Frequently Asked Questions - Maxtor Installation Manual

• A conflict has occurred with another device in the system. Verify the jumper settings on each device attached to the ATA cable, and try revers-
ing the order of the devices on the cable. Try installing the devices on separate cables, setting each as a Master device. Try the new hard drive
alone as the only ATA device attached to the system.

Frequently Asked Questions

This section contains some answers to questions frequently asked by our customers.
What is a BIOS Capacity Barrier?
The BIOS capacity barrier is the computer's inability to recognize hard drive capacities larger than allowed by the hard-coded programming
contained in your system BIOS. For example, your system BIOS might only be capable of understanding a hard drive capacity of up to 32 GB. If
you then attempt to install and auto-detect a 40 GB hard drive, the system will freeze because the BIOS is not capable of understanding the
capacity reported by the hard drive. On many systems, the cylinder limitation jumper setting on the hard drive and EZ-BIOS, which is a feature
of the MaxBlast II installation software, can be used together to address BIOS capacity limitations. Other systems may require the installation of
an Ultra ATA PCI card such as the Maxtor Ultra ATA/133 PCI Adapter Card.
Why do I need to format my hard drive? Does it come from the factory already formatted?
Many operating systems are available that each have their own type of hard drive format. Maxtor hard drives come from the factory with a low-
level format, but require a high-level format for your specific operating system to store and retrieve data properly.
Do I have to use the MaxBlast Plus II software to format my hard drive?
No, the Windows FDISK utility can be used to format the hard drive; however, FDISK is difficult for first-time users and depending on the hard
drive capacity, can take several hours to format a drive. MaxBlast Plus II features an easy-to-use interface and can partition and format a hard drive
in a few minutes.
Why did my CD-ROM drive letter change after installing my Maxtor hard drive?
The operating system assigns drive letters to the devices on the ATA/IDE cables, giving priority to the hard drives. The primary master hard drive
always shows up as C. Any other hard drives on the cables are identified as are identified as D, E, and so on. CD-ROM and DVD devices always
show up last in Windows drive letter assignments; you cannot change these assignments.
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