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Old April 9th 04, 09:19 AM
Dave C.
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"Pete" wrote in message
news:l9ndc.4090$wb4.3525@okepread02...
I'm a newbie to whole do it yourself computer building thing so I had my
cousin build my first PC for me. What I'm wanting to do now is add a

second
CD rom drive to it so my CD copying will go faster. Can anyone point me to
some step by step directions to help me with this? The drive I'm wanting

to
add is a 52X Samsung model SC-152 if that helps any. Thanks in advance.


You might want to consider a DVD-Rom drive instead of the CD-Rom. You will
likely find a decent one at virtually no extra cost over a CD-Rom. As for
how to install a new optical drive, here is how to do it . . .

1) First, open up your case to see how your current IDE drives are
connected. Your motherboard should have TWO (or more) IDE connectors on it.
If you're not sure what you are looking at, just follow the data cable from
your hard drive down to the motherboard and where it plugs in is one of your
IDE connectors (the other one should be right beside it). Now, what you
need to find out is . . . is your CDR/W drive on the SAME IDE cable that
your hard drive is? This is quite a common way of installing drives, so it
wouldn't surprise me. But your real goal is to figure out what type of
cable you will need (if any) to install your CD-Rom or DVD-Rom. If the hard
drive and CDR/W drive are running off the same cable, then you will need a
new IDE cable to add another drive. If the hard drive and CDR/W drive each
have their own IDE cable, does either one of those cables have another
connector on it where you could hook up another drive? If not, then you
will still need a new IDE cable, and it will need to be a dual IDE cable
(has three connectors, including the end that plugs into the mainboard) If
you need a new IDE cable, you can easily order one at the time you order the
drive, for an extra 3-5 bucks.

2) Ok, now you have the drive and the proper cable. Now you have to set
the jumpers. The jumpers are tiny little plugs (sometimes more than one)
that connect two wires at the ass end of the drive. You should see a
diagram on the top of your drive(s) showing how to set the jumpers. If not,
you will need to find documentation for your specific drive models
SOMEWHERE, showing how to set the jumpers. If you install the new drive on
the same cable as one of your current drives, then the new drive should be
jumpered as "slave". IMPORTANT: If you install the new drive on the same
IDE cable as one of your current drives, then the current drive will also
need to be jumpered as "master". That goes for any two IDE drives installed
on the same IDE cable, btw. One will be jumpered as "master" and one will
be jumpered as "slave". If you install the new drive on it's own IDE cable,
then you will still need to check the jumpers on it. Either it will have to
be set as "master", or it might be jumpered as nothing at all, in some
cases. (check the chart on the drive)

3) Just screw in the new CD-Rom drive or DVD-Rom drive. The screws and/or
drive rails you need to install it in the case SHOULD have come with the
case. Whoever built the computer for you SHOULD have passed these along to
you, and I hope you still have them. Your new drive might come with some
mounting screws, but that won't help if you need drive rails and don't have
extra ones on hand. These come with the CASE.

4) Assuming you've got the jumpers set correctly and the drive physically
mounted in the case, now you just need to plug in the power connector ( you
will find extra power connectors hanging off the back of your power supply
somewhere ). Then just plug in the extra IDE connector or add a new IDE
cable, plugging one end into the motherboard. If you are not sure how to do
this, look at the way your current drives are plugged in. DONE!

Note that your new drive may or may not be recognized by your computer's
BIOS. For Windows, it actually works better sometimes if your BIOS is set
to "none" for optical drives. So if you fire up windows and don't see the
new drive . . .
Enter the BIOS setup screens (hit "del" as the computer is starting,
probably), and set your optical drives to "none". But this step shouldn't
be necessary. I'd be surprised if windows doesn't find the drive right away
on the first try. -Dave