Accessing a disk

[faq]

Hello-

My computer came with a 40GB Maxtor DiamondPlus hard disk drive. I
added an 80GB Maxtor DiamondPlus drive as a slave on the same IDE ATA
cable, but the BIOS doesn't detect the new drive. The drive itself is
functioning because I formatted it using FDISK, and if I remove the
master drive and put the new drive on to the master cable connector,
the BIOS detects it correctly. However, when I connect it to the slave
cable connector, it does not. I tried another cable, purchased new,
but it makes no difference.

Does anyone have any suggestions of things to try? I'm tearing my hair
out here.

 

[jacob navia]

Hello-

My computer came with a 40GB Maxtor DiamondPlus hard disk drive. I
added an 80GB Maxtor DiamondPlus drive as a slave on the same IDE ATA
cable, but the BIOS doesn't detect the new drive. The drive itself is
functioning because I formatted it using FDISK, and if I remove the
master drive and put the new drive on to the master cable connector,
the BIOS detects it correctly. However, when I connect it to the slave
cable connector, it does not. I tried another cable, purchased new,
but it makes no difference.

Does anyone have any suggestions of things to try? I'm tearing my hair
out here.

This has nothing to do with C
<OT>
The other drive should be configured to recognize that it has
a slave. Look at the jumpers at the back of the drive, and
put BOTH in "CS" (cable select) and do not worry anymore
who is the master and who is the slave. If not, configure
the new drive as slave, and the old one as master with
slave.
</OT>

 

[Ian Collins]

Hello-

My computer came with a 40GB Maxtor DiamondPlus hard disk drive. I
added an 80GB Maxtor DiamondPlus drive as a slave on the same IDE ATA
cable, but the BIOS doesn't detect the new drive. The drive itself is
functioning because I formatted it using FDISK, and if I remove the
master drive and put the new drive on to the master cable connector,
the BIOS detects it correctly. However, when I connect it to the slave
cable connector, it does not. I tried another cable, purchased new,
but it makes no difference.

Does anyone have any suggestions of things to try? I'm tearing my hair
out here.

I guess the most topical answer is to try hitting it with your C book.

 

[Army1987]

Hello-

My computer came with a 40GB Maxtor DiamondPlus hard disk drive. I
added an 80GB Maxtor DiamondPlus drive as a slave on the same IDE ATA
cable, but the BIOS doesn't detect the new drive. The drive itself is
functioning because I formatted it using FDISK, and if I remove the
master drive and put the new drive on to the master cable connector,
the BIOS detects it correctly. However, when I connect it to the slave
cable connector, it does not. I tried another cable, purchased new,
but it makes no difference.

Does anyone have any suggestions of things to try? I'm tearing my hair
out here.

Definitely not here. This newsgroup is about the C programming
language. Try another one. (Maybe comp.hardware or
comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage?)

 

[faq]

Hello Jacob-

Thanks for replying.

What is a Cable Select? Will I need to buy one? (As far as I can tell,
there isn't one in the kit I've got here.)

And do you mean that I should also change the jumpers on the old
disk? I don't have any spare jumpers, so I was hoping that would be
unncessary. Would it work if I try to cut a paperclip to the right
size and use that instead?

Thanks again for taking time to answer.

 

[jacob navia]

Hello Jacob-

Thanks for replying.

What is a Cable Select? Will I need to buy one? (As far as I can tell,
there isn't one in the kit I've got here.)

Cable Select is a position in the set of jumpers behind the disk
drive.

Look if you do not know that, it means that you have to return to the
shop with your machine and the disk and ask the technician
to install it for you.

And do you mean that I should also change the jumpers on the old
disk? I don't have any spare jumpers, so I was hoping that would be
unncessary. Would it work if I try to cut a paperclip to the right
size and use that instead?

NO!

If you do that you will make a short circuit and burn the drive.
I repeat: Go to the shop with your drive and ask the technician
to do it for you!

 

[Keith Thompson]

Cable Select is a position in the set of jumpers behind the disk
drive.

Look if you do not know that, it means that you have to return to the
shop with your machine and the disk and ask the technician
to install it for you.


NO!

If you do that you will make a short circuit and burn the drive.
I repeat: Go to the shop with your drive and ask the technician
to do it for you!

jacob, perhaps now you have a better understanding of why we
discourage answering off-topic questions here.

To the original poster: comp.lang.c is not the place to ask about
this. You probably want a newsgroup with "hardware" in its name. A
quick search of my .newsrc turns up "comp.ibm.pc.hardware",
"comp.sys.ibm-pc.hardware", and "comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage". I
know nothing about any of those newsgroups other than their names; I
suggest you go to groups.google.com to browse their archives and find
out what they discuss (assuming they're still active).

 

[CBFalconer]

Cable Select is a position in the set of jumpers behind the disk
drive.

Look if you do not know that, it means that you have to return to
the shop with your machine and the disk and ask the technician
to install it for you.


NO!

If you do that you will make a short circuit and burn the drive.
I repeat: Go to the shop with your drive and ask the technician
to do it for you!

This is a matter of principle. This is OFF-TOPIC on c.l.c. Your
first answer should have at least set follow-ups to
alt.comp.hardware and kept all followups away from c.l.c.

