Installing Second Hard Drive

[ke4vbg]

I would like to install a second hard drive in my computer that is running Windows ME . I have connected the cables and set them up as Master and Slave. My computer has found the new drive but it does not show up under My Computer. When i go to Setup Utility it shows up there. What is my next step.

Thanks, Doug

[mack]

Sometimes under windows you need to go into "add remove hardware" in order to finish installing the new drive.

Perhaps the reason you are not able to see the new drive is because it has no operating system or file system installed.

Mack.

[txbakers]

You also need to format it so it can be ready by Windows.

[ukgimp]

you may need to fdisk it then format it.

[Macro]

ukgimp is spot on.

You cannot use a new hard disk, or even format it till you have fdisk-ed it.

You could make a boot floppy from the Add/Remove software icon in the Control Panel. Then unplug your old hard disk (for safety), put your new one in, boot from the floppy disk and type:
fdisk

Type Y when prompted. Then choose option 1 to create a new partition (you need to do this whether you want your disk divided into parts, or not).

Then reconnect your old hard disk, go into windows and you can format the new disk.

[ke4vbg]

Tried to do a F-disk an it said there was not enough room to do it. This is a hard drive that was removed from another computer. I tried to boot off this disk but it said there was a Kernel missing and to insert a System disk and restart.

[ke4vbg]

I have a Full copy of Windows ME and was thinking about just loading it on the second disk. I used the Boot disk from this software to try the Fdisk. This Drive is 6.4gb and my origional drive is 2.0gb and I would like to have additional storage space.

[ogletree]

When you go to fdisk hit number 4 and see if there is anyting on it. Then go to delete and delete everything. Then go to number one and create a new volume. That should work. Next go buy a copy of XP and get rid of ME. If you are having problems ME is probably the source. ME is the wourst OS ever made. MS should be ashamed and there should be a class action law suit against them for making that.

[Macro]

>> Then go to delete and delete everything

Good advice, I hope it works for you, remember that in particular you want to delete the non-DOS partitions. And that you are best off exiting fdisk and coming back into it to see if that all worked.

Sometimes though you may need to do a low level format. I hope your problem is resolved before that.

[davemarks]

No no no don't do a low level format!

That is a sure way to completly ruin your hard drive

Low level format was for early drives, you'll not wanna do that on a new one, by new i mean anything that you'll be using in this day and age.

I learned the hard way ;)

[ogletree]

Yes do not do a low level. I don't even know if you can do that anymore. Fdisk does not offer that. It was normaly part of the bios on older machines. I have not seen that option in years. Ahh the old 10MB hard drives. Do you remember the old days.

[ke4vbg]

Success! Thanks Guys for the help. Drive is formatted and ready to use. Will do thorough Scan on it tomorrow to check for bad sectors. I sure appreciate all your assistance in helping a novice like me figure it out. My first computer was a TI-99 that didn't even have a Hard Drive. I had a lot of fun playing with Basic. Took an hour to type in a program to watch crummy graphics make a picture ,that sometimes didn't work. Still got it. Also still got my Commodore 64. One day I'll buy a new computer to replace this old IBM Aptiva E-40 but it sure has been a good one. Not one problem in 8 years and I like it better than my daughters fancy HP.

Thanks, Doug

[Macro]

ke4vbg, you're welcome. Glad it's all working.

For the record guys, low-level is still a VERY useful tool. Yes, it does go back a while and yes, modern BIOSes don't offer that option (haven't for the last 5 years or so).

But when you do have a serious disk failure - or an otherwise insurmountable problem like not being able to remove a partition - step one is to go to the website of the disk manufacturer and download the diagnostic utility they have. Some of them offer the option of a low-level format. If they don't you can get various low level format utilities on floppy disk. It's an essential tool if you are in the computer repair industry. It is also a good data shredder.

Do bear in mind that ke4vbg has an older drive here.

[midwestguy]

To go along with what Marco mentioned:

I've found the best way to minimize problems removing partitions is to use the same software for the same OS the partition was created with. I first learned this when trying to delete an OpenBSD partition on a dual boot Windows 98SE/OpenBSD system with a Win98SE vintage FDISK utility. So if you created a partition with a utility program from a given OS, remove the partition with the same utility (if you remember it or wrote it down in a log you keep for every machine during setup/install -- hint, hint).

As Marco mentioned, many manufacturers have utilities one can download and use on their hard drives. For instance, with IBM/Hitachi ATA drives, I often wipe the drives and boot sectors to binary zeros before repurposing a drive with a utility I downloaded from IBM's site.

A good rule to follow:

Due to slight differences in how various operating system's utilities (i.e. FDISK or equiv.) lay out partitions on a given hard drive, a GREAT rule to follow is to always use the FDISK (or equiv.) utility from the OS you are going to install on the hard drive to create the partition (or slice with *BSD) where the OS will be installed into. And by OS I also mean the specific version of Windows. BTW, a good source for more info (and keeping around for reference) is the book "The Multi-boot Configuration Handbook"...or google, of course. ;-)