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BOOT CAMP 088
INSTALLING A SECOND HARD DRIVE, PART 2
In last week's Boot Camp we considered the advantages of
installing a second hard disc drive – to increase storage capacity, as a cheap backup
device and an emergency boot drive –
and how to work out what size and type of drive you need. This week it's down
to business, fitting the new drive and setting it up to work with Windows.
There are several methods but the simplest and safest way is
to trick your PC into thinking that the new disc drive will be the main hard
disc. You do this by disconnecting the data and power leads from the back of the
existing drive. This also protects all of the information on your main disc drive,
so if anything goes wrong you can quickly restore your system.
Begin by switching the PC off at the mains socket but leave
the plug in so the chassis is earthed, and don't forget to touch the metalwork
every so often to dissipate any static charges. Gently pull out the power and
data cables from the back of the C: drive, making a note of which way round the
ribbon cable goes – one edge should be coloured with a red stripe. Remove your
new drive from its anti static envelope and check the back, you should see a
set of jumper pins marked 'S' and 'M' or slave and master. There should be a layout
diagram or label on the drive or on a supplied instruction leaflet; at this
stage the jumper should be set to the M or master position. Now you can slot
the drive into its bay, on some machines it may be easier to fit the ribbon
data cable and power connector first, observing the correct polarity. The red
stripe should be next to Pin 1 on the socket on the back of the disc drive. Be
careful not to force the plug, as the pins on the drive are quite easy to bend.
Four screws secure the drive, check to make sure there is
room between the drives and the top and bottom of the drive bay for air to
circulate freely. Double check the connections and make sure no other cables or
connectors inside the case have been disturbed, now you can temporarily re-fit
the lid and switch the mains supply back on. The PC will not recognise the new
drive since it hasn't been partitioned or formatted, this is where the Windows start-up
disc (see last week's Boot Camp) comes in. Pop it in the floppy drive and
switch the PC on. What happens next will depend on the age and type of your
PC's BIOS or CMOS program (see Jargon Filter). Most recent PCs will automatically
detect the new drive and configure the BIOS program accordingly. On some models
you may have to do it manually. In such cases the BIOS main menu page opens. Read
the instructions at the bottom of the page about how to navigate and make
changes, select the option marked 'HDD Auto Detection' (or something to that
effect) press enter and when prompted type 'Y' for yes or select OK. Check that
the chosen settings are correct, press Escape to return to the BIOS main menu,
save and exit.
The PC will continue to boot from the floppy start-up disc
in drive A: and after a few moments the A: DOS prompt should appear on the screen.
Type 'fdisk' press Enter and the disc partitioning utility will start. Assuming
that your operating system is the OSR2 version of Windows 95 or Windows 98 you
will be asked if you want to enable enhanced large disc support, press enter to
accept default option 1. When prompted to do so choose the options 'Create DOS
partition or Logical partition', 'Create Primary DOS Partition' and agree to
this partition being the maximum available size. When it has finished at the A:
prompt type fdisk /status and you should see a report showing how much disc
space is available.
Switch the PC off and then back on again, re-booting from
the floppy disc once more. When the A: prompt appears type 'format c: /s'. This
will prepare the disc for use and copy across the system files on the floppy
disc, to make it bootable. That means you will be able to start your PC from
the new drive in the event Windows or the main hard disc drive fails.
Switch the PC off, turn off the mains at the socket and
remove the lid. Change the jumper setting on the new hard disc drive from the
Master (M) to the Slave (S) setting, re-connect the ribbon and power cables to
your original disc drive and fit the lid. Switch the mains socket back on and
power up your PC. If everything has gone according to plan the PC will boot up
normally to Windows. When it has finished click on My Computer and the new
drive icon will appear, Windows should automatically assign it drive letter D:
if you have a CD-ROM drive or any other disc or tape drives they will be moved
up one letter. Your new drive is now ready for use, you can copy folders and files
to the drive using normal Windows conventions, if you want to use it for storing
programs and applications remember to specify the appropriate drive letter during
the installation process.
If you wish you could put a second copy of Windows on the
new drive, so you can continue working should your original fail. You could make
a copy but it is easier to start over with a fresh installation. Windows Set-Up
searches the drives prior to installation and won't normally permit a second
copy to be loaded. The solution is to disconnect your C: drive -- as outlined
earlier -- and install Windows on to the new drive using the floppy start-up
disc or use the system files installed when you formatted the disc. These
contain the necessary CD-ROM driver to read the installation disc. If you are
using a Windows 98 upgrade disc you will probably be asked for the registration
key of your earlier version of Windows so make sure you have it to hand. When
installation is complete re-connect the main disc drive. If for any reason
Windows on the C: drive fails simply reverse the master/slave settings on the
two drives and boot to Windows from your new drive.
Next week – clean and uninterruptible power for your PC
JARGON FILTER
BIOS
Basic Input Output System, a set of instructions that tells
your PC what it is connected to, and how to communicate with devices like disc
drives and memory chips
CMOS
Complimentary metal oxide semiconductor – family of low
power microchips used to store and process the BIOS program
FORMAT
Process of preparing a disc drive to store data by
organising a file structure so that information can be systematically written
and retrieved by the PCs operating system
TOP TIP
Every so often a program window opens in the wrong position
or the menus and toolbars have disappeared off the top of the screen and you
can get them back. Here's a simple solution, press Alt + Spacebar to bring up
the sizing menu then hold down the letter M and use the down arrow cursor key
to bring the window back on to the screen.
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