Second Hard Drive

"General Schvantzkoph" wrote in message
...
 > On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 23:42:45 +0200, teeman2 wrote:
 >
  > > Hello All,
  > > I have a 20GB ATA 66 5400rpm. Can I add a second Hard Drive of 7200 rpm
ATA
  > > 100? My system is a Compaq Presario BW 251. Any help will be
appreciated
 >
 > Yes.
 >
 > For best performance you should try and put the new drive on a different
 > ATA bus then the current drive. Also if your IDE controllers are limited
 > to ATA 66 then the new drive will run at 66 and not 100 but as a practical
 > matter you won't notice any difference.

By different bus do you mean different cable? I have both mine on the
same cable and I have some 'issues' (posted here).
It would be hard for me to put them on different cables due to the
location of my cdroms.

I will describe a problem I had with my cdrom and cdrw.
cdrom set as master, cdrw set to slave (on jumpers), however the cdrom
(master) was at the middle of the cable (which I think is where the slave
should be?), anyway I often found I got error "drive not ready, abort
retry?"
on the master cdrom but not on the slave.
So.... I switshed the jumpers so the cdrw was master and cdrom slave
which I believe is correct for their cable positions.
Anyway now it gives the error on the cdrw, which is now the master.
So on both occasions the master drive fails but the slave seems OK,
which seems a bit odd to me!
I should add that it does not always fail, I have better luck when I
boot with no disks in any drives, and some times both drives are ok.
any ideas?
 >> Stay informed about: Second Hard Drive 

On Sun, 11 Apr 2004 01:52:46 +0100, half_pint wrote:

 >


  >> On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 23:42:45 +0200, teeman2 wrote:
  >>
   >> > Hello All,
   >> > I have a 20GB ATA 66 5400rpm. Can I add a second Hard Drive of 7200 rpm
 > ATA
   >> > 100? My system is a Compaq Presario BW 251. Any help will be
 > appreciated
  >>
  >> Yes.
  >>
  >> For best performance you should try and put the new drive on a different
  >> ATA bus then the current drive. Also if your IDE controllers are limited
  >> to ATA 66 then the new drive will run at 66 and not 100 but as a practical
  >> matter you won't notice any difference.
 >
 > By different bus do you mean different cable? I have both mine on the
 > same cable and I have some 'issues' (posted here).
 > It would be hard for me to put them on different cables due to the
 > location of my cdroms.
 >
 > I will describe a problem I had with my cdrom and cdrw.
 > cdrom set as master, cdrw set to slave (on jumpers), however the cdrom
 > (master) was at the middle of the cable (which I think is where the slave
 > should be?), anyway I often found I got error "drive not ready, abort
 > retry?"
 > on the master cdrom but not on the slave.
 > So.... I switshed the jumpers so the cdrw was master and cdrom slave
 > which I believe is correct for their cable positions.
 > Anyway now it gives the error on the cdrw, which is now the master.
 > So on both occasions the master drive fails but the slave seems OK,
 > which seems a bit odd to me!
 > I should add that it does not always fail, I have better luck when I
 > boot with no disks in any drives, and some times both drives are ok.
 > any ideas?

You might have a bad cable. In general IDE cables are pretty marginal, as
a rule of thumb you are better off with only one device per cable. It's
also a good idea to use the shortest possible cables. I use Promise
controllers to get the additional ports that I need.
 >> Stay informed about: Second Hard Drive 

"General Schvantzkoph" wrote in message
...
 > On Sun, 11 Apr 2004 01:52:46 +0100, half_pint wrote:
 >
  > >


   > >> On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 23:42:45 +0200, teeman2 wrote:
   > >>
   > >> > Hello All,
   > >> > I have a 20GB ATA 66 5400rpm. Can I add a second Hard Drive of 7200
rpm
  > > ATA
   > >> > 100? My system is a Compaq Presario BW 251. Any help will be
  > > appreciated
   > >>
   > >> Yes.
   > >>
   > >> For best performance you should try and put the new drive on a
different
   > >> ATA bus then the current drive. Also if your IDE controllers are
limited
   > >> to ATA 66 then the new drive will run at 66 and not 100 but as a
practical
   > >> matter you won't notice any difference.
  > >
  > > By different bus do you mean different cable? I have both mine on the
  > > same cable and I have some 'issues' (posted here).
  > > It would be hard for me to put them on different cables due to the
  > > location of my cdroms.
  > >
  > > I will describe a problem I had with my cdrom and cdrw.
  > > cdrom set as master, cdrw set to slave (on jumpers), however the cdrom
  > > (master) was at the middle of the cable (which I think is where the
slave
  > > should be?), anyway I often found I got error "drive not ready, abort
  > > retry?"
  > > on the master cdrom but not on the slave.
  > > So.... I switshed the jumpers so the cdrw was master and cdrom slave
  > > which I believe is correct for their cable positions.
  > > Anyway now it gives the error on the cdrw, which is now the master.
  > > So on both occasions the master drive fails but the slave seems OK,
  > > which seems a bit odd to me!
  > > I should add that it does not always fail, I have better luck when I
  > > boot with no disks in any drives, and some times both drives are ok.
  > > any ideas?
 >
 > You might have a bad cable. In general IDE cables are pretty marginal, as
 > a rule of thumb you are better off with only one device per cable. It's
 > also a good idea to use the shortest possible cables. I use Promise
 > controllers to get the additional ports that I need.

