installing Laptop HDD into a Desktop

Amprodude

Ok I have an old Laptop HDD that I want to install into my old Desktop. The Desktop I have is old (almost 10 years old but using it still). I was throwing away an old Dell Inspiron laptop that gave up on me a few years and decided to take HDD out of it and Install into my desktop as an additional drive. This is an IDE HDD so its old. The Desktop is old too (IDE era).

I got an adapter to fit the Laptop HDD into my desktop but after going researching it for hours on the net I cant seem to find any instructions on how to go about doing it. I understand that I need to set the laptop HDD to Slave and my main Drive with Windows on it to Master. I dont know how to connect up the Laptop HDD to Desktop Mobo. I see a grey belt with "Master" connected to my Desktop HDD and mobo, I assume I will be connecting the Laptop HDD to the Slave Part of this Belt(remember I have an adapter so I dont know if I need jumpers on the drive as well? dont know where they would fit? There is another belt connection the Cd-rom drive to the Mobo but I dont think I will be connecting up to that as far as I know? Correct me if im wrong.

I have posted up few photos to see. Maybe someone can guide me, I need to know also do I have the adapter attached to laptop HDD connected up correctly before starting off.

Thanks.

Amprodude

Here are two more attachments.

mordeith

Amprodude wrote: »

Here are two more attachments.

You should just connect the laptop hd to the secondary connection on the ribbon cable that's connected to the existing hd. You'll also need to plug in the molex power connector of course. Boot up your PC and enter the BIOS. If the hd is being picked up you will see it listed here. If so then you can go ahead and boot into windows. You may need to enter Disc Management to assign the drive a letter here but it may just do it automatically. That's what I'd do anyway but there are more knowledgable people on here

Soundman

If the Laptop drive still has an OS on it, you may get the option to boot from that as well I imagine, so make sure you would be booting from the main Desktop drive.

Amprodude

mordeith wrote: »

You should just connect the laptop hd to the secondary connection on the ribbon cable that's connected to the existing hd. You'll also need to plug in the molex power connector of course. Boot up your PC and enter the BIOS. If the hd is being picked up you will see it listed here. If so then you can go ahead and boot into windows. You may need to enter Disc Management to assign the drive a letter here but it may just do it automatically. That's what I'd do anyway but there are more knowledgable people on here

Is this correct before I proceed? This is the only connector I see that its near the main desktop HDD. Is this correctly connected?, I have the same colour wires corresponding with that of laptop HDD adapter and cable inside PC. There are 4 wires with PC connector, 2 with Laptop adapter cable.

20130502_134005.jpg

20130502_134044.jpg


This is the ribbon connection the main Desktop HDD to Mobo. I have attached the laptop adapter connection to the Slave connector of this ribbon. Is the grey ribbon and adapter attached correctly?

20130502_134116.jpg
20130502_134128.jpg
20130502_134409.jpg


Thanks

Amprodude

Soundman wrote: »

If the Laptop drive still has an OS on it, you may get the option to boot from that as well I imagine, so make sure you would be booting from the main Desktop drive.

Probably get that option alright. if I get to that stage I will be delighted as I know it will be working. Once I get it running, I will boot from main drive and get anything I need off this HDD then. Not sure if it will work but Il give it a try.

mordeith

Amprodude wrote: »

Is this correct before I proceed? This is the only connector I see that its near the main desktop HDD. Is this correctly connected?, I have the same colour wires corresponding with that of laptop HDD adapter and cable inside PC. There are 4 wires with PC connector, 2 with Laptop adapter cable.

20130502_134005.jpg

20130502_134044.jpg


This is the ribbon connection the main Desktop HDD to Mobo. I have attached the laptop adapter connection to the Slave connector of this ribbon. Is the grey ribbon and adapter attached correctly?

20130502_134116.jpg
20130502_134128.jpg
20130502_134409.jpg


Thanks

That all looks fine

Amprodude

mordeith wrote: »

That all looks fine

Booted it up and this came up.

I cant boot from a CD-rom even now.

Big or small Issue?

Took Laptop HDD out and PC is booting up Windows again so issue must lie with my connections.

maki

Amprodude wrote: »

Booted it up and this came up.

I cant boot from a CD-rom even now.

Big or small Issue?

Took Laptop HDD out and PC is booting up Windows again so issue must lie with my connections.

The jumpers on the laptop HDD are probably still set to master. Disconnect the adapter and look for some pins beside the data bus on the bottom of the drive.
There should be a removable bit of plastic covering two pins. You'll see some labels for master, slave, and cable select. Change it over to slave or cable select and you should be good to go.

mordeith

maki wrote: »

The jumpers on the laptop HDD are probably still set to master. Disconnect the adapter and look for some pins beside the data bus on the bottom of the drive.
There should be a removable bit of plastic covering two pins. You'll see some labels for master, slave, and cable select. Change it over to slave or cable select and you should be good to go.

Try this first anyway ^^
The error message that you get, is that before you get a chance to enter the BIOS? If not then go into the boot order and set the laptop hdd to be after the main hd.

Amprodude

maki wrote: »

The jumpers on the laptop HDD are probably still set to master. Disconnect the adapter and look for some pins beside the data bus on the bottom of the drive.
There should be a removable bit of plastic covering two pins. You'll see some labels for master, slave, and cable select. Change it over to slave or cable select and you should be good to go.

