How to Install and Troubleshoot ATA Hard Drives (also known as Parallel ATA, PATA or IDE hard drives)

Proper Drive Handling
 

• 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 Article ID: 194611 Online Resource Center outline - Proper Handling Guide Table of Contents.

What you need

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

UltraATA 66/100 Considerations
If your new drive can support UltraATA 66/100 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).
• A 40-pin, 80-conductor cable (available from your dealer).
• An Operating System that handles DMA transfer modes (Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP/Vista).

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 - Use this if the drive is Master to a CD-ROM, tape drive or other non-ATA drive.
   It is preferred 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 allow the cable to select if the drive is master or slave based on the position on the cable. The Master drive goes on the black connector at the end of the cable, the slave drive connects to the gray connector in the middle and the host adapter connects to the blue connector at the other end of the cable.
• Limit Capacity Option - This option may be required if the system the drive is being installing into does not support the full capacity of the drive. This will limit the drive to 32 GB.

The figures below depicts the jumper settings for the U-Series and Barracuda ATA drive families (most Seagate ATA drives above 20 GBytes), and Maxtor hard drives respectively. If you have an older Seagate or Maxtor drive please visit our Technical Library and find your model number for details on jumper configuration.

Seagate ATA Jumpers:

Maxtor / Quantum Jumpers:

Attaching Cables and Mounting the Drive

1. Locate a free device connector on the IDE interface cable in your computer.
2. 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 Gray goes to the Slave.
3. 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.
4. Mount the drive in either the horizontal or vertical position depending on your case orientation.
5. Slide the drive into the bay.
6. Secure the drive using four 6-32 UNC mounting screws. 
   Do not overtighten the screws. Overtightened screws can damage the drive.

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

1. Run the system setup program.
2. Enable LBA mode and UDMA mode, if applicable.
3. Select the auto-detect option.
4. Save and exit the system setup program.

To create and format a partition (volume) in Vista and Windows 7 (where this is the 2nd drive in the system) see the following:
Create and format a hard disk partition

Partitioning the drive in Windows 2000 / XP (for systems where this is the 2nd drive in the system).

1. Boot into Windows.
2. Open Computer Management and select Disk Management.
3. Initialize the drive.
4. Partition the drive.
5. Format the drive.
6. Assign the drive letter.
7. Initiate changes.

 For more detailed information on using Disk Management to add an additional drive, see Answer ID: 199419 How to install an additional hard drive using Windows XP/2000 Disk Management, or Answer ID: 202291 How do I install, format, and partition my internal PATA or SATA drive in Windows Vista?.

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 in Answer ID: 196151 How to use FDISK, FORMAT, and SYS to setup a new Seagate ATA drive .

1. Boot to DOS bootable diskette and type FDISK at the A: prompt.
2. Create a DOS partition or logical DOS drive.
3. Select Create Primary DOS partition. To make the partition bootable, mark the partition as active.
4. Create extended partitions with additional logical drives until the full drive capacity is partitioned.
   
    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, see Answer ID: 196159 Why does FDISK not recognize the full capacity of disc drives over 68 GB?
    
5. 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 accomplished from within the operating system.

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

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

Troubleshooting

1. Does the drive spin up? If it does not spin, check that the power connector and the interface cable are securely attached.
2. Does the computer recognize the drive? Verify the drive is enabled in system BIOS. If not, select the auto-detect option.
3. Does FDISK detect the drive? Run the FDISK program with FDISK /STATUS to verify the drive is present.
4. Does SCANDISK find the drive defect free? If defects are detected, this may indicate a problem.
5. Is the full capacity of the drive being seen? Verify the BIOS has auto-detected and LBA mode is enabled. If your BIOS has a limitation, Windows 2000, XP, and Vista can bypass this limitation, though 2000 and XP will need to have the most recent Service Packs from Microsoft installed.

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

Other related links

• Online Resource Center outline - Proper Handling Guide Table of Contents - Includes information on how to protect your drive from ElectroStatic Discharge (ESD).
• Answer ID: 196299 Graphical depiction of ATA jumper settings for current Seagate ATA hard drives
• ATA Troubleshooter