the drive telling you how to set the jumpers, and if not there will certainly be instructions in your hard drive's manual (which you can download from the manufacturer's website if your hard drive didn't come with one).

Another jumper setting, which you can use if you have an 80-conductor ribbon cable, is Cable Select. 80-conductor cables can be identified by their much finer wires compared to 40-conductor cables and by their connector colors (the motherboard end will be blue, red, or green, and the drive connectors will be black for the one on the end and gray for the one on the middle). With both drives set to Cable Select, the computer will recognize the drive hooked up to the black end connector as the master and the one hooked up to the middle gray connector as the slave.

Setting Jumpers: SCSI Drives
SCSI (pronounced "skuzzy") is not as common as it used to be, but if you are using a server or high-end workstation, chances are you will have SCSI drives. You can have up to 15 devices on a SCSI chain, compared to two on an IDE channel; each one needs a unique "SCSI ID" so that the controller knows which one is which. Your first SCSI device will have ID 0, your second, ID 1, and so on. SCSI drives usually have jumpers on them that you can use to set the ID. They are often arranged in a base-2 setup - depending on whether a jumper is closed or not, it will add a certain amount to the SCSI ID. The following chart gives all the possibilities for SCSI ID configurations:





Physical Installation
Now's when you actually take off the case and get your hands dirty.

Turn the computer off, unplug it, and take the case off. At this point, you may want to make some quick sketches of just how everything is in there: Which direction is everything facing? Where and how are the cables connected? For some people, such sketches help to put everything back when you are done.
If you are replacing your old hard drive, remove the cables from the old drive. You will see both a wide IDE ribbon cable and a small 4-pin power plug. Do not force them out. The ribbon cable is usually quite easy to remove. Sometimes, though, the power connector can become stuck. Just rock it back and forth (lengthwise along the narrow side of the drive), taking care not to rip the connector off the drive. Then remove the mounting screws that hold the drive to the case frame. Sometimes, you may need to tip the case or get into some strange positions to reach all the screws; other times, the hard drive is mounted in a cage that you'll be able to take out to get to the other side of the drives. Finally, remove the old drive from the case. Be sure not to bump anything too hard on the way out.
If you are replacing the old drive, slide the new drive in right where the other one came out. If you are adding a second drive, just pick any empty drive bay - one a bit below the current drive might work best, because it will make it easier to route cables. If you are installing a 3.5" drive into a 5.25" drive bay, you may need to add rails or a mounting bracket to make it fit. Screw the drive into place, making sure the screws aren't going in crooked. Don't force them.
If you need a separate controller card, install it now into any unused motherboard slot.
Attach the cables to the hard drive and to the motherboard or controller card if necessary. There are two cables: the ribbon cable (or SATA cable) and the power cable. The ribbon cable goes from the controller to the drive. Most cables are keyed to the connector so they only go in one way; if the cable isn't going in, try flipping it over. Don't force it. If you are adding a second drive, simply choose a connector on the same ribbon cable that is not used. Most IDE ribbon cables come with three connectors: one on the end (usually black) and one mid-way (usually gray), then one further away on the other end which connects to the motherboard (usually blue, green, or red). In general, the master drive should use the black connector on the end and the slave should use the gray connector in the middle, but if each drive is set either as master or slave, the position is not as important. On a SCSI hard drive, position of the drives on the cable does not matter at all.
If you are installing a SCSI drive, check for the correct termination. In SCSI setups, the adapter can hold up to seven SCSI devices. These devices are hooked up in a chain, usually with the adapter at one end and another device at the other end. This ending device must be set to be the terminating device, therefore ending the SCSI chain. Usually, SCSI devices come with a terminator plug. In some cases, the adapter is in the middle of the chain, therefore you must terminate at both ends of the chain. You may need to consult the manual for any special termination techniques particular to your brand of drive.
Plug the system in and turn it on. It is best to leave the case cover off for now in case you need to fiddle with something or troubleshoot the installation.
If you did not use a controller card, enter the BIOS (usually by pressing the F1, F2, F10, F12, or Delete key when you see the Power-On Self-Test or the manufacturer logo). Check the BIOS to in the IDE section to make sure that the drives are all being recognized. If you installed a drive on a connector that was not in use, you may have to set the corresponding drive to "Auto." If your BIOS has an auto-detect feature, you can use that as well. If you did use a controller card, it will pop up a screen showing the name of the card and any drives it has detected.
If the drives are not being recognized, check that both power and data cables are in tightly (including the motherboard end for the data cables), and that the jumpers are set correctly. If they are all recognized correctly, let's move to the next section.

Software Installation/Cloning
Now that your new drive is installed, we can move on and get it set up with Windows. If you are replacing your current drive and cloning it to your new drive, you will need to connect both drives. Change any necessary jumpers (see "Setting Jumpers" above) so that both drives as well as a CD drive are recognized. At this stage it is not important to screw in your old drive; you can just rest it somewhere convenient, but don't leave it hanging in midair. Boot from the Ultimate Boot CD, and select the utility you want to use to clone the drive. Go through the appropriate prompts, making sure to select your older drive as the source and your newer one as the destination (pay careful attention to the hard drive sizes indicated by the cloning program). You don't want to clone your new drive with nothing on it to your old drive with all your data!

If you are replacing your current drive but not cloning its contents to the new drive, put your Windows CD in the drive and boot from it. You will be prompted during the first part of setup to partition and format your drive; if you are using Windows 2000 or XP, make sure to use the NTFS file system.

If you are simply installing a secondary drive, boot into Windows. In Windows 2000 and XP, your new drive will not appear at all in My Computer until you format it. In Windows 9x/ME, it will appear, but you will need to right-click on the new drive and choose "Format" from the menu.

To format the drive in Windows 2000 or XP, right-click on My Computer and go to "Manage". In the window that comes up, click Disk Management in the left pane. Once it loads, you should see an "Initialize Disk" wizard pop up. Partition and format the disk to your liking, but make sure not to convert it to a dynamic disk, as doing so will provide plenty of annoyances down the road.

Finished!
Congratulations, your new drive is installed!


2) Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Technology_Attachment