I cant see any jumpers on the laptop HDD. I dont see nothing there. I eventually found where labels for master slave or cable select are. Can I use anything as a jumper?, I could have had one in the old laptop but its now gone.

Here are photos, what can I do?

Amprodude

mordeith wrote: »

Try this first anyway ^^
The error message that you get, is that before you get a chance to enter the BIOS? If not then go into the boot order and set the laptop hdd to be after the main hd.

I get error message about a minute from starting it up. I went into BIOS settings but none of the two HDDs were recognised. Took out the laptop HDD and PC is working again.

mordeith

Amprodude wrote: »

I get error message about a minute from starting it up. I went into BIOS settings but none of the two HDDs were recognised. Took out the laptop HDD and PC is working again.

Try the laptop hd on its own to make sure its being picked up

maki

Amprodude wrote: »

I get error message about a minute from starting it up. I went into BIOS settings but none of the two HDDs were recognised. Took out the laptop HDD and PC is working again.

Have a look at the jumper settings on the other drive. It's possible it's set to "master without slave", or something similar. I think what's happening is that you have 2 masters fighting over the same bus, resulting in neither being picked up.

As for the pins with no jumper, you could try to bridge the 2 pins with a piece of wire or tin foil, but be very very careful. If you don't want to risk it you can buy jumpers on ebay for about a euro.

Amprodude

mordeith wrote: »

Try the laptop hd on its own to make sure its being picked up

I guess that is a good idea. Better test to see its working first before going further trying to get two drives working together. It worked last time laptop was powered up but graphics card failed along with other parts and it shut down.

So basically I would be taking out the main PC HDD and plug those cables into the laptop adapter?

What confuses me about the Laptop HDD adapter for the PC is what side of the laptop HDD does the adapter fit? Is there 4 pins available which are separated by a space? Trial and error with me.

Thanks.

jabberwock

Amprodude wrote: »

I cant see any jumpers on the laptop HDD. I dont see nothing there. I eventually found where labels for master slave or cable select are. Can I use anything as a jumper?, I could have had one in the old laptop but its now gone.

Here are photos, what can I do?

those 4 by themselves are the master/slave selection.
the 3rd pic is the layout that you use for each type.
iirc you want to use device1
you will need to get yourself a jumper to cross them.
if you do not have any, check the main HDD in your computer. there may be a spare one not in use since it;s already master device

Amprodude

maki wrote: »

Have a look at the jumper settings on the other drive. It's possible it's set to "master without slave", or something similar. I think what's happening is that you have 2 masters fighting over the same bus, resulting in neither being picked up.

As for the pins with no jumper, you could try to bridge the 2 pins with a piece of wire or tin foil, but be very very careful. If you don't want to risk it you can buy jumpers on ebay for about a euro.

Yeah I never looked what it was set at when I took out main PC HDD drive today so I will look at it tomorrow.

I suppose I better check and see if laptop HDD works first before getting jumpers, I know they are cheap but once I get it going as a Master Drive, I will then get the jumpers for it. It would be great if I knew it worked. having it as an additional drive would be brilliant.

Another problem is there is no place to put the laptop HDD inside the PC, there is room for another 3.5 desktop HDD. I decided to lay it flat on the bottom of PC compartment, it's not ideal but that's the layout of it. I won't be moving PC around and if I do I will be keeping it upright, so it can't bang around the place inside PC. Other than that it looks well covered but I may be wrong in what I'm saying?

Amprodude

jabberwock wrote: »

those 4 by themselves are the master/slave selection.
the 3rd pic is the layout that you use for each type.
iirc you want to use device1
you will need to get yourself a jumper to cross them.
if you do not have any, check the main HDD in your computer. there may be a spare one not in use since it;s already master device

Correct,

I see now looking at my laptop HDD that there is no jumper on device 0 so it must be starting up along with my main HDD as a Master drive and thus bringing up the error message displayed earlier. I assume its working but must test tomorrow.

Could there be a spare jumper on main PC Harddrive? Would it be located near the pins of the main PC HDD? I never looked today so I can't remember if there was a spare one available.

Thanks.

mordeith

Amprodude wrote: »

Correct,

I see now looking at my laptop HDD that there is no jumper on device 0 so it must be starting up along with my main HDD as a Master drive and thus bringing up the error message displayed earlier. I assume its working but must test tomorrow.

Could there be a spare jumper on main PC Harddrive? Would it be located near the pins of the main PC HDD? I never looked today so I can't remember if there was a spare one available.

Thanks.

I think you may be able to remove the jumper on the main HDD and use it to set the slave on the laptop HDD. The main HDD should still be seen as the master. (I have a vague recollection of doing this years ago with two ide drives)

Amprodude

mordeith wrote: »

I think you may be able to remove the jumper on the main HDD and use it to set the slave on the laptop HDD. The main HDD should still be seen as the master. (I have a vague recollection of doing this years ago with two ide drives)

I give that a try too and see what happens. Il post back again to see if I encounter more problems and see how I get on.

Thanks

Amprodude

Hi Guys,

Thanks to all who helped me here and advice and tips given

I got the 2 hard drives going. Both are now working. I tested the laptop HDD on the Master ribbon first of PC to see if it worked. So then I took the jumper off the main HDD and set it as device 1 on the pins of the laptop HDD.

I then went into BIOS settings and had to change the arrangement of how the two disk drives booted up. I have now got windows booting from my main HDD and I am able to access files on my laptop HDD as well.

Thanks again,

Very much appreciated.