second drive install help

[dakleen]

G'day people, I'm lookin for some advice and was hoping you guys could help out.

I've just decided to purchase an extra hard drive for my pc. I'm currently running a 40gb 7200 rpm seagate and just purchased the same again to act as a slave.

I wanted to add this second drive without having to reinstall my os and start from scratch. Ive been told this is a relatively simple task but was hoping for some advice/ pointers when doing such.

Is it a very risky job? (should I back up everything, which is a hell of alot mind you)
What should I do once I've got it all hooked up and turn on the pc again?

Any info pointers would be really really appreciated.

cheers from downunder

[LPDad]

Actually, hooking up a second (slave) is a piece of cake.

1. just set the jumper on the new drive to "slave"position (there will be a sticker on the drive itself that will show you what the positions are (Master, CSEL, and Slave).

2. put the seagateTools disc in your drive and boot from it, then use the seagate program to format your new harddrive.

3. then boot up regularly and you should be in business.

[dakleen]

Thanks for the help lp dad
So theirs no real risks associated?, I was reading somewhere about needing an anti static wrist strap, your thoughts?
Sorry I seem so paranoid, but I always manage to miss out on something. I just don't want to lose my data on the other hdd.

[leopold]

The wrist strap isn't essential.

To be on the safe side it may be worth earthing yourself first, by touching a radiatior or space heater - or anything metal that is likely to be earthed.

One other tip - you can follow this even though I always forget! Make sure the IDE ribbon cables are still connected to the drives and motherboard before you put the case back together. I always manage to loosen one of them somewhere and lose drives...

[gbread49]

Another alternative (LPDad gave the best way to do it)....If you have "Partition Magic" installed, just set up your second drive as LPDad said and then reboot your 'puter. Open PM, it will find the second drive (Windows might not recognize the drive initially because it does not have a partition on it) Just click on the drive and PM will let you format the drive and set up a partition so that it is ready to accept data. Takes about 5 minutes! You can set the drive as either a FAT32, NTFS, etc......

[RipperRoo]

or if your running windows 2000 (and possibly xp, dont know) you can use the disk managment console in the computer management section of your admin tools (found in control panel)
to set up and format the drive for you

[dakleen]

Thanks for all your advice people, it has helped heaps!!!!!!

I've installed the second drive, hooked int all up and restarted my computer. I'm currently downloading the seagate software that will help me install the drive.
In explorer though the drive isn't showing up. Is this because the drive has yet to be formated?
What should I expect to see?
On the home straight now, any further info would be much appreciated

[Kungfucious]

Hi Dakleen,

The reason it isnt showing up in Explorer if because you probably havent created a partition on the drive. The best thing would be to do as you have been advised in previos posts.. ie. Use partition magic. Though it isnt essential to use theis software, it is the easiest solution. for a guide to choosing the right format for your hard drive see one of my earlier postings where i was confused as to which way to go:
FAT32 or NTFS

hope that helps!
:cheers


ps. as to what u would expect to see, youll have an extra drive in explorer with slightly less space than what is quoted on the drive itself... i bought and installed an 80gb drive and ended up with on 76gb after fully installing it!

just thought id warn you!

[Kungfucious]

oh and i think if you just use an old boot disk from say windows 98, you can boot with it and then tell it to format your new drive.. the seagate software isnt really needed.. you can do pretty much the same with what windows offers.

:whatever :tupe

[LPDad]

The seagate software basically finds the new seagate drive and then formats it for you.
It does not get any easier.
(unless you use the built in windows format option)

[Kungfucious]

nice one LPDad,, i shunned the software when i recieved my seagate Hdrive purely on the basis that it might leave behind files etc that it says it needs to operate etc.. so i opted to use PM instead.. if i had only read the included docs i wouldnt have had to go through the hassle i went through!

oh well... its the only way we learn.

____________________________________________

== As always.. LPDad to the rescue!...my hero! ==
____________________________________________

[LPDad]

LOL.... I have learned a few things from my MANY MANY mistakes!!
I usually try to keep things as simple as possible while I am trying something new. Of course after I get a LITTLE knowledge then I THINK I know it all...thats when I try all the fancy complicated stuff. Usually I end up going back to the simplest method of doing something that gets the results.

...then again, I live by the motto: If it ain't broke, I haven't tweaked it enough yet!!

[berks]

dakleen how did the install go?:?

[dakleen]

AHHH sucess and I owe it all to you people(once again).
I think I owe you a run down of what happend.
First I worked up the courage to physically install the new drive. I was nervous because I didn't want to lose the 20gig of mp3s sitting on the existing drive. Ok ok I can hear you thinkin "why doesn't this fool just back them up", well I'm lazy and was lookin for the easiest option (at least i'm honest). After 30 minutes (don't laugh) I had the drive in place and was ready for a reboot.
I Booted it back up and attempted to run the seagate software, what do yah know "corrupt download", so I downloaded it again and the same thing.
I got on the net and did some research and saw FDISK as being my other best option(why didn't I use partition magic...lesson learnt!!!). It was a little daunting at first but after reading up a lil I was ready to go. An hour later, when the sweat beeds had finished drippin, I had a fully formated drive (with the old one untarnished).
I stood, gazing upon my extra 40 gig, with my hands in the air and screamed "woohhooooo" (homer style).
When I reflect now all the worries were worth the lessons, that I'm sure will help me in the furture.
Thanks once again people for being so patient and giving such excellent advice...you guys are the best!!!

will

[Cirga]

Very good to hear. I felt the same way the first time I opened up a computer to install a device. Thought I was going to royally screw up.

One of the best things you can have when you are working with computers is confidence. Just do a step by step within your head and dont sweat it.

nicely done