Installing a replacement EIDE hard disk drive


Tip
If your PC's hard disk drive is more than a couple of years old, it probably lacks the storage space you need these days. But you can solve that problem by equipping your PC with a hard drive that holds up to 1.6Gb.
Installing a new EIDE hard drive as a replacement is the most common PC upgrade, but it requires plenty of patience and care to make sure all your applications and data get safely moved to their new home. It's generally better to replace your old hard disk instead of just adding a second drive, and that's what we cover here.
1. Be prepared. Back up your hard disk. Prepare a floppy disk from which you can boot your PC (use format A: /s), and copy fdisk.exe and format.com to it. Get out the original disks for your backup program and for Windows 3.x or 95 if needed. If your computer is more than two years old, chances are you'll need special software such as OnTrack Disk Manager or a new EIDE controller board.
2. Pop the hood and the drive. Disconnect the power and data cables from the original drive. Remove and save the drive and the mounting rails, if any. Make a note of the new drive parameters (cylinders/heads/sectors per track). You'll find this information on the drive or its wrapper, or in the manual.
3. Add the new drive. Mount the drive rails if needed and the drive. If your new drive came with its own mounting screws, use them. If not, use the old ones. But avoid random screws -- if they're too long, they can damage the drive's electronics.
4. Connect the cables. Connect the data cable (bottom) and power cable (top). Make sure that the red wire of the data cable is connected to pin 1 of the drive's connector, and that the polarity of the power connector is right. If you have to force it, it's wrong. Double-check all your connections, but don't put the cover back on yet.
5. Reboot and reconfigure. Start up the PC with the boot disk you made in Step 1. If you're using Disk Manager, insert the disk and run the program. If not, enter the CMOS Setup and enter the new disk parameters if needed. Reboot and run FDISK to partition the drive. Reboot again and format the new drive (format C: /s). Reboot again sans floppy.
6. Restore your files. If your backup software is Windows 3.x- or 95-based, you'll need to do a basic install of Windows first. Restore all the files from the backup. Exit all programs and reboot your PC. Check out all your applications to make sure they're working correctly. If they are, turn off the PC and put the cover back on.
- Stan Miastkowski

Category: Hardware
Issue: Feb 1997
Pages: 177

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