I got a HDD from work to install as a second drive on my PC. It's a samsung sp1203n. i plugged in IDE power cable and set it as the slave drive. but i can't get passed the windows loading screen . I am pretty sure it probably has windows installed on it to and was told it's probably conflicting with the windows on my other drive. So how can i either:

• boot windows off my master only
  
• or format the secondary drive
  

I don't have the XP disc so i can't use that, unless there is a download somewhere for this? i haven't been able to find any yet.

Quick checklist:

Either:
a) The jumpers on both hard drives are set correctly (i.e. the existing hard drive is Master and the new drive is Slave).

or

b) The jumpers on both drives are set to Cable Select and you're using the correct connectors on the IDE cable(s).

and

The BIOS of the PC is attempting to boot from the existing hard drive (the one with the valid installation of Windows on it) rather than the new one.

With everything set correctly you should be able to boot from your existing Windows installation with no problems even though you have another drive connected which has a Windows installation on it.

yeah, i have the master/slave set right, i saw it in the bios with labelled correctly. I tryed turning off the drive (i think i turned it off anyway) but still couldn't boot so i am running it currently with the ide unplugged.

try unplugging it via IDE, turn the computer on, and plug the IDE in (when the computer is in, be careful) and see if it comes up under a Hard Drive. Then right click and Format.

the ide cable has a master and slave connector. the master conector is at the very end and the slave is the once in the middle. you could take out your master and only have the slave. if there is an os installed you will soon find out.

Quote from imthebestracerthereis :

try unplugging it via IDE, turn the computer on, and plug the IDE in (when the computer is in, be careful) and see if it comes up under a Hard Drive. Then right click and Format.

IDE isn't hot pluggable so I would advise against doing this. If it was a SATA drive then you could try this (since SATA is hot pluggable), but not in this case.

Quote from dadge :

the ide cable has a master and slave connector. the master conector is at the very end and the slave is the once in the middle

This is only relevant if you're using the "Cable Select" jumper setting. If you've forced Master or Slave on the drive using the jumpers it doesn't make a difference which of the IDE connectors you use for the drive. That's what I was saying in my first reply in this thread.

@Benji, have you confirmed the BIOS is trying to boot from the correct drive?

Quote from amp88 :

That's what I was saying in my first reply in this thread.

aye i know, but you didn't explain which connector was which. (i had to read your post 3 times to make sure :s)

how would i do that? I seem to have a workstation bios, dunno if that makes any difference?

edit: i also have the connectors in properly too

Quote from BenjiMC :

how would i do that? I seem to have a workstation bios, dunno if that makes any difference?

When you enter the BIOS do you see anything which is labelled "Boot Settings" or "Boot Options"? If you see this take a look at the settings inside. What you're looking for is the boot order. The boot order is the order of places in which the PC will look to find an operating system to boot. An example boot order would be floppy drive first then CD drive then hard drive. You want to ensure that the hard drive it's looking for is the correct one (i.e. not the new one).

ok, btw after the windows load screen i get a blue screen with some writing. it says something about ntfs.sys and a page not found. will write it down next time.

Sounds like a blue screen of DEATH relating to the NTFS.sys which I believe something relating to the storage/HD so it seems you have a hardware conflict!

i double checked my settings and even reduced the new HDD to the very last priority but nothing

attached some images

Quote from BenjiMC :

i double checked my settings and even reduced the new HDD to the very last priority but nothing

attached some images

In the "Hard Disk Boot" menu ("Photo-0025.jpg") when you select option 4 (the new drive), is there an option to select "Disabled" or "None"? I'm tempted to think the problem is because you're trying to boot from the SATA drive but you've got the IDE drive on slave of the first IDE channel. It shouldn't be an issue, but that's all I can think of at the moment. Do you know what model your motherboard is and what BIOS it's running?

Also, your boot order has the CD behind the hard drive. This should be the other way around (so that if you were to put a Windows CD in the CD drive it would boot from that rather than from your hard drive). That won't solve your issue with the hard drive though.

mobo is an nForce a939 running phoenix bios

You have a 3.5" drive?
Download XP startup/bootup disks from microsoft here (note you will need 6 disks).

Alternatively use DOS/98 bootdisk and fdisk format etc.

If you need nothing on the disk, I would download Ultimate Boot CD so that you can Boot and Nuke the new drive. http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
This way you can get rid of the windows on the new disk and remove a variable in all of this. It's possible that the drive is still conflicting some how, but not sure how.

Maybe I'm wrong here, but by the looks of the 4th picture you put the new drive as slave with no master present. I'm not sure if that works for all boards as some are a bit iffy.
The master / slave thingy is used (IDE) if you have 2 boards on the same cable / channel.

i've tried basically everything. set it as master/slave booted with xp disc booted with just one drive messed with bios. i been on a trip around the computer . And my conclusion is, the HDD is fecked

Have you tried Samsung's testing utility?

is the drive working when it's the only hdd? (might try a install untill the point where you get to the drives partioning)