HD seen in BIOS but cant access it

[mikevan]

Just built a new PC. I put 2 new WD 80g harddrives in.
Recognized both in BIOS and Device Manager. But not in My Computer. It even saw it during WinXP install. The jumpers are set to master/slave and the 80w IDE cable is correct. I tried Cable Select, too....still nothing. Cant figure it out.

ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe
P4/2.8ghz
1gb Corsair PC-3200
2x WD 80g HD
Radeon 9800 pro
SB Audigy2 zs

[Confused]

The one with XP is seen isn't it? The other one, being new will probably show up under Disk Management as unallocated space. Use XP to allocate and make active.

Start > right click My Computer > select Manage > Disk Management
Chas

[Cricket]

With 80 wire IDE cables, the hard drives should be jumpered to CS.

Did you create partitions and format the drive through Disk Management yet?

:) Cricket

[mikevan]

Thanks. That worked. I didnt know i had to go through disk manager. Another question....I have it set master/slave and its working fine.....is it better to have it set to Cable Select?

sorry for the double post...

[Confused]

When I set one up I use cable select. It is the recommended method by members on this board that are much more knowledgeable than me. But then, I'm also a advocate of, if it is working, leave it alone.
Chas

[morriswindgate]

Master/Slave is fine. Cable Select using 80 conductor cables just enables the computer to see where the drive is plugged in. There is no difference in performance using it the way you are.

[glc]

The performance issue is still up to discussion, but if you ARE going to use master/slave jumpering with cable select type cables, you can't override the drive position on the cable with the jumper, the master MUST be at the black end, etc.

[Alfie]

The original configuration for UDMA devices,developed by Quantum was using an 80 wire ribbon,blue end to motherboard,black end to master,middle gray to slave,devices jumpered to CS(cable select) this enables the drive and system to utilize the udma protocal.
For best performance,the CS setup is meant to be the way to go,either setup will work.