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first step to installing a drive is, of course,
physically connecting it to the computer. IDE drives
(and that includes about 99% of all the internal
drives you will see) are connected to one of the
IDE controllers on the motherboard (Labeled as "I/O
Connectors" on the picture below). Devices
are connected by IDE cables, which are generally
flat, usually grey, and have two or three identical
connectors, one at either end, and another in between.
The two ends that are spaced closest together connect
to drives, while the end farther from the center
one connects to the motherboard. Most motherboards
have two IDE controllers, thus allowing a maximum
of four IDE drives. If you already have four, and
don't want to replace any of them, you can buy PCI
cards that have additional IDE controllers onboard.
More info on expansion cards here.
Some older sound cards (The Soundblaster 16, for
instance) have IDE controllers onboard.
Before you put the drive in the case, you will
need to set it as either master or slave. Each
IDE cable can support one Master drive and one
Slave drive, determining which is which by the
jumper settings, which can be adjusted by moving
jumpers around on the back of the drive. Jumpers
are small, square plastic objects which contain
metal cores, that fit over pairs of pins in the
back of an IDE drive. Check here
for pictures and more info. The jumper settings
for each model and make of hard drive are different,
but instructions are generally located on the
hard drive. Ignore the third setting indicated
on some drives, CS or cable select, and assign
the drives as master and slave based on the following
criteria:
- If the drive is the hard drive containing your operating
system (C:\ in Windows systems, the root partition
in Linux or Unix), it should be jumpered as master,
and, furthermore should be on the primary IDE controller
(generally the uppermost controller on the motherboard).
- If the drive is a CD-Burner, it should be set as
master, on a different IDE controller than the primary
hard drive.
- If a drive is burned from often, it should be located
on a different IDE controller from the burner.
- If possible, if you copy from one drive to another
often, the drives should be on different chains.
Thus, if you had a computer running a primary hard
drive, a CD Burner, and a DVD-ROM, you would want to
set it up like this:
- Primary Hard Drive
- Empty
- CD Burner
- DVD-ROM
Once you have set the jumpers, install the drives
into the drive bays, screw them in, and then plug
the IDE cable into the slot on the back, the power
cable into the socket with four pins, and if you
are installing a CD-ROM drive that you are going
to play music CDs from, the audio cable (Attached
to or bundled with most sound cards) into the
small socket labeled Audio) Now, you should be
able to start up your computer and use the drives.
(Note: If you have installed a hard drive, you
will need to format it. In windows, one can do
this by right-clicking the drive and selecting
"Format".) Use the manufacturers
links in the sidebar for detailed information.
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