Cannot Install New HDD.

[ihaveissues]

Hi Guys
I am trying to install an extra Hard Drive inside my machine. Everything connects ok via the cables etc and I set the new Hard Drive to slave, however when I boot up my computer, (Having told it to boot from my existing Hard Drive), it just hangs or doesn’t do anything, then, thinking I have done something wrong, take out the new Hard Drive and then it has to repair my boot up.
My current HD is a WDC as below and the extra one I am trying to install is a Hitachi Deskstar HDT725025VLAT80.
My main HD is 64bit and is connected to the motherboard with a thin black cable into a little square plug and my new HD is connected to the motherboard via the long thin connector like they all used to be. An ATE/IDE I think.
What do i need to do to get my new HD to work?

My info is:-

Packard Bell ixtreme M3720
Windows 7 64Bit
4.99 GB RAM
WDC W064 00AAKS-22A7B internal hard drive.


System Information
Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Model Packard Bell ixtreme M3720 Motherboard Packard Bell MCP73PVT-PM
Processor Intel Core2 Quad Q8300
Processor ID Genuine Intel Family 6 Model 23 Stepping 10
Processor Frequency 2.50 GHz Processors 1
Cores 4 Threads 4
L1 Instruction Cache 128 KB L1 Data Cache 128 KB
L2 Cache 4.00 MB L3 Cache 0.00 B
Memory 3.75 GB 800 MHz FSB 333 MHz
BIOS AMI P01-A3


Any computer whizz any idea what I’m doing wrong.
Thanks for your time.
Ihaveissues

 

[Nibiru2012]

Your main hard drive is a SATA drive, uses a slender cable to connect to the motherboard.

The new drive you're putting in is an IDE PATA drive with a wide ribbon cable to connect with.

Two different styles of drives. You really should have gotten a SATA drive, faster and the latest technology. But if you're going to use it just as an extra storage drive there should be no issues.

Change your new drive to be read as a Master drive. The IDE and SATA interfaces are different so therefore you don't need to Slave the new drive, is should be set as a Master drive.

You can do this two different ways. The little black jumper piece on the back of the IDE hard drive may be set to either Master or Cable Select. It really doesn't matter. Just remember that if you choose Cable Select mode then you must be sure to plug the ribbon cable in with the end connector, not the middle one.

Also, double-check your BIOS and make sure it's not in AHCI mode for the SATA drive. It has to be in IDE mode for the new drive to be recognized, if I'm not mistaken.

Try the first steps I mentioned and see if it works for you before changing any settings in the BIOS.

 

[ihaveissues]

Well, thanks guys, after of hours I tried it with another HD I had and no problem, however the Hitachi I was trying it with was a no go as this came out of my old machine and there was an old boot record on it. . Is there a way to format the Hitachi from boot up into command prompt to wipe it clean, thus not conflicting with my existing HD. If that makes sense.

 

[draceena]

You might want to try Ultimate Boot CD : http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html Just scroll down the page and grab the .iso file and use a free ISO burning program like Free ISO burner: http://www.freeisoburner.com/

Then once the Ultimate Boot CD is burned, reboot with it in your drive (remember to make your cd/dvd drive the first boot and there are great tools for wiping and formatting your hard drive.