Guidelines For Installing Pata Drives - HP d538 - Convertible Minitower Desktop PC Hardware Reference Manual

PATA Hard Drive Installation Guides

Guidelines for Installing PATA Drives

When installing additional drives, follow these guidelines:
If using multiple devices, HP recommends that the devices be split between the
primary and secondary channels for optimum performance. Use an additional
cable to connect the additional device to the system board.
80-conductor PATA cable
18 inches maximum total length, 80-conductor cable with maximum spacing
of 6 inches between Device 0 and Device 1.
80-Conductor PATA Cable
Device 0 (primary drive) connector
1
2 Device 1 (secondary drive) connector
3 System board connector
For optimal performance, connect hard drives to the primary controller. Connect
expansion devices, such as ATA optical drives and tape drives, to the secondary
controller.
Install either a third height or a half-height drive into a half-height bay.
Install guide screws to ensure that the drive lines up correctly in the drive cage. Hard
drives use 6-32 standard guide screws. Four extra guide screws are installed on the
hard drive bracket under the access panel. HP-supplied standard screws are silver.
If only one device is connected to a cable, that device must be attached to the end
(Device 0) connector.
If you have only one device, make sure to connect it to the Device 0 connector. If you
connect it to the Device 1 connector, the system will not recognize the device and
you may receive a "no fixed disk found" error message.
B-2 Hardware Reference Guide