To faq: Please do not top-post. Your answer should follow (or be
intermixed with) the material you quote, after snipping anything
immaterial to that reply. Your top-post here has completely lost
the original enquiry.

Note that I have set follow-ups to alt.comp.hardware, and any
further discussion should take place there. I am deliberately
failing to add any information here.

 

[Andy]

Hello-

My computer came with a 40GB Maxtor DiamondPlus hard disk drive. I
added an 80GB Maxtor DiamondPlus drive as a slave on the same IDE ATA
cable, but the BIOS doesn't detect the new drive. The drive itself is
functioning because I formatted it using FDISK, and if I remove the
master drive and put the new drive on to the master cable connector,
the BIOS detects it correctly. However, when I connect it to the slave
cable connector, it does not. I tried another cable, purchased new,
but it makes no difference.

Does anyone have any suggestions of things to try? I'm tearing my hair
out here.

Jumper the drives according to this diagram:
<http://www.seagate.com/images/support/en/us/mxo_ata_jumpers.gif>.

 

[Richard Heathfield]

Keith Thompson said:

jacob, perhaps now you have a better understanding of why we
discourage answering off-topic questions here.

Keith, I doubt very much whether he does.

 

[faq]

Hello Jacob-

Thanks for the clarification.

I guess Cable Select must be called something different here on my
disk - which jumpers being set does it correspond to?

Unfortunately I bought the new disk on the internet, so I can't really
take it to be fitted... if I need more jumpers then as you advise I'll
buy them from a hardware store and not try to improvise!!

By the way, it's amazing how unhelpful most other people have been
here apart from you - I guess there are some people who just like to
moan and complain all day...

All the best!

 

[faq]

Thanks for the link. Are you sure the jumper settings are the same for
Seagate and Maxtor? I don't want to make the wrong connections in case
I cause a short circuit.

 

[Erik Trulsson]

Hello Jacob-

Thanks for the clarification.

I guess Cable Select must be called something different here on my
disk - which jumpers being set does it correspond to?

It depends on the disk. Ask the manufacturer of the disk - they
should know.

Unfortunately I bought the new disk on the internet, so I can't really
take it to be fitted... if I need more jumpers then as you advise I'll
buy them from a hardware store and not try to improvise!!

By the way, it's amazing how unhelpful most other people have been
here apart from you - I guess there are some people who just like to
moan and complain all day...

That is because "here" is very much the wrong place to ask questions
about how disks are configured. Such questions are more likely to
get knowledgable answers elsewhere.

 

[Mark McIntyre]

What is a Cable Select? Will I need to buy one? (As far as I can tell,
there isn't one in the kit I've got here.)

Er, CS is a position of the jumpers on the drives.

<OT> read the manual for your motherboard, and for the new and old
HDDs. If you don't understand how it works from there, Find a Techy
Friend.

And do you mean that I should also change the jumpers on the old
disk? I don't have any spare jumpers, so I was hoping that would be
unncessary. Would it work if I try to cut a paperclip to the right
size and use that instead?

You're trolling, right? If not, you shouldn't be allowed sharp
objects. Messing with the drive using a paperclip will either
electrocute you or destroy the disk and possibly your motherboard.

jacob navia wrote:

(and yet again demonstrated why you don't attempt to answer wildly
offtopic questions)
--
Mark McIntyre

"Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place.
Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are,
by definition, not smart enough to debug it."
--Brian Kernighan

 

[Mark McIntyre]

Thanks for the link. Are you sure the jumper settings are the same for
Seagate and Maxtor? I don't want to make the wrong connections in case
I cause a short circuit.

Why not do a websearch, and find out who Seagate and Maxtor are? This
is NOT hte place to ask these questions...
--
Mark McIntyre

"Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place.
Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are,
by definition, not smart enough to debug it."
--Brian Kernighan

 

[Mark Bluemel]

Why not do a websearch, and find out who Seagate and Maxtor are?

I used to know this, but now I can't remember if they are good
Transformers or evil Decepticons...

 

[faq]

Hello Mark-

OK, thanks for the info. I thought a paperclip would work because as
far as I can tell a jumper is a metal ring that goes around some
pins...

Incidentally, everyone is saying this is off-topic for the group - my
reasoning for posting here was that C programmers are probably good
people to have technical knowledge about hard disks and such, so it's
really a complement to you guys technical skill!

All the best!

 

[Walter Roberson]

Incidentally, everyone is saying this is off-topic for the group - my
reasoning for posting here was that C programmers are probably good
people to have technical knowledge about hard disks and such, so it's
really a complement to you guys technical skill!

And C programmers drink a lot of caffinated beverages to stay awake
during long programming sprees, but that doesn't make this newsgroup
the appropriate place to ask about how to fix a particular make
of espresso machine.

 

[Mark McIntyre]

I used to know this, but now I can't remember if they are good
Transformers or evil Decepticons...

Actually, they're Two-Face.... .
--
Mark McIntyre

"Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place.
Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are,
by definition, not smart enough to debug it."
--Brian Kernighan

 

[Al Balmer]

Hello Jacob-

Thanks for replying.

What is a Cable Select?

One more example of why not to try to answer off-topic questions.