stupid question....

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Fanatical, Feb 26, 2007.

  1. Fanatical

    Fanatical Byte Poster

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    I'm picking up a cheap HDD drive onto which I will install Ubuntu to run as a secondary O/S to windows. Having opened up my PC I've just realised that the IDE cable for the HDD I already have is only a single connection jobbie. The DVD writer is on a split cable so can I just swap the cables over (providing they are long enough! :) )? I'm 99% sure that it's fine but thought I'd check just in case.

    It's a really stupid;y obvious question but the PC is jointly owned so don't want to mess it up!
     
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  2. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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    Yeah it should be fine, although you will notice a performance decrease if the DVD cable is only a 40 wire cable, instead of the 80 wire. If they both look the same then you wont have any problems. Make sure you set the master / slave configuration properly aswell.
     
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  3. UCHEEKYMONKEY
    Honorary Member

    UCHEEKYMONKEY R.I.P - gone but never forgotten. Gold Member

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    Fanatical - Since it's a shared PC, why don't you buy and install

    two HD racks

    They come with leads and mounting screws as well as their own case fans. It cuts down the time of taking apart the PC and swapping over the drives. You just put HD into the rack and with the carry handle insert into the rack mounted on the PC.

    Here's a picture of rack HD in "THE_GEEK"


    [​IMG]
     
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  4. Fanatical

    Fanatical Byte Poster

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    I don't have room to install such a thing by the looks of it. The HDD is mounted to the inside front bit of the PC case in a single slot/bay. It serves me right for not delving into the bloody case sooner. Cos it's shared i'm too nervous to tinker all that much with it but thought this was an excellent little project that I could do that involved lots of things I should be learning about.

    I also want to avoid spending lots of extra cash on somethnig that is basicaly only there for me to mess about with. I suppose I could try some kind of virtual machine but alas I'm not entirely sure how that works and haven't had time to research it. I'd prefer the hard installation anyways.

    In case you hadn't noticed.....:noob
     
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  5. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    If the cable for the CD isn't a 80 way then I'd *strongly* advise getting a new 80 way for the two HD drives.

    Some fast IDE drives can get a bit unpredictable if forced to run at a low speed.

    And the cable is very cheap.

    Harry.
     
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  6. Fanatical

    Fanatical Byte Poster

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    Cable is the same type on both as far as I can see so thats not an issue. I've realised that mounting the drive may have it's own little issue all of its own. If there is only one "slot" that the HDD fits into whats the best way of installing a secong drive?

    There is a spare bay above the DVD writer but thats obviously quite far away from the original disk. Could/Would I be able to slot both drives in this spare 3'5 bay some how or is their such a doohicky that would increase a single slot into two?
     
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  7. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    Usual way is to rearrange the drives to keep the cable short, and a 3.5 to 5.25 adaptor to mount the drive.

    Harry.
     
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  8. Arroryn

    Arroryn we're all dooooooomed Moderator

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  9. UCHEEKYMONKEY
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    UCHEEKYMONKEY R.I.P - gone but never forgotten. Gold Member

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  10. UCHEEKYMONKEY
    Honorary Member

    UCHEEKYMONKEY R.I.P - gone but never forgotten. Gold Member

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    Don't cut yourself up Fanatical, we are all Noobs to IT, I don't think anyone can say they know everything about IT.
    Becuse the industry changes every five minutes, there's always something to learn.

    I noticed on some of your other threads you were asking about motivation to study. Are you studying A+?
     
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  11. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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    AFAIK this can be done providing the BIOS supports it
     
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  12. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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    If you dont have the space for another HDD, then you could always partition the drive and make it dual boot
     
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  13. Fanatical

    Fanatical Byte Poster

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    Still studying the old A+! Going in for the exams by the end of march hopefully. I'd gotten really out of the loop IT wise and I'm determined to get back into it so this was like the best first step.
     
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  14. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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    Good luck :)
     
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  15. Fanatical

    Fanatical Byte Poster

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    Cheers buddy! Oh, and I bought the 2nd HDD drive to avoid partitioning the opriginal drive whichj I want to keep totally seperate if poss. Having not used linux or Grub I'm still wary of making wholesale changes to the shared HDD without experience...

    Here's another question, could I attach the 2nd HDD to the cable that has the DVD writer on it (the one that has the split cable)? I could slot it above the DVD writer then but I don't know how that works with assigning master/slave relationships. I'm pretty sure I'm using cable select but I'd assume I'd have to change to jumpers if the HDD's aren't on the same cable....
     
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  16. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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    Yeah, that shouldnt be a problem, just set the HDD to master and the DVD to slave. I tend to avoid cable select, its just an extra thing that can malfunction, i prefer to do it manually, but thats just me.:) If your using the cable select option, then its the position that you plug the drive into on the cable that decides if its master or slave.
     
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  17. UCHEEKYMONKEY
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    UCHEEKYMONKEY R.I.P - gone but never forgotten. Gold Member

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    Good point! I guess it depends on the MOBO?

    But will the USB HD be seen as a primary drive and the IDE HD as the logical drive?

    if it's USB drive will this be assigned the letter H drive etc instead of C drive?
     
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  18. Fanatical

    Fanatical Byte Poster

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    Well, I'm pretty much set on doing it this way. Put my new HDD as master and slave the original on the same IDE cable and then use GRUB on the new HDD so that I don't even have to glance at the original HDD for alterations to booting or MBR's etc.

    If this all works well and I find Linux useful then I may well buy a decently sized HDD and run that alongside the Windows one in the same configuration as before.

    Next task is to pass my bloomin A+!! :eek:
     
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  19. UCHEEKYMONKEY
    Honorary Member

    UCHEEKYMONKEY R.I.P - gone but never forgotten. Gold Member

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    Glad that's sorted mate:biggrin

    Good luck with A+:thumbleft
     
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