Table of Contents
Advertisement
Appendix B. Hard disks and BIOS setup
The appendices below provide you with extra information on the hard disk
organization, how information is stored on disks, how disks should be installed in
the computer and plugged into the motherboard, configuring disks with BIOS,
partitions and file systems, and how operating systems interact with disks.
B.1
Installing hard disks in computers
B.1.1
Installing a hard disk, general scheme
To install a new IDE hard disk, you should do the following (we will assume you
have powered OFF your PC before you start!):
1.
Configure the new hard disk as slave by properly installing jumpers on the
board of its controller. Disk drives generally have a picture on the drive that shows
the correct jumper settings.
2.
Open your computer and insert the new hard disk into a 3.5'' or 5.25'' slot
with special holders. Fasten down the disk with screws.
3.
Plug the power cable into the hard disk (four-threaded: two black, yellow and
red; there is only one way you can plug in this cable).
4.
Plug the 40- or 80-thread flat data cable into sockets on the hard disk and on
the motherboard (plugging rules are described below). The disk drive will have a
designation on the connector or next to it that identifies Pin 1. The cable will have
one red wire on an end that is designated for Pin 1. Make sure that you place the
cable in the connector correctly. Many cables also are "keyed" so that they can only
go in one way.
5.
Turn your computer on and enter BIOS setup by pressing the keys that are
displayed on the screen while the computer is booting.
6.
Configure the installed hard disk by setting the parameters type, cylinder,
heads, sectors and mode (or translation mode; these parameters are written on the
hard disk case) or by using the IDE autodetection BIOS utility to configure the disk
automatically.
7.
Set the boot sequence to A:, C:, CD-ROM or some other, depending on where
your copy of Apricorn EZ Gig II is located. If you have a boot diskette, set the
diskette to be first; if it is on a CD, make the boot sequence start with CD-ROM.
8.
Quit BIOS setup and save changes. Apricorn EZ Gig II will automatically start
after reboot.
9.
Use Apricorn EZ Gig II to configure hard disks by answering the wizard's
questions.
10.
After finishing the work, turn off the computer, set the jumper on the disk to
the master position if you want to make the disk bootable (or leave it in slave
position if the disk is installed as additional data storage).
B.1.2
Motherboard sockets, IDE cable, power cable
There are two slots on the motherboard to which the hard disks can be connected:
primary IDE and secondary IDE.
58
Copyright © Apricorn, Inc., 2000-2007
Advertisement
Table of Contents
