Topic: Connecting an IDE HDD into a new PC

[Andy K]

I have recently got a new computer which has vista  .
It has an SATA HDD and DVD drives.

I wish to plug in my old 80Gb IDE drive so that I can either copy my data files over or leave in there as a data drive.

I have plugged the HDD into the spare mother board IDE port but I can't seam to get the BIOS to detect it.

I have the HDD set to master.

I have two cables to hand.

A very old 40 wire one
or a newer one with the blue and grey connectors

I have tried both.

Any tips ? Thank you

I have also fitted a 3.5" FDD. I have selected this in the BIOS, but I have no A: drive in vista.
I'm 99% sure I have it plugged in correctly. DO I need to do something in vista ?

[sam]

what motherboard are you running, just thinking that I heard concerns over certain motherboards not supporting the use of both IDE and SATA but I guess thats a fairly old issue now.

One thing I think you might need todo, I'm not entirely sure though, is to set the SATA drive as the SLAVE and the IDE drive as master.

[Andy K]

thanks for the reply

Oh, didn't think of that.

It's a foxconn G31mx series

is to set the SATA drive as the SLAVE and the IDE drive as master.

That's would't be much good for me 

[Sandra]

Andy

You cant set a SATA drive as master or slave Sam.

You need to go farther into the bios, possibly advanced or onboard peripherals, I am not sure which it is in your bios.

With mixed SATA and IDE motherboards theres usually an option to run SATA as PATA and that should then detect the IDE drive, at the moment I dont think the mobo is enabled to support the IDE controller bcause of how its set up in bios.

If you cant see the option let me know and I will try and find the manual and see if I can tell you exactly where to find it

[sam]

You cant set a SATA drive as master or slave Sam.

Of course, sorry about that, I wasn't thinking properly!

Oh and I think this is where the motherboard manual can be found - http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Motherboards/detail_overview.aspx?id=en-us0000345

[Sandra]

Thanks for the link Sam.

I have had a look at the manual and the bit you need is in the Integrated Peripherals press enter on the OnChip IDE Device. Unfortunately the manual doesnt show any options after that so if you cant see something to enable the IDE controller in there please do a pic of what the options are.

[Andy K]

Thanks for the help and welcome.

I will have a look later.

[TR]

If all else fails..this is what I used when I had the same problem 

Ide to Sata adaptor   

[Andy K]

 

Thanks so much. It's working !!!!  I can read files off the HDD

I also found the FDD controller enable/disable option so that is working too

I feel such a fool for not having a further look around the bios. 

I notice there are two options I am interested in

Combined - 2 IDE drives on each channel
Enhanced - 6 IDE drives

I have it set on combined.

Working with newer cable with the blue and grey connectors. Any tips on which cable I should use ?
Not too bothered about the speed, just don't want to drive corrupted.

[Sandra]

No need to feel foolish Andy, we all have been there and done that as they say

Not sure of the difference between the combined or enhanced, I would guess that the enhanced is for something to do with running SATA drives as PATA (or IDE) as I said earlier but I am not 100% certain. If it seems to be working ok then I would leave it alone 

The newer type of ribbon cable for the IDE devices is the 80 wire type as opposed to the earlier 40 wire type. The extra wires are earths so I dont really know why they make such a dfference but they do especially, as I have noticed, on some DVD writers.
I usually put the blue end in the mobo connector just because there is usually a blue connector on one of the IDE ports, usually the primary one, and because theres usually more distance between that end of the cable and the other two connectors which makes it easier to connect the other end to either 2 hard drives or 2 CD/DVD writers.
Again its not essential but its common practice to use the primary IDE channel for the hard drive, especially if its the boot drive.