Adding hard drive to acer aspire t180

[booj]

Hello; I have an Acer Aspire T 180 with 160 GB Hard drive running Vista Basic. I already have added a external WD Hdd which I use for backups. I was needing more space in the computer and I purchased a Hitachi SATA 1TB HDD. I mounted it in the computer and got my BIOS screen. It found all my hard drives, however it was showing my original as "master" and also my new as "master" I saw no way to make the new HDD a slave. I did set to boot up from the original hdd. Can you help?

 

[house70]

Does it boot after setting it up as you said? Because SATA disks do not have a classic jumper to set as master/slave. But if it boots, then you should have no issues.

 

[booj]

Does it boot after setting it up as you said? Because SATA disks do not have a classic jumper to set as master/slave. But if it boots, then you should have no issues.

Hello; I tried again this morning, reconnected new HDD and got into BIOS/CMOS setup. I did the detect hdd and left the setting for which drive to boot from on the original. Did save and exit. The computer started to boot up, first got black screen with graph bar and it just sat there. My new hard drive does a beep, click, click and keeps repeating. after about 10 min. I got my login in screen. Was able to log in and finish booting up. Went into computer, manage and disk management. The new drive does not appear in there. I shut down and disconnected the new drive, but left it in the tray. I only have 2 SATA ports on the mother board and I used the available one for the new drive. The whole time I was booting etc. the new drive or something kept beeping, click, click?

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong in the BIOS/CMOS setup. I'd appreciate any help.

I've added RAM 3 times before and never encountered a problem with the setup.

Thanks, Booj

 

[house70]

Sounds like an issue with this particular HDD. Your system is booting up, so that's the good news. If you have an external enclosure, or one that you can borrow, try to connect the drive after the system finished booting via an USB port. If not, repeat the process you just described and after you get to the desktop you can try do the following:
-go online and download Killdisk. Is a low-level format utility that "zeroes" the HDD. Run that utility on the new HDD (make sure you select the correct one, you don't want to run it on the system drive), then format it in NTFS. You can install killdisk on your PC or, even better, you can download a bootable CD image that you can burn a CD from; disconnect the system HDD and leave the new HDD connected, then boot PC from Killdisk CD, and do a zeroing on it. Then you can format it as you wish and give it a try. If still not working and giving you that click noise, it may be that the HDD is bad.
One more thing, make sure the PSU can support the new HDD in addition to your old configuration. Sometimes these OEM systems are spec'd to the limit, and any new component will exceed the PSU's capacity.

 

[booj]

Sounds like an issue with this particular HDD. Your system is booting up, so that's the good news. If you have an external enclosure, or one that you can borrow, try to connect the drive after the system finished booting via an USB port. If not, repeat the process you just described and after you get to the desktop you can try do the following:
-go online and download Killdisk. Is a low-level format utility that "zeroes" the HDD. Run that utility on the new HDD (make sure you select the correct one, you don't want to run it on the system drive), then format it in NTFS. You can install killdisk on your PC or, even better, you can download a bootable CD image that you can burn a CD from; disconnect the system HDD and leave the new HDD connected, then boot PC from Killdisk CD, and do a zeroing on it. Then you can format it as you wish and give it a try. If still not working and giving you that click noise, it may be that the HDD is bad.
One more thing, make sure the PSU can support the new HDD in addition to your old configuration. Sometimes these OEM systems are spec'd to the limit, and any new component will exceed the PSU's capacity.

Hello again; I tried reconnecting the new hdd again and went into BIOS. The new hdd wasn't detected at all now. Perhaps the new SATA cable I purchased is now bad. I disconnected the drive then and tried to reboot, that failed. I got a message to run my recovery disk. I placed it in the drive but it wanted me to format, I knew all my data would be lost so I declined and did cancel. After that the computer did boot up again. I haven't tried shutting it down since then so I'm not sure if I'll still have the boot up problem.

I think I'll pursue getting another sata cable and see if that's the problem.

The other settings in BIOS are: Raid config enable = disabled, sata 1 primary= disabled, sata 1 secondary = disabled. I didn't change any thing there, that's what I found. Serial ATA= all enabled. IDE function; on chip, enabled Primary master p 10= auto, primary slave p 10= auto, primary master udma = auto, primary slave udma = auto.

