HI ,I need some help. I have a sony Vaio with 120 MB hard drive,my son gave me an external western digital 160 MB hard drive. will this work with my system and exactly how to I go about connecting and setting it up? Thanks. Motherboard ID 63-0300-000001-00101111-120803-SPDALE_G$MOHR2026_BIOS Date: 12/08/03 14:30:49 Ver: 08. Motherboard Name Asus P4SD-VX 512MB memory.Pent 4 processor
I'm sure that your external HD has a USB plug correct? If you are running Windows XP nothing else is needed for your OS to detect the external HD.
check this link. tho for seagate still the same for all hds http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/howto/install_xp_disk_mgmt.html
Thanks for your help,yes I have windows XP.Will there be any problem with the processor running this? Sorry I am not to sure about hard drives,I think that and a processor is the only think I have never replaced on a PC. So it will have no problem running this extra hard drive? thanks again to both of you.
Not at all. I am assuming that this external HDD is a store bought unit with some instructions on initial setup. It should function just as intended, as an extra storage unit for your PC and will show as another HDD under “My Computer”, once plugged in and connected to a power source. If there is to be any problems, it might be with USB 2.0 issues and with Windows XP and service pack 2, this shouldn't be an issue at all. Try it and let us know how you make out.
you sometimes get issues with the jumper settings on external hard drives. the way to fix this is too take them off. ive got an external hdd and windows xp will not recognise it with the jumpers on the drive, mines a maxtor
Are you sure, because I have various hard drives (different OEM's) and I never have them jumpered because under USB there is no specification that requires the master/slave configuration as it is all addressed independently which identifies the hard drive to the system?
Yes, I am sure. Again, I'm sure you will find that by removing the jumpers, the default setting on most HDD's is Master or more correct, Single Drive. You have three choices, Master, Slave, or C/S. Again, the default for most without a jumper is Master/Single Drive. I am read for battle on this issue... correction and edit... I am [bold]ready[/bold] for battle on this issue...
so than doesn't matter if jumper is on or not as windows will see the drive. just tried a fujitsu 4gig hd with jumper removed & my win98se found the drive with no problem!!
That is correct, with the jumper removed it will show as a master or single drive!!! [bold]Some people believe that since they are attaching another HDD to there system, it should be set to Slave and that is incorrect.[/bold] My whole point is that an external HDD in an external case should default to master, not slave. I hope that this is a bit clearer. OK baabaa... make fun of me now!!!! <G>
I have a question... Does the Usb board in an external HDD have anything to do with it's preference of how a jumper might be set???
i don't think so as the 4gig i tried out was g: drive & even an 80gig maxtor set as master was g:drive!
OMG, I am not making fun, I have just noticed that you spelt it incorrectly, but what I was laughing at was that you are ready to do battle.......... Infact you have just cleared up a major query I had........ What about external optical storage, is there any preferance there?
@ BaaBaa OK, here I go again, but this time, I am not going to commit since I want to do a bit of R & D myself first. I fear that I might be a creature of habit and that you brought on a point that I never really took into consideration before, that point being that it really should not matter about how the External drives are jumpered once set in an external case and not being on a ribbon cable attached to IDE. When doing a search on the web it seems that only WD drives default to "Single Drive" when un-jumpered. Maxtor and Seagate default to "Slave" so if this is correct, and some of you have un-jumpered your HDD's in an external case, that disproves what I have said earlier here on this thread. I've got two external cases of different makes and also a direct jumper from a 40 pin to USB setup that I want to test first, all with different jumper settings and with two different HDD's, one Maxtor and the other WD, to make a final post on this subject. Also, look at my posts and notice my or <G> suggesting that I am also kidding with you!
LOL, I was wondering if we were going to have a fallin' out...........but couldn't think why!!!!!!!!.......LMAO......... I am looking at Laptop hard drives, and these are not jumpered, so yes I do agree with what you saying regarding no jumper = single/master drive. However I configured one (laptop HD) as a slave, and this would be detected in windows XP, but not in My computer as I found that windows would not assign a drive letter to it unless I removed the jumper (making it a single/master). I think we are looking at this from both sides of the fence and pointing to the same thing........ Generally, an external hard drive must be set to single/master and not slave, in the case of 5 1/4 usually this may mean a jumper or not, but if it is a laptop, then no jumper required.
okay I plugged the power cord in and the usb into the PC ,it lights up but doesnt show in my computer or anywhere. it isnt making any noise as I assume it should when it starts. and no there are no instructions with it at all. any answers? as to what is wrong? thanks
thought I might add that this is a western digital WD1600B015-RNN which has been discountinued so I cant find any info on it online even. Thanks
