How To Install and Troubleshoot ATA Hard Drives

Do not drop or bump the drive.
Keep the drive in the protective anti-static container until ready to install.
Protect the drive from static discharge by wearing a grounded wrist strap. Attach the wrist strap to the metal chassis of your computer.
Handle the drive by the edges of the frame.
Do not apply pressure or attach labels to the circuit board or the top cover of the drive.
Turn off the power to the host system before installation.

For further information, please visit our Proper Handling Tutorial.

A Phillips screwdriver and four 6-32 UNC drive mounting screws.
A standard 40-pin ATA interface cable, or an 80-conductor cable if running UATA66/100/133 (max. length: 18 inches).
An unused drive power cable for your new drive.
Needle-nose pliers for removing or adding jumpers.

If your new drive can support UltraATA 66/100/133 modes and you want to take advantage of these faster transfer rates, you will need the following:

A computer that supports UDMA Modes 3 and 4 (5 for UltraATA100, 6 for UltraATA133).
A 40-pin, 80-conductor cable (available from your dealer). This cable is provided with current UltraATA hard drive retail kits. It can be identified by its blue connector for connection to the motherboard, grey connector for the slave drive, and black connector for the master drive.
An Operating System that handles DMA transfer modes (Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP).

Installation Procedures

Setting the Jumpers

Master or Single Drive - Use this setting if the drive is the only drive on the ATA interface cable.
Drive is Slave - Use this setting if the drive is an additional drive on the cable, and the original drive is set as Master.
Master with non-ATA compatible drive (Seagate® drives only) - Use this setting if the drive is Master to a CD-ROM, tape drive or other non-ATA drive.
Note: It is preferable to have the CD-ROM and other non-hard drive products on the secondary ATA channel.
Cable Select Option (Default) - Use with Ultra ATA cables. This allows the cable to select whether the drive is master or slave-based by its position on the cable. The Master drive goes on the black connector at the end of the cable, the slave drive connects to the grey connector in the middle, and the host adapter connects to the blue connector at the other end of the cable.
Limit Capacity Option/Capacity Limitation Jumper (CLJ) - This option may be required if the system into which the drive is being installed does not support the full capacity of the drive. If this jumper is required, your system cannot support a drive this large, but can be updated with a PCI controller card.

Jumper Illustrations

Seagate Products	Maxtor®/Quantum Products
Jumper settings for Seagate ATA hard drives. Note: This figure depicts the jumper settings for recent Seagate ATA drive families above 20 Gbytes. If you have an older drive please visit our Technical Library and find your model number for details on jumper configuration.	Jumper settings for Maxtor ATA hard drives.

Attaching Cables and Mounting the Drive

Locate a free device connector on the IDE interface cable in your computer.
Attach one end of the interface cable to the connector on the system board (see user's manual for locations). Align pin 1 on the cable with pin 1 on the connector. If using the 80-conductor cable, the blue connector should connect to the system board connector. The black connector goes to the Master and the grey goes to the Slave.
Find an unused power connector on a cable coming from the computer power supply, and attach it to the 4-pin DC power connector. The power connector is keyed so that it attaches one way only. DO NOT force it.
Mount the drive in either the horizontal or vertical position depending on your case orientation.
Slide the drive into the bay.
Secure the drive using four 6-32 UNC mounting screws. Caution: Do not overtighten the screws. Overtightened screws can damage the drive.

Configure the BIOS

For more detailed information, please see our BIOS Setup troubleshooter.

Partitioning the drive in Windows XP / Windows 2000 (for systems where this is the second drive in the system).

See the FAQ "How to install an additional drive using Windows XP Disk Management" for more details.

Windows 98/Me Partitioning and Formatting Instructions

Partition the drive using FDISK or other partitioning utility.
For more information, please see our detailed FDISK instructions or see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 255867.

Boot to a DOS bootable diskette and type FDISK at the A: prompt.
Create a DOS partition or logical DOS drive.
Select Create Primary DOS partition. To make the partition bootable, mark the partition as active.
Create extended partitions with additional logical drives, until the full drive capacity is partitioned. Note: FDISK may not show the full capacity of some larger drives. If you experience this issue while using FDISK you can partition the drive using the percentage option rather than capacity. For more information, visit our FAQ on this issue.
Formatting - Boot to the startup diskette and at the A: prompt, type Format x:, where x is the letter of the partition to be formatted. If the new drive is a slave, FDISK and FORMAT can be performed from within the operating system.

Loading Windows (for systems where this is the first drive installed)

Start your computer with the operating system installation CD in the CD-ROM drive. The boot order in your BIOS setup may need to be set to boot from the CD.
Follow the on-screen instructions.

Does the drive spin up? If it does not spin, check that the power connector and the interface cable are securely attached.
Does the computer recognise the drive? Verify that the drive is enabled in the system BIOS. If not, select the auto-detect option.
Does FDISK detect the drive? Run the FDISK program with FDISK /STATUS to verify that the drive is present.
Does SCANDISK find the drive defect free? If defects are detected, this may indicate a problem.
Is the full capacity of the drive being seen? Please visit our capacity troubleshooter.

If the above steps do not solve the problem, contact Technical Support or download SeaTools™ diagnostic software.

Proper Handling Tutorial - Includes information on how to protect your drive from ElectroStatic Discharge (ESD).