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RogerRabbit

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Hard Drive Install

Well here is the story.

I've installed a second drive on a computer and I'm using it to backup some files.
It was installed as master on the second IDE cable.

I wanted to use it in another computer and tried installing it but it does not recognize it. I installed it the same way as master on the second IDE cable.

I tought you could just switch any hard drive to another PC without having to re-install it and reformat the drive. Kind of a portable drive without being one.

How do I get it to work on any PC just by connecting it to whatever PC ?
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SysExpert
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It depends on how old the computer is and how large the drive is.
Older computers may not recognize newer, larger hard drives if they have an older BIOS.

You may need to update to a newer BIOS.
BIOS
http://www.wimsbios.com/
http://www.ping.be/bios/numbersami.shtml - Old
http://www.motherboards.org/ubb/Forum2/HTML/
or check the motherboard manufacturers website.
To ID it go to http://www.sysopt.com/mboard.html

I hope this helps !



Are the two computers using the same operating system?

Also, is there anything else on the secondary IDE with the drive?
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jlauster

Have you gotten it recognized in the BIOS setup? Look for IDE Autodetect or something similar.
Assuming that you will not require to upgrade your BIOS as advised by SysExpert, Click the Start button, then Settings, Control Panel, System, Device Manager, and the click on the + of Disk Drives and check the drivers installed.  If the Driver for your HD is not shown, Click on the Add Hardware icon in the Control Panel and follow the Wisard instructions.  Before you do this however, check that the I/O card and the HD are configured properly.
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RogerRabbit - you need to let these folks know what kind of computer you put the drive into, the size of the drive, the Operating System of the new computer and the type of file format you used on the new drive (Fat16, Fat32, NTFS).

You can't get a good answer until they know the details.

HW
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ASKER

ok well to be precise, I need to know if you can after installation of a drive, take it out and just hook it up to another computer using the same type of operating system and the same kind of hook up without reformating or anything else. Just unplug it from the secondary IDE cable and hook it up to another Secondary IDE cable on a different computer as long as it accepts a 60 gig drive.

Or is this not possible without somekind of reformating.

Both would be under win98 or at worst it would go from win 98 to a win ME computer but never as the master drive of a computer. The computer I would put it in will always have the original drive within it.

I appreciate the help.
There should be no problem seeing the drive, as long as you have detected it in BIOS setup and the drive does not exceed what the BIOS will support. If this is on a system where a boot overlay has been installed to support a boot drive larger than your BIOS supports, you may have to run the overaly program again, so that the drive is recognized.
And again, as HDWILKINS stated, you need to give us the systems' information, in order to make a more meaningful analysis.
If your certain your BIOS is up to date, I would suggest going back to basics. More often than not hardware problems are caused by hardware not sotware (ie: BIOS).

If you have another peripharal on your second IDE, make sure your jumpers are set correctly as 'master/slave' not both as 'cable select'. Some PCs have hiccups over this configuration (especially older clones).

Check/replace your IDE cable

Take out your primary drive, configure your new drive as master on the first IDE (ajust the jumpers). See if your BOIS sees it than boot from a floppy to see if you can acces it.

Hope this helps.
I think most of this has been said already, but anyway:
1) The drive must be recognized correctly by the BIOS in the new box. The access mode must be the same (formerly you sometimes had a choice between CHS, "LARGE", and LBA access for drives of more than 540MB) as it was in the machine it came from.
2) The O/S in the new box must be able to understand the file system the drive is formatted with.
3) The Master/Slave system must be taken into account if more than one unit is present on the channel.
4) I think the presence of a software overlay will mess this situation up royally.

Regards
/RID

Even if the secondary HD is detected automatically by Windows, with several input/output devices, it is likely to have a conflict. It is for this reason I suggested going to the Device Manager and check for any conflicts with one of the other devices.  The I/O card as well as the HD must be properly configured using the jumper connectors.
Back to basics people.  This is a simple fix I think.  Go into the system setup and set the secondary master to auto so it will detect the drive is there.
After checking the BIOS, well I'll be damned !

When you buy a HDD it comes with a diskette installation and for a reason I do not understand, windows recognize it but Bios does not. When I try to get it recognized by the BIOS, nothing happens !

No conflict in windows either and I updated thru the device manager and still does not fix the problem.

Help
This sounds a bit odd to me.
Have you got a computer where you can put this new drive as primary master (set its jumper accordingly!) for test purposes? If so, do that. Make sure BIOS is set to autodetect hard drive(s), or run the detect utility (depends on what BIOS). Is it recognized now? If not, you may have problems with the drive or an old BIOS.

Your idea of moving a HD is quite OK. However, I think that software intervention (like "installing" the drive) will preclude it. Usually the disk tools that come with your O/S are quite sufficient.

Regards
/RID
Do it manually then and it will work.  Read the specs off the drive itself.  Sounds like your running an older BIOS.  Another resolution could be a BIOS upgrade.

Good luck.
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