Installing Maxtor 40 GB 3.5 Series HDD

[amstuart]

Hi:

My friend's desktop lost its internal HDD due to severe malware corruption. I am replacing the HDD with a Maxtor 3.5 Series HDD, 40 GB. Despite setting the jumper block to Master, the BIOS would not recognize the HDD. The ribbon connector from the MOB  is MASTER (I labeled it when I removed the old HDD); I set the jumper block to Slave and the BIOS reads:

IDE Channel 0 Master NONE
IDE Channel 0 Slave Maxtor
IDE Channel 1 Master Sony DVD RW
IDE Channel 1 Slave NONE

Highlighting Channel 0 Slave, the correct HDD information is displayed. Am I ready for installing a new OS (Windows 7) or is there going to be an issue with the HDD installed as Slave? I also tried a Seagate 20 GB HDD (jumper block for Master was easy--no jumper pin) and BIOS set-up recognized the Seagate HDD on IDE Channel 0 Master, so we know the ribbon is intact from the MOB.

Thank you.

Adam

[PCBruiser]

Hi,  Two thoughts.  First, try a different IDE cable.  The cable might be shorted out.  And, new hard drives use an 80 wire IDE cable, not the old 40 wire one.  That might be what the old cable is.  Second, connect the Maxtor to the other connector of the cable and see what happens.

Having said that, the other setting is what really counts.  You need to go to the Boot Menu in the BIOS.  Make sure that the Maxtor is set as the first HD in the hard drive priority list, and that it is set as the first boot hard drive in the boot sequence as well.

[amstuart]

Thank you for responding. Some clarification on my part. I pulled the HDD out of a Gateway desktop circa 2003 and cleaned the HDD with PC Investigator. There was nothing wrong with the HDD--just was not using the computer. Second, the IDE cable works with the Seagate 20 GB HDD and recognizes the HDD in IDE Channel 0 Master. Assuming I cannot get the Maxtor to be recognized as
IDE Channel 0 Master, are you saying that in the BOOT Menu as long as the Maxtor is recognized as the first HDD in the Boot sequence (first HD after CD-RW) I will be okay for this installation?
(i.e., the BIOS can be left with the Maxtor as Slave?).
Thank you.

Adam

[PCBruiser]

Hi, Yes.  That is what I am saying.  You assign the drive letter via the Windows installer.

Now, a couple of things about IDE drive assignments.  First, "Master" and "Slave" are unfortunate names.  The only distinction is which drive it is located where on the cable. "Master" and "slave" do not denote some "superior" position on the cable.  It is simply a way to denote which drive is which.  They could just as easily use "1" and "2", or "A" and "B".  Otherwise master and slave are exactly the same from a usage point of view.  Second, using pin configurations overrides cable position.  Cable position is only used by the BIOS if you use the "Cable Select" or "cs" setting with the jumpers.  With "cs" the BIOS uses cable position for determining which is which, with "master" assigned to the connector at the end of the cable, and "slave" to the one at the middle position.

The only thing you want to try to make sure of is that the boot partition is assigned the drive letter "C".  Otherwise, things can get a little confusing with the boot partition being another drive letter.  That will work just fine, but many software installers will automatically install to the "C" drive regardless of where the OS actually is located.  That is bad programming, but there it is.  You can make absolutely certain that the "C" partition is used by simply disconnecting the other hard drives before installing Windows.  Regardless of where the hard connection for the remaining hard drive is connected, if there is only one hard drive to install to, it will get the "C" letter.  After Windows is installed, just connect the other hard drives, and Windows will assign them other drive letters, and all will be fine.

[amstuart]

Thank you very much. I used the Ultimate Boot DVD to assess the Maxtor HDD once installed in the computer (no OS yet) and the HDD is healthy and partitioned. Since there are no other HDD's, Windows 7 should load correctly and be assigned to C:
on the Maxtor.

Thank you for your time.

Adam

[PCBruiser]

You are welcome.  I added the additional explanations so that anyone happening by would get a full response.

[Geoff]

Hi,

I am starting under this topic because the drive I am working with is also a Maxtor 3.5 Series 40 GB..

Problem is possibly a faulty HDD or a corrupted boot sector.  My old PC would not get past the Windows Start-up screen and kept recycling.  All of the trouble-shooting advice was to the effect that the mother board was kaput.  So I acquired a much newer PC and added the Maxtor as a second (slave) HDD.  The new PC then manifested the same errors!

It seems the newer PC has a SATA HDD and connectors for only one IDE or DVD Drive in addition to the fitted DVD.  And, the boot sequence defaults to the problematic  Maxtor IDE drive.  Short of paying big bucks for a data recovery exercise, any advice as to how I can get to "look" at the Maxtor would be much appreciated.

Oh,  the Maxtor contains irreplaceable family records.

Regards,

Geoff

[PCBruiser]

Hi,

I think what you need is something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156102&cm_re=usb_hard_drive_ide_adapter-_-12-156-102-_-Product

You can generally find them in any computer shop or on-line.  It is a universal hard drive adaptor connecting IDE or SATA hard drives to an external USB2 port.  Connect the drive that way. 

To use it, let the system boot with the damaged drive disconnected.  After the system boots, connect the damaged drive to an external USB port.  The system should see it and then mount it for you.  Then grab the files off it.  As long as the drive works well enough as an attached non-boot drive, this should work.

These devices are really useful to have for circumstances just like this.

[Geoff]

Thanks,

It looks exactly what I need.  Will try to scource one in NZ.

Geoff

[PCBruiser]

If you can't find one, there is another easy way to do this.  

Go here:  http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/ and download the Universal USB Installer.  Just click on it to run, no install needed.  Then follow the instructions and install Ubuntu 10.10 on the pen drive.  Next, boot to Ubuntu using the pen drive.  Once in Ubuntu click on Places in the top menu bar, then click on your hard drive.  Next under View in Nautilus (the Ubuntu equivalent of Explorer) click on Extra Panel.  Use that panel to browse to the drive you want to copy your files to.  Browse to your folders in the left hand panel, and right click on each.  Choose Copy to Other Panel, and Nautilus will copy your folders over.  Nautilus understands NTFS so you won't have any problem with incompatible drive formats.

Since you are booting to a free standing operating system on your pen drive, you won't have any issues arising from the corrupted Windows on the hard drive you are trying to salvage.