Need help adding 2nd hard drive > All Things Tech

Posted: 5/28/2008 1:18:35 PM EDT

Just got a new desktop (Compaq w/ Vista) a few days ago and am trying to add on my old HD so I can tranfer all the old stuff and also still use it for back up. I opened the case for the new computer and it looks like the new HD is using a SATA cable, while my old HD has a IDE plug in. There's an IDE port on the motherboard, but there's nothing plugged into it now. I tried just plugging the old HD into that port and setting the pins to slave, but it didn't work. Instead of seeing the old HD as a 2nd drive, it booted up to the old HD drive. Can anyone shed some light on this? What am I missing?

Posted: 5/28/2008 1:57:35 PM EDT

[#1]

As the computer starts up, you need to hit whatever button your motherboard splash screen says to hit to enter the BIOS. From there, you can set the boot order of the two drives, making your old one the slave drive.

Posted: 5/28/2008 2:04:09 PM EDT

[#2]

I have an older Compaq and I hit F8 during start up. Usually when Compaq flashes on the screen before windows comes on line. I run two hard drives in my Compaq with no problem.

Posted: 5/28/2008 2:12:00 PM EDT

[#3]

set the jumper on the IDE drive to slave or just pickup a external hard drive enclosure and keep the drive for as backup drive

Posted: 5/28/2008 2:22:46 PM EDT

[#4]

If your drive a MOBO support it, try using "cable select" for the drive master/slave position. Then the bios will decide the assignment.

Posted: 5/28/2008 2:40:45 PM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
As the computer starts up, you need to hit whatever button your motherboard splash screen says to hit to enter the BIOS. From there, you can set the boot order of the two drives, making your old one the slave drive.

Thanks to everyone who replied. I was to do it via the BIOS setup and it works great, AGW you saved the day, thank you!

Posted: 5/28/2008 2:56:36 PM EDT

[#6]

Posted: 5/28/2008 3:25:23 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
Just got a new desktop (Compaq w/ Vista) a few days ago and am trying to add on my old HD so I can tranfer all the old stuff and also still use it for back up. I opened the case for the new computer and it looks like the new HD is using a SATA cable, while my old HD has a IDE plug in. There's an IDE port on the motherboard, but there's nothing plugged into it now. I tried just plugging the old HD into that port and setting the pins to slave, but it didn't work. Instead of seeing the old HD as a 2nd drive, it booted up to the old HD drive. Can anyone shed some light on this? What am I missing?

SATA drives do not use jumpers, but you would need to make sure the jumpers on the IDE HD are set to "slave"

Other than that, check the Mobo BIOS to make it supports having HDs on both channels {SATA and IDE}

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