Dell 4500S Hard Drive Replacement

I have a Dell 4500S with a single slot for the existing 20G hard drive.

I have purchased a new 40G HD and would like to replace the exisiting
one with it.

My problem is that there is only one cable and the new HD requires that
two cables with both HD's set as masters before it will transfer
files. Now what do I do?

I have an external 80G HD, but I can't see how that is going to benefit
me, seeing that it does not have an OS and plugs into one of the USB ports.


Any help appreciated.

Richard

On Thu, 25 Sep 2003 15:20:46 -0500, "Richard L. McCulley"
wrote:

I have a Dell 4500S with a single slot for the existing 20G hard drive.

I have purchased a new 40G HD and would like to replace the exisiting
one with it.

My problem is that there is only one cable and the new HD requires that
two cables with both HD's set as masters before it will transfer
files. Now what do I do?

The HD does not actually require two cables with both set as
Masters... it is the optimal arrangement but not at all necessary.

So your single cable is connecting both the HDD and CDRW to the
motherboard? If so, just disconnect the CDRW for the time being. On
the other hand, if the drive came with a cable (as almost all retail
drives do) then just install the second cable. Actually, assuming the
motherboard does have two IDE channels/connectors onboard, you would
be better off to always use both cables, keep each device (HD & CDRW)
on it's own cable.


I have an external 80G HD, but I can't see how that is going to benefit
me, seeing that it does not have an OS and plugs into one of the USB ports.


Any help appreciated.

Richard

If it were me, I'd put the 80GB drive in the desktop system and put
the 40GB drive in the external enclosure, but that's just me.


Dave