Conventional Memories

This page is part of my Toshiba E.M.I.S. archive project, to learn more please visit the project page, Some of the files from the Toshiba BBS referenced here can also be found there.

Index

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Why won't my two IDE drives work together?

Assuming that the drives are attached to the same controller and they

work properly when attached one-at-a-time, you probably don't have

them configured properly for Master/Slave operation.

When operating 2 IDE drives, one must be designated as "Master" and

the other as "Slave." There are jumpers on every IDE drive to

configure this. Check your hard drive manuals for the jumper settings

for your drives. In general, it doesn't matter which is which - just

pick one as master, and make the other slave.

In your CMOS configuration, Drive 1 should have the parameters (heads,

cylinders, etc.) that match the drive you set as "Master" and Drive

2's parameters should match those of the "slave" drive. In operation,

the Master will appear as drive C: and the slave as drive D:.

Because not all hard drive manufacturers follow the IDE specifications

closely enough, drives from 2 different manufacturers may not work well

together. In this case, changing master -> slave and slave -> master

(along with the appropriate CMOS changes) may help. If it doesn't,

then trying two drives from the SAME manufacturer is the only avenue

you have left.