Hard Drive install help please...

[Deville]

I have an older PIII and I just bought an 80gig Maxtor HD... I want to install it as a "D" drive for music, vids, etc... and keep my old 30 gig as "C" for programs.

Problem is, I can get the computer to recognize it as a slave and my old 30 gig as master, but when I go into "My Computer" it does'nt show up...

I've tried switching that thing on the back "Jumper?" a bunch of times, but it still wont work...

It shows up in the "device manager" aswelll and it says it's working fine, but I cant access it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks...

BTW, I'm running Win XP Pro... and could it be because my old drive is still FAT 32?

[GQBalla]

have you tried to format in ntfs?

[Thaco]

go to start> settings> control panel> administrative tools> disk management> you'll see the drive black and "unallocated" right click it and select new partition, follow the steps, wait for it to format, and voila.

[Deville]

Originally posted by Thaco
go to start> settings> control panel> administrative tools> disk management> you'll see the drive black and "unallocated" right click it and select new partition, follow the steps, wait for it to format, and voila.

"New Partition" ok, but wont that split my 80gig into 2 drives? Sorry, I dont really understand...

[Deville]

Originally posted by GQBalla
have you tried to format in ntfs?

No...

[Thaco]

no it wont, as long as you just keep hitting next and dont change the settings, right now there are no partitions on it, which is why you can not access it, you need to create one partition.

[GQBalla]

well try to partition it as a whole...
should be fine

[Deville]

Ok... I'll give it a try.

[Deville]

I dont know about this... are you guys sure it wont make it into a D and E drive? It's asking me to specify my partition size in MB... I dont want to be stuck with a 8 mb partition that registers as another drive...

[Thaco]

just do it, we know what we're talking about it. and if you are concerned with it it is a VERY simpel thing to undo. as long as you hit new partition and dont touch any of the settings you'll be fine


just leave the specify hdd size thing alone, it will default to the biggest avaliable (which will NOT be 80gb, it'll probably be like 76gb... dont ask why thats just how it is. for example i just installed a 250gb and a 300gb in my PVR and it registers as like 242 and 289

[Deville]

Originally posted by Thaco
just do it, we know what we're talking about it. and if you are concerned with it it is a VERY simpel thing to undo. as long as you hit new partition and dont touch any of the settings you'll be fine

Haha... ok, ok, :)

[Deville]

Sorry, but now it's asking to assign a drive letter... what should I do here?

[GQBalla]

type in a drive letter

your cd rom drives and what not are ususally D and so on so pick a letter after your drives

[Thaco]

just use the defaults. close your eyes and click the next button a bunch of times, and stop asking questions.

i have said like 6 times aleast, just keep hitting next, leave the default values.

[Deville]

Nevermind on the last question.. I just left it all alone as you said and pushed next for everything... thanks for the help.

[Thaco]

NP

[izzoblitzo]

Im not a computer guy.. but the last time I had to install a hard drive, I had a hell of a time with the drivers and also the slave/master configuration!! remember what setting you had your original hard drive at before you start to mess around! it'll save you some time.

[Thaco]

Originally posted by izzoblitzo
Im not a computer guy.. but the last time I had to install a hard drive, I had a hell of a time with the drivers and also the slave/master configuration!! remember what setting you had your original hard drive at before you start to mess around! it'll save you some time.

if its not giving an error on bootup and it appears in the hardware list then its not jumpers.

[dragonone]

drivers? i've never had to install drivers for any hd on xp

[Shaolin]

when I try to initiate the 250gb it says an unexpected error has occured.. it tells me to close the disk mgmt console, restart disk mgmt or restart the computer..

I've done all 3 already... any ideas?

it's still unallocated..

[Thaco]

check the connections/jumpers.

[Shaolin]

it's recognized in the bios, and it's recognized in windows disk management.. I just can't initiate it.. :dunno: what more do i need to check connections/jumper wise.. it's recognized as a slave drive in bios.

[Thaco]

Originally posted by Shaolin
it's recognized in the bios, and it's recognized in windows disk management.. I just can't initiate it.. :dunno: what more do i need to check connections/jumper wise.. it's recognized as a slave drive in bios.

thats whack... maybe try a different ide cable, or put it on your other ide channel/cable.

[Shaolin]

I just played around with it about an hour ago.. I pressed the IDE cable into the hard drive as hard as I could.. then did it to the power supply.. it didn't feel like it went in anymore.. but I go and re-initailize and it worked.. so if all else fails.. just push it in harder to make sure it's in there good :D

[Deville]

OK, now the drives working fine... but I have one last question (Hopefully someone sees this)

As I said it's an 80gig HD... and I know there is something about older computers not recognizing that size drive... like my computer for example, which is an older PIII...

It shows up as a 30 gig, and I dont really understand why... will it just keep taking more data "Off the record" so to so say, or will it just max out as if it were really just a 30gig drive?

My jumper is set on "Max cap" and I really have no idea what it means or does, but did I do it wrong maybe?

Thanks...

[eblend]

Originally posted by Deville
OK, now the drives working fine... but I have one last question (Hopefully someone sees this)

As I said it's an 80gig HD... and I know there is something about older computers not recognizing that size drive... like my computer for example, which is an older PIII...

It shows up as a 30 gig, and I dont really understand why... will it just keep taking more data "Off the record" so to so say, or will it just max out as if it were really just a 30gig drive?

My jumper is set on "Max cap" and I really have no idea what it means or does, but did I do it wrong maybe?

Thanks...

remove the max cap and try again

why you so paranoid about all the little steps, just do it and if it doesn't work try something else. Thats how you learn stuff with computers, there isn't much that you can screw up by doing it wrong the first time, computers are not dumb they won't just blow up on you

[Deville]

Originally posted by eblend


remove the max cap and try again

why you so paranoid about all the little steps, just do it and if it doesn't work try something else. Thats how you learn stuff with computers, there isn't much that you can screw up by doing it wrong the first time, computers are not dumb they won't just blow up on you

I was a bit paranoid when I did the first partition... I guess I just have an old school way of thinking, ... My understanding was that a partition on a HD that made it 2 drives, was really tricky to reverse... I understand that it will not "blow up on me" and that almost anything can be "undone" I just wanted to do it right the first time...

Now, I'm only asking why it shows as a 30gig drive, when it's actually an 80gig, so I can decide whether or not to throw this old PC in the gutter, and go buy another...

[TurboZombie]

Did you format the drive in NTFS? If it is FAT32 formatted that is why, as FAT32 cannot have any partitions larger than 30gb.

[Deville]

My old drive is still a FAT 32, and the new says it's a NTFS...

[Thaco]

i am not 100% sure but it might be a limitation of windows xp that if the first drive is fat32 they all have to be 32gb partitions. you can make fat32 partitions larger than 32gb in windows xp if you have partition magic 8

just remove that 30gb partition and when it asks you to specify a size it "should" suggest the largest possible, if it only suggests 30gb, then i guess thats your limitation.