I also contacted ACER, to find out if there were any limits on adding a 2nd HDD. I told them what kind , type and size and they stated there should be no problems with what I had selected.

I still feel that the first time I entered BIOS, the new hdd was detected, but I did nothing with it because of my confusion with master/slave. I disconnected it then and maybe the sata connector got damaged. Maybe their very fragile.

Waiting to hear from you again, Thanks, booj

 

[house70]

If you plan to leave PC on for further testing, do not connect the HDD to the mobo, you risk damaging the mobo. Use an enclosure as mentioned before.

 

[booj]

If you plan to leave PC on for further testing, do not connect the HDD to the mobo, you risk damaging the mobo. Use an enclosure as mentioned before.

Hello again; I tested my sata cable this morning and I have continuity on all 7 contacts. I have presently removed the new hdd again and put it in the box it came in.

This was a "bare" drive, does that have anything to do with the installation?

There's no one around here with a hard drive enclosure. I'm thinking of ordering one online, or perhaps a new hard drive docking station with access ports for 2.5 and 3.5 size.

One thing that puzzles me is the beeping, click, click sound that never would stop while trying to install the new hdd. The sound stops when I disconnect that new drive?

Does anything have to be set or enabled in RAID Config? Presently it's shown in BIOS as : Enable= disabled, Sata 1 primary and secondary both disabled?

Thanks, Booj

 

[house70]

The default settings of the BIOS should work fine.
I use a Thermaltake Blacx docking for HDDs. It works for 2.5 and 3.5 SATA disks. Best thing since sliced bread. I can swap disks like there is no tomorrow.
That beeping click that you hear might be coming from a defective HDD, could have been damaged in transit. Doesn't take much of a bump/drop to do it.
Bare drive, usually means OEM, it's the drive only, no extras, like cables and such. Should have nothing to do with it, IF the drive is healthy.

 

[booj]

The default settings of the BIOS should work fine.
I use a Thermaltake Blacx docking for HDDs. It works for 2.5 and 3.5 SATA disks. Best thing since sliced bread. I can swap disks like there is no tomorrow.
That beeping click that you hear might be coming from a defective HDD, could have been damaged in transit. Doesn't take much of a bump/drop to do it.
Bare drive, usually means OEM, it's the drive only, no extras, like cables and such. Should have nothing to do with it, IF the drive is healthy.

Hello; I received my hard drive dock today, but the new drive won't work with that either, just "beep, click, click. I contacted Hitachi about it, and they responded immediately "The drive is defective". I've arranged a RMA to ship back and get a replacement, will have to wait and see how long that whole process will take.

I'll let you know when I get it back and try the install again.

Thanks, Booj

 

[booj]

I received my replacement hard drive and I tried it first in my new hard drive dock. This drive is doing the same thing, "Beep, click, click. It's spinning up but other than that nothing. Will not appear in disk management, tried install in desktop, not recognized in BIOS. So at this point in time, I don't know if the new dock could be defective also. I shipped the replacement hard drive back yesterday, now just waiting for refund and shipping cost adjustment.

I'm keeping my eyes open for another sale on hdd's, so I will be trying again. It will definitely be a different brand this time.

 

[house70]

bad batch of drives?... anything is possible. Sorry about that.

 

[booj]

Hello; After returning 2 new drives, I found a Seagate Barracuda 1TB on sale and ordered that. Well, it arrived today and needless to say I was actually afraid to try it.

I plugged it into my new dock, and walla, it showed right up in disk management. I then installed it in my desktop and did startup. My BIOS didn't come up at all, but the computer continued to boot up. I let it finish and then went into disk management. Did the initializing and quick format and started to partition the new drive. It sure feels great when a new drive doesn't malfunction. The 2 returns I had to do, I complained to the provider and they covered the 2 shipping costs and also refunding the original purchase price.

Thanks for your assistance.

 

[house70]

It was a good guess, then. Glad it all worked out.

 

[booj]

Now I'm working with the partitioning and want to copy a section from my older drive to the new one.
If I run into a problem, I'll let you know.

Take care

 

[booj]

Best answer selected by booj.