Finish Installation - Hard Drive BIOS Settings and
Partitioning
Insert Drives into Computer
and Attach Power Connectors
Carefully inset your drives into the computer case and
attach the power connectors to each drive. Do not use the screws to
attach the drives to the case until you have tested the drives to
make sure they are operating correctly. Check all cables and connectors
on and around the drives to make sure you didn't pull any cables loose
when you inserted the drives.
Boot the Computer and set drive
BIOS settings.
Now you are ready to power on your computer. Put the
Max Blaster software disk into the A: drive or use your Windows Startup
disk if you are configuring the drives manually.
Power up your system and press the delete key during
the DOS memory check to access your computers BIOS settings. Select
the hard disk detection menu item. You should see your current C:
drive settings under the primary hard drive master. Write these down
on a piece of paper for safe keeping and do not change them.
Go on to the configuration of the primary hard drive
slave. Your BIOS should auto detect your new hard drive and give you
its settings. If the BIOS correctly detects your drive it should report
the drives capacity correctly. If it does not detect your drive, you
will have to manually enter the correct settings for your drive which
includes the number of cylinders, heads, and sector of your drive.
Write down these settings and save them in case your BIOS is ever
corrupted.
Once your hard drive is configured, exit the hard drive
configuration area and select the main BIOS configuration menu item.
Make sure your BIOS is configured to boot off of the A: drive first.
Save your BIOS settings (press the F10 key and type "Y")
and the computer will reboot.
Formatting and Partitioning
the New Drive.
You drive will now boot off of the disk in the A: drive.
Those using Maxtor's Maxblast software will be able to format, make
partitions, and copy data from the current C: to the new D: drive
(and other partitions). Those using the Win 95/98/Me Startup disk
will have to use the "fdisk" and "format" DOS
commands to partition and format the new drive. Those using Windows
XP can use their DOS Startup Disk to format and partition their new
drive.
Should you partition a drive? If you use Windows
98 or higher, there are no performance reasons that require partitioning
of a drive. On the other hand, if you have any thoughts of running
a second OS on your computer, it would probably be a good idea to
make at least one partition.
Those using DOS or Windows 95 prior to release B, should partition
their drives in 4 GB or less increments. This is because these OSs
could not control cluster sizes.
Should the new drive be the C: drive? Since your
newer drive is probably faster and/or larger than your current drive
you should probably copy over the operating system from your current
C: drive when given the choice by the Maxblast software. This will
save you the arduous process of installing Windows on your new drive.
(If you want to keep your old drive as the C: drive, do not copy the
operating system to the new drive.)
On the other hand, if Windows or Internet Explorer
is running like a dog, you might want to skip this option and do a
fresh install of Windows on the new drive. <If you want to do a
fresh install of Windows to the new drive then there is no need to
set the new drive up as the slave. Configure the new drive as the
"master with slave" and the old drive as the slave.>
Either of these choices will require you to change the jumper settings
(new drive is "master with slave" and the old drive is the
"slave") and to change your BIOS settings again.
Booting Windows.
Once you made the choice of which drive is the C: and
which is the slave, and you have copied the OS to the C: drive you
are ready to boot Windows and to make sure you drives are working
correctly.
Remove any disks from the A: drive and boot your computer. Your computer
should now boot into Windows. If your computer never makes it to the
Windows boot screen, turn off your computer, and make sure all cables
are securely connected and that jumper pin settings are correct.
After Windows has booted, click on MyComputer and you
should see icons for your drives and any partitions you created. If
you right click on a drive or partition and select properties you
will see the size of the partition or drive reported in bytes and
gigabytes (GB). For whatever reason, Windows does not report gigabytes
correctly. A gigabyte is equal to 1,000,000,000 bytes. If you add
up the reported bytes, you will get the total capacity of your drive.
One or our readers solved the Windows hard drive capacity
difference, "One minor quibble. In the 'adding a second hard
drive' page you state that a gigabyte is 1,000,000,000 bytes. That's
not quite true (though often close enough for casual conversation).
Like most things computer, quantities are always in powers of 2. A
Kilobyte is 1024 (2^10) bytes. A Megabyte is 1024 Kilobytes or 1,048,576
bytes (2^20) and a Gigabyte is 1024 Megabytes or 1,073,741,824 bytes
(2^30). I think if you apply those numbers you'll find that, indeed,
Windows does report the drive size correctly."
In conclusion, it appears that hard drive manufacturers
report the capacity of their drives "literally" -- 1 GB
= 1 Billion bytes, while Windows reports the "true" capacity
of the drive -- 1 GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes which results in a smaller
reported GB drive size.
Finished.
Copy a few files to your new drive, if you haven't done
so already, to make sure everything works. Secure the hard drives
to the computer case and put the top of your case back on. Enjoy your
new hard drive.
Reviewer Comments on Maxtor 13.6
GB DiamondMax Plus 6800
Good Points. Overall I found the drive was very
easy to install. The install documentation was fairly straight forward
and the included software disk also contains installation instructions.
The included disk copying software is great for transferring your
system files over to the new drive. I like the large buffer of the
drive, and overall the drive performs well.
The three year no quibble guarantee is a nice feature,
if the drive fails the manufacturer will replace it. With a drive
failure rate of less than 1%, most people should not have to worry
about the warranty. The included Adobe Photoshop LE Software (retail
value $90), a light version of Adobe Photoshop, makes the drive a
great value for anyone who wants a good graphics package. With prices
this low for a retail drive kit, its foolish to buy a bare or OEM
drive.
Needs Improvement. There was no information about
the drive in the box other than how to install it. To get the specifications
of the drive, you need to know your part number from the top of the
drive, and then you have to go to Maxtor's web site to download the
product manual. I wasn't sure I had received the correct model of
the drive until I confirmed the product number at Maxtor's site (www.maxtor.com).
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