2nd Hard Drive As A Slave

[THE LOCKER]

ONE OF MY COMPUTERS DIED ON ME. I SUSPECTED THAT WINDOWS XP PRO HAD BEEN CORRUPTED SO I ATTEMPTED TO REPAIR WINDOWS BY BOOTING FROM THE CD (NO GOOD) THEN I ATTEMPTED TO COMPLETELY REINSTALL XP BY BOOTING FROM THE WINDOWS CD. AT FIRST THE RE-INSTALL STARTED TO GO WELL BUT THEN THE SCREEN SAID "ERROR IN OPERATING SYSTEM" AND EVERYTHING STOPPED DEAD.

I DICONNECTED MY ORIGINAL HARD DRIVE AND I FITTED AN OLD 20Gb HARD DRIVE FROM ANOTHER COMPUTER AND AFTER LOADING THE DRIVERS ECT THE COMPUTER WORKS FINE WITH THE WINDOWS Me O/S WHICH WAS STILL ON THE OLD DRIVE.

I WOULD LIKE TO FIT MY ORIGINAL 60Gb HARD DRIVE BACK INTO MY COMPUTER, INITIALLY AS A SLAVE SO THAT I CAN REFORMAT IT IF NECESSARY, LOAD IT WITH XP PRO AND THEN RE-ESTABLISH IT AS MY MAIN HARD DRIVE. I RE SET ITS JUMPERS TO "SLAVE", FITTED THE (2nd) IDE PLUG AND (2nd) POWER PLUG. I AMENDED THE BIOS TO DETECT ALL DRIVES AND THAT IDENTIFIED THE 2ND DRIVE IMMEDIATELY. I THEN BOOTED AND THE COMPUTER WORKS AS IT SHOULD BUT "MY COMPUTER" DOES NOT SHOW THE 2ND DRIVE AS BEING THERE AT ALL I.E NO DRIVE LETTER.

ANY SUGGESTIONS AS TO WHAT I AM DOING WRONG OR WHAT IS WRONG AND SUGGESTIONS AS TO HOW TO FIX IT WOULD BE VERY GRATEFULLY RECEIVED.

DAVE

[zack_rage]

hi and welcome;)

go to device manager then click secondary ide channel then at the advanced

settings tab then check device 0 and device 1 are auto detection if none

choose auto detection probably windows will detect it




cheers!

[THE LOCKER]

Hi Zack Rage,

Thanks For Getting Back To Me. I Have Tried Out Your Suggestion But Unfortunately Still No Joy.

Device Manager Shows The Presence Of 2 Hard Drives Type 47. The First Indicates Drive Letters Of C & D (partitions?). It Says That It Is Working Correctly And Has The Appropriate Drivers Installed. The Second Does Not Have Any Drive Letters But Once Again It Says That The Device Is Working Properly And That It Has The Appropriate Drivers.

Could It Be That When I Originally Attempted To Reinstall Windows The Drive Did Not Format Correctly And Therefore Needs Re-formatting Before It Is Fully Recognised By Windows. If That Is The Case I Notice Instructions On How To Format A Slave Drive In Windows 98 On Cyber Tech's Opening Page. Do You Think That Similar Instructions Would Apply To Doing So Under Windows Me?

Dave

[zack_rage]

If That Is The Case I Notice Instructions On How To Format A Slave Drive In Windows 98 On Cyber Tech's Opening Page. Do You Think That Similar Instructions Would Apply To Doing So Under Windows Me?


maybe you can cause 98 and me is much the same!


cheers!

[degsy]

Yes you can use FDISK in the same way with WinME.

I would actually recommend that you goto the HDD manufacturers site and download their disk tools to partition and format the drive.



I WOULD LIKE TO FIT MY ORIGINAL 60Gb HARD DRIVE BACK INTO MY COMPUTER, INITIALLY AS A SLAVE SO THAT I CAN REFORMAT IT IF NECESSARY, LOAD IT WITH XP PRO AND THEN RE-ESTABLISH IT AS MY MAIN HARD DRIVE.

Don't install XP on to the Slave if you intent to move it back to Primary.
You will get errors because the boot files are always added to the Primary drive.


If you are installing XP then set the drive as Master and boot using the XP CD.
You can Partition and Format within the XP Setup.

[THE LOCKER]

Hi Zack Rage,

Firstly Thanks For Your Reply.

The 98 Routine Does Indeed Work For Me. The First Time I Tried Everything Seemed To Go Well But At The End Of The Routine The Drive Had Not Been Allocated A Drive Letter. I Decided That This Was Probably Down To An Error That I Had Made So I Ran The Routine Again And Success We Are In Business.

Thanks For Your Help.

Dave

[THE LOCKER]

HI DEGS,

EVERYTHING IS NOW UP AND RUNNING AND I HAVE DECIDED TO USE THE 60Gb DRIVE AS A SLAVE. I HAVE LOADED XP ON TO IT AND I HAVE LEFT THE 20Gb DRIVE AS MASTER COMPLETE WITH ITS COPY OF WINDOWS ME. I NOW HAVE THE CHOICE AT BOOT UP (WHILST STILL IN DOS) OF CHOOSING EITHER OPERATING SYSTEM. ALTHOUGH THIS ADDS A FEW SECONDS TO BOOT-UP I HAVE ALWAYS FELT SAFER WEARING BELT AND BRACES.

IN THEORY AT LEAST IF I DO GET ANOTHER VIRUS THAT ATTACKS THE SLAVE DRIVE (WHICH I WILL MAINLY BE USING FOR INTERNET CONNECTION) I SHOULD STILL HAVE A COMPUTER THAT CONTINUES FUNCTIONING WHILST I SORT OUT THE PROBLEM.

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP AND ADVICE.

DAVE