New replacement HDD and a Page File Question

[lewiedude]

I just reinstalled Win8 Pro after removing my secondary drive which was, according to the pop-ups, failing and required replacement(couldn't be fixed according to said pop-ups). So, I reinstalled the OS to my primary drive which is a Crucial C4 SDD. Performance/speed is fantastic!

I went to go and duplicate my previous set up and purchased a WD 1TB WD10EZEX and went to install it, which I did, in a SATA 3 slot on my MB. Powered up the PC and DEL into the BIOS. The drive appeared there, but not in IDE slot 8, which was the SATA 3 plug that I used, but in the IDE slot 5 and it was listed as MASTER along with the SDD(MASTER as well). Confusing to say the lease. In fact, the IDE slot 8 didn't even appear, all did but that one. I figured that that was strange but ESC out of the BIOS and went into the Disk Management tab on a right click of the mouse. I was then asked a question about Page File, which I cancelled out of and powered down the PC. I then unplugged the power and MB connector from the WD drive.

Should it the new D:\ drive be a "SLAVE" and how do I get it to appear in the correct IDE slot?

Any help is appreciated as I don't want to have to go through what I went through re the reinstall of W8 Pro due to the "System Reserve" being on the non-OS drive.

 

[reedo_43]

There is no such thing as master and slave if you are using sata. Why don't you have a look at the manual?

 

[lewiedude]

Thank you for asking. I would, but am unable to locate it, even went to the Gigabyte site yesterday to download it and got a bad link. As for the M/Slave thing, thank you. What about my storage question regarding the avoidance of the "System Reserve" thing that created a really bad problem for me and forced my reinstall?

 

[reedo_43]

I will find your manual for you if you give me the model. System reserved will be installed on your C drive if is the only drive connected when you do the initial install.

 

[lewiedude]

Thank you and here it is. MB GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R

I was on their site yesterday and the link for English, America took me to a manual that was two pages english and then lots of other languages. Couldn't even see the diagrams/photos that I recall from my original manual. So, I just plug it in to SATA slot "9" let's say and when I go into the BIOS, if it appears, as it did yesterday(but in the incorrect slot) that is all? I don't exactly recall the Disk Management question I referenced above and should I repeat my steps for the install and get the question again, I will be certain to screenshot it for my file. Thank you again!

 

[reedo_43]

http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-x58a-ud3r_v2.0_e.pdf

 

[Paperdoc]

1. Do not get too confused by the "Master" thing. Some mobos use old terms and mistakenly misinform you. They say that the HDD on ANY SATA port is that port's Master, as if it were an IDE port. But it is not. In fact, as redo_43 said, there is no such thing as a Master drive for SATA ports, so just ignore that.

2. Windows normally sets itself up at the time of Installation with a Page File Enabled. You can change that later, and you can re-locate it from the C: drive to another drive unit. What MAY have happened in the past is that your system had its Page File placed on the secondary drive, that HDD you just replaced. So on boot-up from the SSD acting as C: drive, Windows will not be able to find the Page File. I suggest you do the following two-step process AFTER you have the new HDD installed, Initialized and operating:

(A) Go to where the Page File or Virtual Memory is configured, and turn it off completely so there is NO Virtual Memory. Windows will think this odd and ask you to confirm that you really want to do this. Just confirm it - you CAN run with no Virtual Memory or Page File. Back out of there.
(B) Reboot the machine so it is operating with no Page File. Now go back to where you configure it and set the Page File options to create it again. Usually you can choose which drive to place it on, and what size it will be. Set it as you wish, then confirm and back out. Now you have a properly-functioning Page File or Virtual Memory system.