Help please Is there anything I need to be wary of when adding extra RAM or anything I need to change when I do it, or do I just turn it off and push it in? Also how do I go about adding an extra hard drive?
ram slots have catches on the ends, push the ram in until the catches close around the ram - keeping the ram in place. easy. (and yes, any hardware changes should be done with the power turned completely off - from the wall) hard drive.. if you just want quick and easy storage, an external will plug in to a usb slot with no effort at all if you want it internal, and just for storage, you'll have to find out what other drives are connected, and what cable is being used ide is a flat cable about 2 inches wide, sata is a thin cable about 10mm wide if its ide, you can use the secondary ide connection if you dont have an optical drive installed probably best to get more details from you first before we go on with the hard drive
Thanks I've already got everything I need I think, it's an old computer from Dad's office and he gave me a hard drive with a bag full of connectors and wires. I've managed to connect the hard drive to my caddy, (which I'm well proud of! ) so I can format it. it, using cables like these. I want to use it as an internal one when it's ready though. I'd rather learn and do it by myself but would I be better off getting someone else to do it because I might break it? I thought it would be pretty simple to do
it is easy to do the top pic is an IDE cable, it should have 3 connectors in total, one to go in to the board (usually blue) one to go in to the hard drive with windows on, usually black, and then a grey one for the secondary connection (usually for a cd rom / dvd or a second hard drive on the back of the drive will be a jumper section. the drive with windows should be set to master (the plastic jumper will be over the pins) the second drive should be set to slave (place the plastic cap thingy over the slave pins) older boards have two ide connectors (or 4 if they have RAID) so i think connecting another drive shouldnt be a problem
ide cable: jumpers: if all this is starting to melt your face a little, you should take it to someone who has done it before, and see if you can watch during the process
I'm still with you, I think! I can see where everything should go inside the computer I think but I've one last question about this jumper thing. I understand that it should be set to slave because it hasn't got windows on it but I'm not sure which one it should be. The diagram on the back of the hard drive has 4 options for slave, they are "16 head", "15 head", "32gb clip" and "auto spin disable" ? I've just notice the warranty ran out in November 2000, it's old!
personally, i set all mine to 'cable select' - then it just depends where it is on the cable. saves confusion!
yes setting to CS will be easier - as long as you put the drive at the right place it should be fine the right place being the the one with windows (master) at the end of the cable, and the secondary drive (slave) in the middle
There are still the same four options for cable select too. When I got it it was set to 16 heads - master, should I put the plastic things so it's on 16 heads cable select then?
if you do cable select, they all need to be set to cable select. if there is a setting for 16 head slave, that will do - and leave the master the way it is (well, it should be set to master already)
... if not, 16 head cable select with the other drive set to cable select will work too just remember to put the drives in the right way - it wont damage them if you dont, it will just cause you a headache until you realise and switch them around