I see what you are saying but the drive which fails can be at any position
on the cable, it only seems to fail when it is set as master.
I mean if the drive at the middle failed I would expect the drive
at the end to fail too if it was the cable, but who knows.
I could swop my cable with the HD cable, but I would not like
my hardrive failing, that would be even worse but it would
prove a point.
 >
 >> Stay informed about: Second Hard Drive 

Sounds like a bios problem,
what vintage is your compaq?
Some older BIOS will not handle
big hard drives.
If you need service advice on
a compag you can usally get
all the data you need if you go
to Compaq website
http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/taskPageSelect.jhtml?reg=&plc=&lc=en&cc=u...rodId=c

Here is a hard drive link
http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/document.jhtml?reg=&plc=&lc=en&cc=us&prod...compaqp

good luck


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 >> Stay informed about: Second Hard Drive 

On Sun, 11 Apr 2004 02:40:45 +0100, half_pint wrote:

 >


  >> On Sun, 11 Apr 2004 01:52:46 +0100, half_pint wrote:
  >>
   >> >


   >> >> On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 23:42:45 +0200, teeman2 wrote:
   >> >>
   >> >> > Hello All,
   >> >> > I have a 20GB ATA 66 5400rpm. Can I add a second Hard Drive of 7200
 > rpm
   >> > ATA
   >> >> > 100? My system is a Compaq Presario BW 251. Any help will be
   >> > appreciated
   >> >>
   >> >> Yes.
   >> >>
   >> >> For best performance you should try and put the new drive on a
 > different
   >> >> ATA bus then the current drive. Also if your IDE controllers are
 > limited
   >> >> to ATA 66 then the new drive will run at 66 and not 100 but as a
 > practical
   >> >> matter you won't notice any difference.
   >> >
   >> > By different bus do you mean different cable? I have both mine on the
   >> > same cable and I have some 'issues' (posted here).
   >> > It would be hard for me to put them on different cables due to the
   >> > location of my cdroms.
   >> >
   >> > I will describe a problem I had with my cdrom and cdrw.
   >> > cdrom set as master, cdrw set to slave (on jumpers), however the cdrom
   >> > (master) was at the middle of the cable (which I think is where the
 > slave
   >> > should be?), anyway I often found I got error "drive not ready, abort
   >> > retry?"
   >> > on the master cdrom but not on the slave.
   >> > So.... I switshed the jumpers so the cdrw was master and cdrom slave
   >> > which I believe is correct for their cable positions.
   >> > Anyway now it gives the error on the cdrw, which is now the master.
   >> > So on both occasions the master drive fails but the slave seems OK,
   >> > which seems a bit odd to me!
   >> > I should add that it does not always fail, I have better luck when I
   >> > boot with no disks in any drives, and some times both drives are ok.
   >> > any ideas?
  >>
  >> You might have a bad cable. In general IDE cables are pretty marginal, as
  >> a rule of thumb you are better off with only one device per cable. It's
  >> also a good idea to use the shortest possible cables. I use Promise
  >> controllers to get the additional ports that I need.
 >
 > I see what you are saying but the drive which fails can be at any position
 > on the cable, it only seems to fail when it is set as master.
 > I mean if the drive at the middle failed I would expect the drive
 > at the end to fail too if it was the cable, but who knows.
 > I could swop my cable with the HD cable, but I would not like
 > my hardrive failing, that would be even worse but it would
 > prove a point.
  >>
Have you tried removing the second device from the cable? It sounds like
the two drives are interfering with each other.
 >> Stay informed about: Second Hard Drive 

We it maybe Bios but sometimes the problem is there
sometimes its not, I though the lazer lens was dirty
but I changed my mind when I swapping M&S settings
chainged the 'faulty' drive' Maybe it is bios it is and
old machine.
They are CDROMS not hard drives mind.


"D2E" wrote in message

 > Sounds like a bios problem,
 > what vintage is your compaq?
 > Some older BIOS will not handle
 > big hard drives.
 > If you need service advice on
 > a compag you can usally get
 > all the data you need if you go
 > to Compaq website
 >
<a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/taskPageSelect.jhtml?reg=&plc=&lc=en&cc=us&prodId=compaqpres93700&pagetype=prodinfo&docparent=prodinfo" target="_blank">http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/taskPageSelect.jhtml?reg=&plc=&lc=en&cc=u...rodId=c</a>
 >
 > Here is a hard drive link
 >
<a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/document.jhtml?reg=&plc=&lc=en&cc=us&prodId=compaqpres93700&docName=bph05028&cat=solve#P6_574" target="_blank">http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/document.jhtml?reg=&plc=&lc=en&cc=us&prod...compaqp</a>
 >
 > good luck
 >
 >
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 > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
 > Version: 6.0.656 / Virus Database: 421 - Release Date: 4/9/2004
 >
 >
 >> Stay informed about: Second Hard Drive