HDD INSTALLATION AND SETUP

HDD Introduction Hard disk is the most popular storage device used to store various kinds of data in most computers. Hard Disk Drive is the mechanism that controls positioning, reading and writing data of the hard disk, which provide the largest amount of data storage for the PC. Although the hard disk drive and the hard disk are not the same thing, they are packaged as a unit and so either term is sometimes used to the whole unit.

Hard disk drive basic Hard disks were invented in the 1950s. They started as large disks up to 20 inches in diameter holding just a few megabytes. They were originally called as “fixed disks”, but later became known as “hard disks” to distinguish them from “floppy disks”. Hard disks have a hard platter that holds the magnetic medium, as opposed to the flexible plastic film found in tapes and floppies. Both hard disks and floppy disks use the same magnetic recording techniques.

HDD characteristic Capacity of a hard disk drive is usually quoted in gigabytes. Older HDDs used to quote their smaller capacities in megabytes. The physical size of a hard disk drive is measured in inches. The majority of HDDs used in desktops today are 3.5-inch wide, while those used in laptops are 2.5-inch wide.

Hard disk interfaces Interface is a communication channel between the hard disk and the system, which handles all the data flows that is read from or written to the hard disk. Below are some of hard disk drive interfaces: ST-506 ESDI SCSI IDE/ATA SATA

Drive installation and set up There are 5 basic steps of installing a hard disk drive. Setting the jumpers. Mounting the hard drive. Connecting the cable. Plugging in the power connector Configuring the drive

Setting the jumpers There are usually only a few jumper settings and they do not vary greatly from drive to drive. Here are the jumper’s settings you will normally find in a hard disk.

Mounting the hard drive The simplest way to mount hard disks into the system case is the mounting method, where the disk is screwed directly into a drive bay.

Connecting the cable and power connector IDE devices use a ribbon cable to connect to each other. IDE ribbon cables have either 40 or 80 wires. The three connectors are typically different colors and attach to specific items: The black connector attaches to the primary (master) drive. The grey connector attaches to the secondary (slave) drive. The blue connector attaches to the motherboard.

Connecting the cable and power connector

Assuming that, you want to connect 2 hard drives to your computer system. You have done the jumper setting for your master and slave derive. Follow theses steps:

Step 1 Connect the black colored connector to the maser drive.

Step 2 Connect the grey-colored connector to the slave drive.

Step 3 Connect the blue connector to the primary IDE controller on the motherboard

Step 4 After all of the data cables have been connected, connect power cables to all of the drives. You will need to push firmly to make sure that the power cable is properly seated in the socket of the drive.

Configuring the drive Before setting up the operating system on the computer, it is important that the BIOS settings are set correctly. To enter the BIOS, follow the instructions on the POST screen.

Step 1 On the POST (Power-on Self Test) screen shown, it says “Press Del to enter Setup”. Other computers may ask you to hit Ctrl+Alt+Esc, or hit F1. Press the button “Delete” on the keyboard.

Step 2 You should see the main BIOS selection menu. At all times use the arrow keys to navigate between the items and using the ENTER key to select the item. Select standard CMOS features and press ENTER. You should see your current C: drive settings under the primary hard drive.(master).

step 2

Step 3 Go on to the configuration of the primary hard drive. Your BIOS should auto detect your new hard drive and give you its settings.

Step 4 Once you’re done with the BIOS configuration, select the save & exit setup at the BIOS main menu screen and allow the system to reboot. Or you can just simply press the button f10 on the keyboard.

Step 4

Scandisk ScanDisk is a utility in MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows systems which checks and repairs file systems and bad clusters. It was introduced in MS-DOS version 6.2. Previous versions of MS-DOS supplied only the simpler, purely text based program CHKDSK.

RUNNING CHKDSK Double click My computer, and then right click hard disk drive that you want to check. Click properties, and then click tools. Under Error-checking, click the Check Now button. A dialog box that shows the check disk options will appear

RUNNING CHKDSK

Use one of the following procedures: To run CHKDSK in read only mode, click start. To repair errors without scanning the volume for bad sectors, select the Automatically fix file system errors check box, and then click start, To repair errors, located bad sectors, and recover readable information, select the scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click start.

RUNNING CHKDSK

THNAK YOU