Reusing DP harddrives

Bob Haller · 06-21-02, 02:17 PM

I have a left over DP Seagate 8 gig HD and want to put it in a old gateway 166 that presently has a 2 gig nearly full drive. In easy to understand terms how is this done?

Lightnin1 · 06-21-02, 09:32 PM

Ok I'll bite on this one.
First of all. Do you want to use it for storage or to hold an operating system.
Either way the hookup is the same.

If you crack your case open, you will see the HD and the gray ribbon cable going from the HD to the motherboard. There is a smaller gray ribbon cable that goes to the 3-1/2 drive. so don't confuse the two. You will need a gray ribbon cable with 2 connectors. Make sure the jumpers are set right on the HD you are putting in. Example, the HD that is in there now is set as your primary. That means that the BIOS of your motherboard boots off of that one because it is the one with your OS. There are small jumper settings on the HD right next to where the power and ribbon cables plug into. Make sure this HD is set to "SLAVE". This is very important. If you do not do this, your BIOS will try to bounce back and forth and your computer won't boot. If the HD your installing has an operating system, it will have to be wiped out.

It sounds complex, but it's really not. The main thing you want to decide is if you want to use the bigger hardrive for storage or if you want to use it for the OS for the PC. Make sense?

Ask and you shall receive

Bob Haller · 06-21-02, 10:46 PM

Yes, and I want to use it for storage. Does the seagate need formated or anything? Or will that happen automatically?

Thanks for the help.

Bogy · 06-22-02, 03:32 PM

I didn't respond before, because I think it is going to be slightly more complicated than Pro-Com has indicated. I was hoping someone who had experience with Seagate hard drives would respond. It makes a big difference how old your system bios is. If your present hard drive is a 2 gig it is very likely your bios will only recognize a 2.1 gig drive. If you just plug it in as described above you will end up with your 8 gig drive being recognized as a 2.1 gig, wasting 5.9 gigs. If you are lucky when you plug it in your motherboard will recognize the whole 8 gig, but if it doesn't its going to take a little longer.
There are ways around this, since I am running a 40 gig drive in a computer whose bios has this limitation. You either need to: change the bios, tricky and something I avoid doing if at all possible. Change the motherboard, expensive and a hassle. Or use a software fix, which is what I always do. I use Western Digital most of the time, and they make very easy to use software for this task. Seagate must have a similar product, and that is what you are going to need.

James_F · 06-22-02, 05:06 PM

I would just walk away from that computer Bob. Upgrading it might be too much work... Bogy's right about your BIOS. Its soo old I wouldn't bother attaching any Hard Drive to it...

Bob Haller · 06-22-02, 05:49 PM

Ahh its more of a hobby learning exercise than being a good idea. I havew managed to upgrade the RAM from 32 to 64 meg, install a ethernet card for under $6 and other low cost stuff, The bigger HD will assure this aged computer can network on dsl, my goal.

This is about learning how to do stuff.... I was a computer USER, trying to become a tech of sorts..... self taught

James_F · 06-23-02, 12:37 AM

Good luck to you!

Bogy · 06-23-02, 10:38 PM

As I said, if your computer has a 2 gig drive it is pretty certain the bios will only read 2.1 gig. However, as I also said, I have done a number of these upgrades myself. If you have the installation software for the drive it should include what you need to install a software fix. If you don't have it, Seagate is nice enough to provide you with what you need online at http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/
I started here because it has information about the various dics, jumper settings, etc. If you click on the "DiscWizard Installation Software" you can download the program that will do the job for you. Other than the software bios fix, just make sure the jumper settings are for slave if that is what you want, and use the middle connector on the ribbon cable.

Without confusing things too much (I hope) I will offer this caveat. I have run into computers (HP's for one) which need to have the drives set to "cable select" and then the position on the cable decides whether the drive is the master or slave.

Other than that, MOST of the time this goes pretty smooth. Even a Gateway 166 is going to be P&P, as opposed to the old days when you got to enter all the settings into setup. Have fun. Its the only way to learn. All I have is antiques I have fun upgrading and messing with.

cnsf · 06-23-02, 11:48 PM

The best you can do with that config is put on Linux. Any windows version will be a dog. I have two old 8GB HDs that work just fine on their own IDE as master and slave. Reformat for Windows and if you use Linux, DON'T setup dual boot.

Bob Haller · 06-23-02, 11:56 PM

Thanks so much for the info, tomorrow I will give it a try

cnsf · 07-01-02, 02:59 PM

FYI - be wary of the 8.5 Gig-ers. One of mine just zonked.

MarkA · 07-01-02, 05:48 PM

Just swap the drive. Don't worry, I believe the DP is already set to master. It'll take 5 mins.

Bob Haller · 07-01-02, 07:41 PM

Upgrade a success. Decided to use JUST the 8 gig, and not do the master slave thing. I had 2 HDs in the past and that was awkard and caused hassles.
I am now reloading the other stuff and going to add a cd burner, its free when you buy blank cds from Comp usa this week,

Thanks for all the help.

I hope to use the burner to create a restore disc for this computer.

Endless hours of messing about has taught me a lot about computers..

Bob Haller · 07-01-02, 07:43 PM

incidently the upgrade was plug and play, it detected the bigger hd on its own. After I gave up having 2 HDs

Bogy · 07-01-02, 10:00 PM

Congratulations. The best way to learn is to have something go wrong.

Bob Haller · 07-01-02, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bogy
Congratulations. The best way to learn is to have something go wrong.

That must make highly intelligent

Its been interesting and at times fun. Real $ looser if I didnt have the DP drive.

Any thoughts on this. The existing hard wired USB works intermittently. Added a USB card and ALL jacks work all the time. Dont understand that but I want to network this beast on DSL and am out of card slots. Its either USB or NIC, which I both have.

Thinking of getting a USB to ethernet adapter if I cant get USB to be stable. Printer is USB only.

Is this the best option?