hard drive head ache

[RHall]

I installed a second hard drive, and am now getting a error message that states " unable to write to disk files and data may be lost".
I've run fdisk,format and scandisk and enabled large disk support. Any clues as to how to solve this?

[Mntsnow]

Did this happen Immediately upon installing the 2nd drive? Is it the NEW second drive that has the error or the original 1st drive?

[RHall]

The old Hdrive is Quantum fireball 5200 rpm The new Hdrive is a Western digital 102BA 7200rpm I bought this drive as is. No drivers
no nothing. I've been to the website and
downloaded the the tools but to no avail.
The web page displayed the jumper settings. but didnt match the pin array on mine. So it was trial and error to find the correct setting

[Mntsnow]

With what you said I'm going to bet that something is not configured correctly:
The web page displayed the jumper settings. but didnt match the pin array on mine. So it was trial and error to find the correct setting

You might also check to see if the Quantum is configured to allow a slave or do you have each drive set as master on their own controller? Which model of drives are both of them?

Thanks Dave for finding the correct link...I just couldnt find it!

[This message has been edited by Mntsnow (edited 07-15-2000).]

[Dave_H]

One of the WD pages in the support area that lists all the jumper settings is real confusing because it shows so many different models with different pin blocks.
This one should show the correct settings for that WD102BA drive.
WD102BA (http://www.westerndigital.com/products/drives/wd102ba-c.html)
Dave

[RHall]

I have been to that page and followed the instructions; when I set the jumpers to their settings, postup reads reads no hard drive as the master and stalls. My pin array has ten pins, their illustrations only have 9
The way the jumpers are set now is the only way that the bios will read it as the master which doesn't match their diagram

[RHall]

The error message appears upon starting windows and this drive was a newly formatted slave. I also tried to install windows on it as a stand alone, but got the same error message. The jumpers are correctly set.

[Mntsnow]

What brand is the HD? Have your run that manufacturers diagnostic tools yet?

[shadow]

I'd say if the bios recognises it then that's where the jumper should be. Does your mobo support UDMA/66? That WD could be set at 66 by default and if your mobo doesnt do 66 you'll get some nasty errors.

The WD software is what you need to shut off the 66, then it will revert to UDMA/33 which most mobos support.
Also try shtting off the DMA in Windows, see if it makes a difference.

Thats the only idea I have short of saying the HDD is screwed.

Yep, I just looked at the site. That drive will come with the UDMA/66 enabled, that's it's default.

[This message has been edited by shadow (edited 07-16-2000).]

[Dave_H]

I have 2 drives in one of my systems and they are WD102AA's. I just checked WD's site and they are similar to yours, but mine are 5400rpm.
I got confused here because the digram for the drive I posted above is different than on my drives. (I was inside that box this mourning putting the second drive back in).
My drives do have a 10 pin array on them. Here is the link, The pin out may be the same as how you want yours set.
http://www.westerndigital.com/products/drives/wd102aa.html
Note how on this drive, there is a different setting for "single drive". That really messed me up adding the second drive in the first place, I didn't check my existing drive. (You may find something similar with the Quantum).

I will say that I have had the drives at both ATA-66 and ATA-33 and am very happy with them, if your drive is the same drive at 7200, you should be very happy with it.

Dave


[This message has been edited by Dave_H (edited 07-16-2000).]