Hard Drives work only as Master!

FlowiXx

Solid State Member
Messages
13
I had two Hard Drives w/ DVD-Rom plugged into my computer and they worked perfectly without any problem. Now, I bought new Hard Drive and wanted to remove my old one by placing this new one. I opened up PC, set jumpers as they need to go, turned on my PC, and then in BIOS it says that both of my HDDs are not installed. However I tried, I couldn't make them both work. Only if one HDD is set as master, without a slave, it will work. I unplugged my DVD-rom and set IDE cable from it into new HDD, and then they both worked. What could this mean? Is there possibility that IDE cable may be bad?

It is kinda like this:
First HDD - Master
Second HDD - Slave
( doesn't work - when I plug my Slave IDE into HDD, both HDDs won't work )

First HDD - Master
Second HDD - Unplugged
( works )

First HDD - Master
Second HDD - Master
( works - but then I don't have anymore IDE cables to connect to my DVD-Rom)
 
I had two Hard Drives w/ DVD-Rom plugged into my computer and they worked perfectly without any problem. Now, I bought new Hard Drive and wanted to remove my old one by placing this new one. I opened up PC, set jumpers as they need to go, turned on my PC, and then in BIOS it says that both of my HDDs are not installed. However I tried, I couldn't make them both work. Only if one HDD is set as master, without a slave, it will work. I unplugged my DVD-rom and set IDE cable from it into new HDD, and then they both worked. What could this mean? Is there possibility that IDE cable may be bad?

It is kinda like this:
First HDD - Master
Second HDD - Slave
( doesn't work - when I plug my Slave IDE into HDD, both HDDs won't work )

First HDD - Master
Second HDD - Unplugged
( works )

First HDD - Master
Second HDD - Master
( works - but then I don't have anymore IDE cables to connect to my DVD-Rom)

Regardless of what is actually causing this problem, I should ask this question. Have you tried this configuration:

1st IDE connector : First HDD - Master
1st IDE connector : DVD - Slave
2 IDE Connector: second HDD - Master

If this is possible considering cable length, it is your best option if it works. 2 HDD on the same cable will significantly slow down file transfers between the HDDs.
 
I tried that also, but won't work. Whenever I connect Slave IDE, Master doesn't work.
 
Did you properly set the jumpers on all the drivers to master or slave settings.

Have the master drive at the end of the connector and the slave drive to the middle connector.

Also try setting the jumpers to "cable select" if the above don't solve your problem.
 
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