[11010110]

I am trying to piggyback a little 12G hard drive i found in an old computer to my current one (32G). when i opened up my current computer I found the hard drive. The drive had a plug ad a ribbin wire to it. The plug had one stemming from it labled P5. The clump of wires that the plug was running into from the drive had a simmilar plug labled P6 stemming from it. Also, the ribbon wire had another ribbon plug extending out near the hard drive but not plugged into it. I was wondering if I should use P5 or P6 and if I need to use the ribbon wire, and also what would happen if I did not connect it properly and if improper connection would burn out my existing drive. I have Windows XP on a Dell Dimension 4600 PC with Inell Pentium 4 processor.

Any halp is apriciated. And Im sorry if my post is confusing.

Thanks

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The drive in your Dell is probably set to cable select, or maybe master. You want the other drive set to cable select or slave accordingly. Just hook both the 4 pin power and 40 pin IDE connectors that you see to the other drive, don't change the one on your current master. Assuming the 12 gig drive is OK you shouldn't have any problem seeing the files, reformatting, etc..

Any question, please ask. Better safe than sorry.

[Tyger]

The drive in your Dell is probably set to cable select, or maybe master. You want the other drive set to cable select or slave accordingly. Just hook both the 4 pin power and 40 pin IDE connectors that you see to the other drive, don't change the one on your current master. Assuming the 12 gig drive is OK you shouldn't have any problem seeing the files, reformatting, etc..

Any question, please ask. Better safe than sorry.

[11010110]

Buth there are 2, 4 pin plugs. one stemming from the 4 pin that is connected to the hard drive and the other is coming fron the mass of cables that is connected to the plug that goes into the hard drive and the power supply but is further away from the seccond drive. I was thinking of using the one stemming directly from the current hard drive but I was waiting for a seccond opinion. Also, how would i set it to be a slave drive? Because there was a slot for a seccond hard drive so could it be pre-programmed to boot from the drive in hard drive slot 1?

Thanks

[Tyger]

Buth there are 2, 4 pin plugs. one stemming from the 4 pin that is connected to the hard drive and the other is coming fron the mass of cables that is connected to the plug that goes into the hard drive and the power supply but is further away from the seccond drive. I was thinking of using the one stemming directly from the current hard drive but I was waiting for a seccond opinion. Also, how would i set it to be a slave drive? Because there was a slot for a seccond hard drive so could it be pre-programmed to boot from the drive in hard drive slot 1?

Thanks

The four pin plugs all have the same voltages so you can use any of them. You can arrange them in any way that is convenient, I do it all the time. The hard drive only needs to be formatted to be able to open it with your operating system. And it's already formatted, but if you want to wipe everything off it and reformat it to NTFS, the XP file system, you can do that too.

[11010110]

I tried Both 4 prong but whenever i tried to turn it on it said that there was no hard drive in the computer and wouldnt boot at all past the system start.

[Tyger]

Do you know for a fact that the old HDD is good? Did you try it in the old computer? If it's bad, or the jumper settings are wrong it may cause the machine not to boot. Just a couple of hours ago I had a drive that did that. It's in the recycle bin now.

Edited by Tyger, 30 August 2005 - 09:21 PM.

[11010110]

It was my sisters computer and it worked fime when it was last used. What are jumper settings?

[Tyger]

It was my sisters computer and it worked fime when it was last used. What are jumper settings?

That's probably your problem there, both drives are set to master. Happens to the best of us. You'll just have to look on the drive to find the jumper settings, they vary all over the place for different models and brands. If they are on the drive just google the part number plus jumper settings and you'll likely find them. If the other drive is set to cable select do that for this one too. If it's set to master, make this one slave.

[11010110]

Once i find them (havent yet) how do i change them? When i go to setup (F2) It says that there is no drive so i cat change it there. Also this is my first time installing something on my computer so im just wingin it.
Thanks

[Tyger]

They're on the hard drive, you have to look on the case to find what the settings are, you will have to take it out and look for the data on the settings. Just take it out and look at it and you will find them. The jumpers are usually on the back of the drive.

[11010110]

I have the hd with me and it has a jumper Config. table.

MASTER (Factory Default)
SLAVE (Jumper Parking position)
CABLE SELECT FOR MASTER/SLAVE


and it shows a diagram of how to switch to each setting. now i see what your talking about. the little prong grid thing on the back. What setting do i pick. and what does cable select mean? does it mean that you have a different plug for each hd and the comp. will determine it automatically?
thanks

[11010110]

Well its finally working but on the HD itself i says 12G but on the computer it says 4G. It is also formatted in FAT32. I have started a topic on formating my new hard drive so if you have any help for me tell me there.

Thanks alot for all of your help.