Resolved second IDE HDD problem

Hi,

I seem to have a problem when trying to add another ATA hard drive (HD1)to my older PC. I'm connecting the second disk as secondary slave and it's being recognized perfectly in Bios, but it's not showing up in the system, neither in Windows (XP) Explorer nor in Device Manager. The first disk (ATA) (HD0) with the operating system is connected as primary master. They are connected with the same tape and I already tried a different tape to eliminate any problems with it. The second disk is also not visible in Administrative Tools|Disk management.
Interestingly, when the second disk is acting as the only hard drive, then it's okay. Weird.
What could I do to get both HDDs to work?

 

Check the jumper(s) on the Primary hard drive. Some drives have two different Master settings:

1) Master only

2) Master with Slave

Also, make sure the Master drive is connected to the end of the ribbon cable, and the Slave to the center connector.

 

Yes, before posting here, I tried with **several** jumper configurations. Enabling "cable select" on both HDDs changes nothing. The slave drive is connected to the center connector. In Bios I can clearly see that one (HD 0) is set as primary master and the other is secondary master. There is also a DVD-ROM drive displayed as the secondary master.

 

Christer:
Yes, the second HDD holds Windows XP, too but I was only able to install anything on it when that disk acted as the only HDD.


The DVD-ROM is connected using a separate ribbon and it's the secondary master. The other ribbon connects both HDDs. HD 0 is primary master and HD 1 is primary slave.


Sorry, my mistake. It should have been: HD 1 is primary slave, DVD-ROM is secondary master.

What happens if you connect HDD1 as Primary Slave?[/QUOTE]
It's already connected that way. When HD 0 with Windows XP is loaded then nothing but HD 0 is visible. No trace of HD 1 in the system. I would assume the HD 1 is corrupt if it were not showing up in Bios.

 

Christer, thanks for the advice.

I could try deleting everything from HD 1 using DelPart. However, I already used some good 3rd part software (BootIt Bare Metal) to remove all partitions from it. Now it holds only another copy of Windows XP.

 

BTW, do you know of any **reliable** software for checking HDDs (testing the spin up time, etc.)? I'd like to determine the health of a few HDDs that I own.

 

Older systems and drives can be finicky.

One other thought if haven't already tried it based on

Remove the DVD drive and try the HDD on that cable. Jumped as master or CS if that's what you're using.

Leave the DVD off for the test. If that works then put the DVD on the primary cable as the slave.

 

Unfortunately, nothing seems to work. I've given it up. I appreciate your trying to help me, though.

 

I agree with ephemarial
Get the optical drive out of the equation for the moment.
What brand are your hard drives ?
My PCs are all 2004 or older.
I have decided not to use CS anymore as that is a bit of a raffle.
I have also given up on my dreams of having two drives with XP on each. I love the idea, but there can be issues when doing that.

- So use the cable on the primary IDE motherboard socket
- Set jumper for the drive on the cable end, to Master (or Master with Slave, if that choice is available)
- Set jumper for the drive in the middle of the cable to Slave

Rob

 

OOPs,
I had two threads open, and I am old.

 

Hi , my understanding is that the new second drive has Windows installed , so directly or indirectly may be an issue , as such is best to attach this drive as single master and full zero overwrite / reformat using the drive vendor tool from a bootable floppy or cd disk (this will also test and repair if required)
Then re-attach the current master system drive , then re-attach the now clean second drive
Go in to drive management and initialize, partition and high level format the drive
Hope this helps
ps
All PATA (IDE) drives INCLUDING optical drive must use the same config method, ie all Master/slave or all CS