Adding a dvd drive

Question

Can anyone direct me to a knowledge base that explains how to add a dvd drive to my XPSBR 8000 system? Do I connect it to the secondary slave or the primary slave etc... Thank You

CTskydiver · Answer

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dmag/rr.htm#5_25_inch_drive   I'd make it secondary master and put both hard drives (if you have two) on primary IDE (boot drive as master) channel. Message Edited by CTskydiver on 11-19-2005 05:17 AM

hwiguy · Answer

My main dvd is connected to secondary master now. I was not clear on that in my original message. Sorry. I have a new dvd rw that I want to install also. I am just confused about where to connect it on the eide cable. Do I connect it on the secandary cable and set the jumper on the new rw dvd as a slave? Or is it better to connect it to the primary and set the rw to slave? I have only one hard drive which is now connected to the master primary on the board. I hope I am not being to confusing.

Thanks for your help

Skybird · Answer

Connect your new drive to the Secondary IDE Channel with the existing DVD drive.
Jumper the new drive as Cable Select. With Cable select, the drive at the end
of the cable is the Master and the drive in the middle is the Slave (thus the cable
selects the Master and Slave).

Generally, but not always, the DVD Burner will perform best when it is the Master
(end of cable). To accomplish this, CTskydiver is recommending you install the
new drive in the top bay and move the old dive to the second bay. Effectively,
that swaps the drive positions on the cable, making the DVD Burner the Master.

Do not put any optical device on the Primary IDE Channel if possible. That is best
left for hard drives.

hwiguy · Answer

Okay let me see if I have got this straight. I move my existing dvd down to the second bay, put the new drive in the top bay, attach the secondary drive interface from the boards secondary eide connector to the back of the new drive, and designate it master. Next I connect the old dvd interface into the drive 1 connector on the secondary interface and designate the old drive cl. Is this correct?

Sorry if I seem to an novice, but thats exactly what I am!!

Skybird · Answer

You have it correctly, if both drives are jumpered as Cable Select.

Now, one more tip. Just before you turn the machine OFF to do this,
go into the Device Manager and uninstall the existing drive. Then
shut down the system and do the installation. This is good house-
keeping and will allow Windows to auto detect and install both drives
upon boot-up.

hwiguy · Answer

okay this is the last question, I jumper both drives to CL? What happens if I use both devices at the same time? (to copy a disk etc) Will the processor be able to seperate the drives? Will the processor be able to identify a bootable drive etc.........

Again, Thanks

Message Edited by hwiguy on 11-19-2005 05:43 PM

Skybird · Answer

No problem, the CPU will not care.  That is a common use when folks have two drives.

hwiguy · Answer

Thank you for all your help.  I will be installing this tonight when I return home.  I will let you know how it all works out.

Skybird · Answer

Everything will go fine.

hwiguy · Answer

Hello, its just me again. Well I got home kind of late so I have just finished. Every thing went just fine. New drive is D (dvd burner) and the old drive (dvd player) is drive E. Is this correct? Everything seems to be working so far but its late and I do not feel like fooling around with the software looking for glitches. I did play a cd in each drive to make sure of sound etc..

Thanks

Skybird · Answer

Well, it sounds like you did a good job.  Good luck with and enjoy the new DVD burner.

Storage, Drives & Media

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