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Category: Computer/PC discussions
A Second Harddrive

How Would I Add A Second Harddrive Into My computer?

IDE or SCSI?

Most likely IDE. You have 2 IDE cable ports on your motherboard. Each cable can hold 2 IDE devices (hard/CD-ROM drives). If it's a newer board you pretty much just plug it in and everything should autodetect. The cables are either primary or secondary. On each cable you'll have a master or a slave. This is defined by the jumpers on the hard drives. Check your manual for jumper configuration. A general rule of thumb is to keep any devices that use a high load (DVD/burner) on your secondary cable (not the same cable as the OS). You might want to take note of your current configuration (Where the drives are, mas/slv, pri/sec, jumper settings) before changing anything, so you can still boot if something doesn't work for you.

In addition to what x_goose_x posted, here's a link you might find useful along the way:

http://www.pcmech.com/show/harddrive/43/

What brand is it? If it is an eMachines or similar value brand, they usually put your CD-ROM and hard drive on the same cable to save money. However, if you buy a retail boxed hard drive it will include an additional cable.

i got someone to duel boot my computer wiff

XP and 98 *98 = secondary* i strongly disagree with this... now i need to change my main boot record in order for 98 to not be detected and what not, and have it not startup as a duel boot...

but no FDISK program ive tried works, not even windows XP recovery which is on there CD works... which it says it does. but it dont :/

so, im stuck with this... until i cough up money for someone that knows howto doit to fix it w/o formatting my main HDD... or i learn howto doit...
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so if your thinking of duel booting, doit on 1 HDD, and save the other HDD for storage only :/

fdisk /mbr

Originally posted by Celtboy
fdisk /mbr

For more on what Celtboy posted: FDISK /MBR Rewrites the Master Boot Record (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q69013&). Just in case you were unfamilar with the command and also to let you see some things you should consider before using it ;)

What OS are you using? If you are using Windows XP, and I think you are you can set-up your new HD like this.

Make the physical installation into your pc.

Boot windows, windows will not do anything with this new hd as it will just install it and not configure it.

To configure it go to Control panel and look for Administrative Tools, go into there and then click Computer Management, and then look on the menu on the left for Storage, make sure you expand this. Then click on Disk Management. Hopefully your newly installed hd should be listen, if it is, right click and click format. A wizard will now open and talk you threw everything.

I hope I answered your question, as you needed it










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