ATA/PATA...im lost..

[failurbydesign]

SO my brother wanted to upgrade his hd, well just add a slove, so i went on ebay and bought him this drive for like $35 brand new...

http://www.samsung.com/Products/Har...es/HardDiskDrive_SpinPointPSeries_SP0842N.asp

well bein the way i am without reading, i get the drive and it says ata/pata..now i did the wiki search about ata/pata...but im still lost. I hooked the drive up to my external case and it doesnt show. When i hook this up to his pc, will it show?? Im a bit concered now..any ideas? Oh his pc is an emachines t2862...

 

[X-Istence]

If you hook it up to your external case, check if it shows up under devices in the partition manager of the particular OS you are using, then format it appropriately.

ATA/PATA is straight up IDE connection. SATA is the newer generation which is Serial ATA. ATA is a specification, and it comes in 4 speeds: 33, 66, 100, and 133 if I remember correctly.

If you connect the drive properly (check if your external enclosure wants it to be a slave, a master, or a cable select and set the jumper) to a normal machine it should show up. If it does not you got a bad drive from eBay.

For around 6 or 7 dollars more, you could have gotten a drive from Newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144102) which has the same specs, other than it is a bit slower (if you need speed, you would be using SATA anyways, and 133 is not that much faster than 100). This would have also kept you from having a headache if the drive is broken, as you can just send it back.

Good luck.

 

[LeeJend]

What X said, and that is format and partition it to be seen by windows. If the guy who sold it has any brains he wiped it before shipping. You might also have to repair track 0 depending on what it was used for previously.

Thinking about it. I'd overwrite track 0 before using the drive since it is from ebay and virii can hide on track 0.

Samsung should have a track 0 utility or you can use the command line tool MBRtool (master boot record tool). Tread carefully with MBR tool it is extremely powerful (i.e. dangerous).

MBRtool /WT0 /DSK:0

- will wipe track 0 on disk 0, make sure you get the right disk...

 

[failurbydesign]

im so lost, its a brand new drive...and my pc doesnt see it when its hooked up through the external case....

 

[Shamus MacNoob]

It wont see it if it does not have a format so you need to use the disk manager and format it, for now hook it inside your computer then format it after that try inside the external case.