Second hard drive

[Malcolm]

I am installing a second hard disk on my Compaq Presario
with the intention of using it to back up an image of my
existing disk using Drive Image.I am using a Maxtor 40GB
disk which is the same as the existing drive.The Maxtor
installation instructions state that if disk to disk
cloning is intended, then both drives should be
configured as master on separate IDE cables.This would
mean reconnecting my DVD and CD-ROM drives as slaves to
each hard disk(they are both on IDE secondary at the
moment).My problem is with the change required in BIOS.I
can see no way of changing the BIOS from the setup and
there is no auto detect option either.The Compaq
Knowledge Base article on adding a second hard drive as
slave gives the impression that it is detected
automatically.Would this also apply if I rearranged the
physical connection of the drives as described earlier,
or is there something else required?Also,what would I
boot from after making the changes.Any other pitfalls?
Thanks for any help.
Kind regards,
Malcolm.

[Menno Hershberger]

I'd be willing to bet that your Compaq WILL autodetect the changes.
If not, you can always make the new drive secondary master just long
enough to use Maxtor's software to clone your other drive. Then make it
the primary slave.

"Malcolm" > wrote in
:

> I am installing a second hard disk on my Compaq Presario
> with the intention of using it to back up an image of my
> existing disk using Drive Image.I am using a Maxtor 40GB
> disk which is the same as the existing drive.The Maxtor
> installation instructions state that if disk to disk
> cloning is intended, then both drives should be
> configured as master on separate IDE cables.This would
> mean reconnecting my DVD and CD-ROM drives as slaves to
> each hard disk(they are both on IDE secondary at the
> moment).My problem is with the change required in BIOS.I
> can see no way of changing the BIOS from the setup and
> there is no auto detect option either.The Compaq
> Knowledge Base article on adding a second hard drive as
> slave gives the impression that it is detected
> automatically.Would this also apply if I rearranged the
> physical connection of the drives as described earlier,
> or is there something else required?Also,what would I
> boot from after making the changes.Any other pitfalls?
> Thanks for any help.
> Kind regards,
> Malcolm.
>

Thanks Menno,
Malcolm.
>-----Original Message-----
>I'd be willing to bet that your Compaq WILL autodetect
the changes.
>If not, you can always make the new drive secondary
master just long
>enough to use Maxtor's software to clone your other
drive. Then make it
>the primary slave.
>
>"Malcolm" > wrote in
:
>
>> I am installing a second hard disk on my Compaq
Presario
>> with the intention of using it to back up an image of
my
>> existing disk using Drive Image.I am using a Maxtor
40GB
>> disk which is the same as the existing drive.The
Maxtor
>> installation instructions state that if disk to disk
>> cloning is intended, then both drives should be
>> configured as master on separate IDE cables.This would
>> mean reconnecting my DVD and CD-ROM drives as slaves
to
>> each hard disk(they are both on IDE secondary at the
>> moment).My problem is with the change required in
BIOS.I
>> can see no way of changing the BIOS from the setup and
>> there is no auto detect option either.The Compaq
>> Knowledge Base article on adding a second hard drive
as
>> slave gives the impression that it is detected
>> automatically.Would this also apply if I rearranged
the
>> physical connection of the drives as described
earlier,
>> or is there something else required?Also,what would I
>> boot from after making the changes.Any other pitfalls?
>> Thanks for any help.
>> Kind regards,
>> Malcolm.
>>
>
>.
>

[Alex Nichol]

Malcolm wrote:

>I am installing a second hard disk on my Compaq Presario
>with the intention of using it to back up an image of my
>existing disk using Drive Image.I am using a Maxtor 40GB
>disk which is the same as the existing drive.The Maxtor
>installation instructions state that if disk to disk
>cloning is intended, then both drives should be
>configured as master on separate IDE cables.This would
>mean reconnecting my DVD and CD-ROM drives as slaves to
>each hard disk(they are both on IDE secondary at the
>moment).My problem is with the change required in BIOS.I
>can see no way of changing the BIOS from the setup and
>there is no auto detect option either.The Compaq
>Knowledge Base article on adding a second hard drive as
>slave gives the impression that it is detected
>automatically.


In any modern BIOS it should autodetect. Having it on the other IDE is
only preferable (so that transfers can go on on both drives
simultaneously), not essential.

What I use for back up imaging like this is Image for Windows from
http://www.BootitNG.com ($27 shareware - 30 day full functional trial)

The compressed images it makes will probably work out about 2/3 of the
size of the original, and you can, with a suitable burner, also burn
direct to DVD disks

--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. (remove the D8 bit)