[dontaskme]

My original master hard drive stopped working, so I replaced it with a new one (which i installed Windows XP on). NOW, I can't use my other hard drive, which is configured as a slave. It certainly detects the hard drive, because I can see it in the device manager. I used the troubleshooter, but it didnt help me at all. I know the jumper settings on the slave drive are right, because I havn't changed them since replacing the other one. On the new hard drive, I have tried "Master or Single Drive" and "Master with non-ATA compatible slave," and neither worked.

I can see the hard drive in Device Manager, and it says it is working properly, but I cannot see it in My Computer.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

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Are you using the cable with a blue connector for the motherboard, a grey one for the slave and a black one for the master, and 80 fine wires instead of 40? Then you should have both drives set to cable select, not slave or master.

[Tyger]

Are you using the cable with a blue connector for the motherboard, a grey one for the slave and a black one for the master, and 80 fine wires instead of 40? Then you should have both drives set to cable select, not slave or master.

[dontaskme]

i can't see the connector for the motherboard, its hidden by a bunch of other junk, but i counted, there are only 40 fine wires, its the 40 pin connector. and both slave and master connectors are black.

[Tyger]

i can't see the connector for the motherboard, its hidden by a bunch of other junk, but i counted, there are only 40 fine wires, its the 40 pin connector. and both slave and master connectors are black.

If this is a newer machine you might want to switch to the 80 wire cable and go to cable select. It will give better results. If one of the drives is an Ultra DMA drive you must use the 80 wire cable.

[dontaskme]

it's not a new machine. au contraire, pretty crappy. celeron, with 384 RAM. Not quite as fast as I'd like it. i've been meaning to get a new one, but until then, I need that drive, it has EVERYTHING important on it.

[Tyger]

If it was made after 1998 it will support the 80 wire cable, and if one of your drives is UDMA you will need it.

Also, did you try the setting "Master with slave present" on the new drive? that may work too.

Edited by Tyger, 27 July 2005 - 07:59 PM.

[dontaskme]

I don't think it is a UDMA drive, it's an old 7GB Seagate drive. UDMA sounds new.

It doesn't have a Master with Slave Present. The settings are:
Slave
Master or single drive
Enable Cable Select
Master with non-ATA compatible slave
Limit capacity to 2.1 GBs.


I've tried Master or single drive and Master with non-ATA compatible slave. Right now, it is set to Master with non-ATA compatible slave

Edited by dontaskme, 27 July 2005 - 08:11 PM.

[Tyger]

What kind is the new hard drive, the one XP is installed on? It should be the master and the other should be the slave. The old drive, if it didn't have XP or NT on it, will have the fat32 file system, where XP uses ntfs. XP should be able to see fat32 files without a problem, but win98 or ME can't see ntfs. The new drive could be UDMA. What types of drives are recognized in the Device Manager? If one is type 46 or 47 and the other type 80 there may be recognition problems too. Did you use drive overlay software on the new drive, or was your BIOS able to see it without any problems?

[dontaskme]

I meant the new hard drive; its the old Seagate. Its not really new, just new to the computer. a temp replacement. the jumper settings i gave were for teh "new" hard drive. Pretty sure its not UDMA. I know that the currently malfunctioning drive is not UDMA, because I could use it before my other drive crashed. I don't know anything about types of drives. Device Manager shows both of the drives that I have hooked up right now, the Seagate ST36531A (the "new" one, has the OS on it" and the ExcelStor J680. the J680 does not have any OS on it, so I don't think thats the source of the problem. I don't know anything about drive overlay software, so I guess I didn't use it.

[dontaskme]

help, anyone?

[Tyger]

You forgot to mention that your slave hard drive was 80gb, a very important factor with older machines. You can't see it because you have to have drive overlay software on the C: drive so it will be running after boot up. Having not tried it, I can't tell you whether you can install it without having to completely reformat the drive. did you get a software disk with your 80gb drive? If so, install the software on your current C: drive and read the instructions. You may be able to install the overlay software on the slave drive and get it to work that way, I don't really know, but it may save you from having to reinstall your operating system. So if I were in your postion I would put the overlay software on the larger disk, you may have to reformat it, and try it out. If that doesn't work it may be plan B.

Perhaps someone has some better ideas.

[dontaskme]

okay, that makes sense. I'm reading about drive overlay software and size barrier problems right now. One site recommends upgrading my bios, if possible, so I guess i'll look into that too. or is that the same thing as drive overlay software? It wouldn't pain me much if I lost the OS, I just installed it 2 days ago. I have a question though; How come the drive worked earlier? Nothing changed, except for the OS hard drive, which is smaller. It's the same OS, the same copmputer, and the same BIOS, right? just wondering. Oh, and how do i get the overlay software onto my slave drive if I can't see it? gracias.

I contacted the manufacturer of the J680 hard drive asking if they had an avaibable software, I read that most new drives do. Usually, the manufacturer of the motherboard is same as the computer, right? I visited the compaq website, but they didn't have any drives or software available for XP, just 2000, ME, 95, and 98. I guess the next option, if the ExcelStor people don't turn out anything is to purchase the software, which is a heftily priced item...

Edited by dontaskme, 28 July 2005 - 06:18 PM.

[Tyger]

Your original drive C: probably had some kind of overlay software, or perhaps better chipset drivers on it. You could go to the Kroll Ontrack website, the developers of overlay software and see if they have any downloads you can use.

The software will be able to see the entire drive whether your computer does or not, and it will be able to format it and install the overlay software at the same time.

I have an older machine I upgraded the BIOS on but it only doubled the size of the drive it sees. A full upgrade costs about $30.00 and the overlay software will do basically the same job.

Edited by Tyger, 28 July 2005 - 09:59 PM.

[dontaskme]

drive overlay software sounds kind of expensive for no reason....i just want to bypass the size barrier, but they throw in all these extra features and up the price. If I'm going to be paying that much, i might as well get something out of it. Buying a new hard drive....but I have a question. There are 2 drives I'm considering buying. My question is about the Interface type. Drive one is "IDE Ultra ATA100" and drive 2 is "Serial ATA150." How do I know which will fit my computer, or will they both? thanks a lot!

[dontaskme]

nvrmind....i read up on SATA. I know its faster, but can older computers use the SATA cables? for about the same price, I can get an ultra ATA, which i know is the type of cable i have. i'd love a second opinion, thanks.