Trying to determine which hard drive should used for the master

Larkina · Post by **Larkina** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:49 pm

In my system I have 2 hard drives 1 40G and 1 80G both IDE Western Digital 7200 rpm. My 40G is the most recent hard drive in my computer, but whenever I perform an installation of Windows the C: always places on the 80G. Should I then be placing the 80G as the master in my system configuration and the 40G as the slave because right now I've notice that my operating system is located on the 0 Disk which is the slave drive with the 40G on 1 Disk as the Primary with my program files and swapfile etc. It appears that my system isn't configure properly. Is there a way to manually choose which drive carries the C: if not what should I do, go into my computer and let Window dictate which hard drive as in my case, the 80G should be placed in the master position?

Gary335 · Post by **Gary335** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 5:45 pm

The C: is assigned to the 80GB HD because it is currently set up to be your master drive. If your OS is on the 40GB drive, then I would definitley recommend that you change the setting on that drive to make it the master. To do this you have to physically handle the drives, so be very careful. Before touching the drives, touch the inside of your computer case to discharge any static electricity. Once you have the drives out of the system, you'll notice that on the back of each drive, where the IDE cable and power cable plugs in, there is a jumper. This jumper needs to be set to the master position on the 40GB (or whichever drive contains your OS), and the other needs to be set in the slave position. On the label of each hard drive you will see a diagram depicting how to correctly place the jumper. Once you have each drive jumpered correctly you will notice that Windows will label the 40GB drive as the master, and the 80GB the slave.

Larkina · Post by **Larkina** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 6:31 pm

Needless to say that I will no doubt have to reinstall my operating system over again right? Which if this will makes it respond better than it's responding now it will be well worth the effort. I was using a stripe configuration and it performed amazing well even though it's not configured correctly. I'm anxious to get started. Thank you very much for the help.

Gary335 · Post by **Gary335** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 11:33 pm

No, you will not have to reinstall Windows. Changing the jumper seting does not do any harm to the data on the drive.

Larkina · Post by **Larkina** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 1:18 am

Okay, I didn't know.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:18 am

Larkina wrote:In my system I have 2 hard drives 1 40G and 1 80G both IDE Western Digital 7200 rpm. My 40G is the most recent hard drive in my computer, but whenever I perform an installation of Windows the C: always places on the 80G. Should I then be placing the 80G as the master in my system configuration and the 40G as the slave because right now I've notice that my operating system is located on the 0 Disk which is the slave drive with the 40G on 1 Disk as the Primary with my program files and swapfile etc. It appears that my system isn't configure properly. Is there a way to manually choose which drive carries the C: if not what should I do, go into my computer and let Window dictate which hard drive as in my case, the 80G should be placed in the master position?

Which drive you wish to have Windows installed on...is up to you. I would base my decision on a couple of factors...
*Performance..which model performs the best. You state both 7,200 rpm..but one may have only 2 megs cache..the other might have 8 megs cache..depending on model. The 8 meg cache drive would perform better.

*Longevity/warranty/MTBF. WD is one of my favorite hard drive brands, along with Seagate. However..they both do make some lesser quality drives. WD makes an entry level model..the Protege, lower warranty, lower MTBF rating. The U-Series is the Seagate equivelant. WD makes a better model..the Caviar line, Seagates is the Barracuda. So if you have one of each..Protege and Caviar..I'd take the Caviar.

If a decision does require you to change drives...you don't necessarily have to spend the time to reinstall, you can use cloning software...for example, Acronic True Image, or Symantecs Ghost. Or often when you purchase the drives in a retail package, they'll come with a disk with their own cloning software.