Added Second Hard Drive

[Dee Bee]

Recently I purchased a new computer. I wanted to use an old 23GB HD as a backup and storage device. So I figured out how to set the new computer HD as the "Master" and then added the other HD as "Slave" All worked well except that there was no place to mount it.

The bottom of the Slave HD has holes for mounting bolts. So I drilled four holes in the bottom of my new case. Added four bolts and put it in. I raised it up so it would not interfere with any of the other components and also be in the flow of the fan air stream.



Maybe it would work for you...

Dee Bee

[Chris C]

I just HATE computer genus'!

[toypusher]

Dee Bee,

Just wondering why you did not put the slave right above the Master? Maybe I can't see good enough, but it looks like an open space there.

Edit: I forgot to say that I think you solved your problem in an ingenious way and it should work fine for you. Good job! I actually have several PCs with extra HD just laying on the bottom of the case. (Don't try this at home unless you NEVER move the PC when it is powered on)!!!

[Dee Bee]

Dee Bee,

Just wondering why you did not put the slave right above the Master? Maybe I can't see good enough, but it looks like an open space there.

Hi Toypusher!

All the bays were filled with other stuff.


Dee Bee

[Arne]

I live in fear of taking the case off my computer.... and it took a while to figure out the new one, just the side comes off...... I added a gig of memory...

I dragged it out to the garage and blew the dust out (cough..cough), and even followed the directions, once I found out where the memory sticks should go....

Surprisingly..... it woks....

I am in awe of anyone that can jump into a computer and figure out where things go..... so, good job you did on the mount...... very impressive.

[toypusher]

arnereil,

I have built many a PC from scratch and certainly have modified many more. With a few basic rules to follow, there really is not much to changing things on a PC. Work with the power disconnected and always ground the case and yourself before reaching inside to change things. The biggest problem with working on PCs is keeping up with the rapid changing technology (and still remembering the old stuff too).

[TomS]

Once upon the time, I was the proud owner of a 386 desktop PC. I was working for a start-up computer company at a time.

One Friday, I purchased a a HUGE 200 Mb (That Megabytes, Baby! Ohhh Ahhh) IDE hard drive with my employee discount. After work a few of us stopped into to a local watering hole for a few pops.

I got home well after midnight slightly drunk and very tired. And instead of going to bed, I just HAD to stay up and install the new drive.

I grabbed a screwdriver and opened the case. I set the jumpers on the drive so it would slave it to my primary drive. Next I mounted it in an empty drive bay. I plugged in the IDE cable. Finally, I attempted to plug in the power cable and ...

.... SNAP!

I broke the power connector right off that hard drive.

I took it to an electronics technican friend of mine in hopes that she could solder it back on for me. She said it couldn't be fixed. 'm sure my employer wouldn't have taken that drive back. In any event I was way to embarassed to even ask.

Some lessons in life we learn the hard way.

[Kevin A]

You know what they say Tom, don't drink & "drive"

[cracker39]

Tom, I've built several PCs too, including this one I fixed recently after a virus crashed it. I set the jumpers on all of my HDs, CDs, DVDs, the same, "cable select" and let the OS and controllers figure it out. Then, no matter how I switch them around on the IDE ports, I don't have to rejumper them.

The last case I bought is large enough that I managed to fit in a floppy and 3 HDs in the small bays. In the 5 1/4" bays, I have two DVDs (one is RW) and I still have two 5 1/4" bays free. Some people like the smaller cases, but I go for plenty of room for expansion (and lots of power and fans).

TP, years ago, a mainframe tech engineer gave me a grounding cable. It has a wrist strap with a metal snap that contacts the skin, and has a cable that plugs into it with a clip on the other end to hook onto the PC frame. I am very careful about grounding and never had a problem with static electricity blowing out something (and IT WILL).

Arnereil, I was leery of messing inside a PC too, but having worked with mainframes for years, I had techs to give advice. Soon, I was upgrading my 386, one piece at a time, until it evolved into a completly new PC. Then, I decided to go all the way and build my first one myself. I guess I just like being able to say "I built it myself". It's like anything else. Once you dig into it, the mystery goes away.

[asianflava]

Ive got two 80gig hard drives in my puter.I love the extra storage.I went one step further and purchased a 40gig external(USB2) and a 160gig external (USB2) harddrive.I like the externals better because my data is safe there(unless its turned on).

Just last week I bought a "Hard Drive Enclosure" for under $50. I installed an old hard drive that I had laying around and Viola! an external USB 2.0 hard drive.

At first the only drive I found was an 8.3 gig (pip-squeak). I installed it and my computer instantly saw all the files. A few days later, I finally found the drive that I wanted to install, a 200gig Seagate. I thought it was messed up because my old (wife's) computer would not see it. It turned out to be the mobo.

Now, I can take my drive to friend's computer to copy and trade their mp3s. The 8.3gig would not do because I have 25gigs worth of mp3s. I haven't even copied my friend's music yet.

Here is a pic of the enclosure, it is extruded aluminum with a blue anodized finish. Yes, that is my desktop behind it. It was supposed to be a media PC but I liked it too much and it never made it to the TV.

[toypusher]

AV,

I have an external enclosure that I got from Newegg and it has my Dual-sided DVD Burner in it. What a great setup when combined with Ghost for making backups of systems. DVD RWs make it pretty good for doing the same thing that you are doing with your HD! Ain't technology grand!

[Denny Unfried]

Isn't it great how with the price of everything is going up that electronics are coming down? My first computer was powered by a cassette deck and when 5" floppys came out I had to have one at the price of $750 for just the drive. It was only single side/single density and held a whopping 180K which is about the size of an average .jpg photo.

Backup to an external hard drive is the answer and mine is stored in my safe when not in use although I also backup to a second drive in the computer.

Denny

[asianflava]

My first computer was powered by a cassette deck and when 5" floppys came out I had to have one at the price of $750 for just the drive. It was only single side/single density

Heh heh, being in high school, we learned to make those single sided floppys into double sided floppys using the old hole punch trick.

[TomS]

I remember the old days. Thanks to AOL and Compuserve, I had an endless suppy of floppy disks. They'd send me the free sofware of the floppys, I'd reformat and use for other purposes.

[Denny Unfried]

I remember the old days. Thanks to AOL and Compuserve, I had an endless suppy of floppy disks. They'd send me the free sofware of the floppys, I'd reformat and use for other purposes.

Before the Internet I belonged to Compuserve @ $6/hour. That was just text with no graphics in 1982. How things have changed (for the better) Still have my 150 baud modem and will save it for a museum.