For a certain operating system to boot, it is necessary to perform the hard disk configuration. If you don't know how to do it, in this article we will show you how to do it effectively.
Hard disk configuration and operating system boot.
Hard drive configuration
A hard disk is an easy-to-install magnetic storage device, which does not need a constant supply of energy to preserve information. Keep reading so you know how to do the hard disk configuration correctly.
First of all, it is necessary to mention that the hard disk configuration it depends on the position in which the jumpers are located. In this regard, it must be clarified that a jumper is the element responsible for assigning the roles of master and slave of ATA / IDE devices, so the hard disk controller knows which device it has to send the information to.
In the case of the Serial ATA (SATA) interface, jumpers are not necessary, since each disk has its own data cable. In other words, all devices behave as masters and never as slaves.
In this regard, it should be mentioned that to configure the hard disk under this interface, two cables are required, an electrical connector and a seven-wire data connector. The latter will be used in the following way: two as a means to send data in both directions, two to indicate the reception of the information and three to establish itself as ground.
Types of hard drive configuration
Thus, in general terms, there are three ways to perform the hard disk configuration, all related to the ATA / IDE interface. These are:
Teacher
This way of configuring a hard disk is also often called a master configuration. Basically, it consists of the existence of a main device that takes precedence when starting the operating system.
In this way, if there is any other device involved in the ATA / IDE interface, it is necessarily bound to be a slave. In the following video you can see the entire process necessary to connect a master type hard drive.
Slave
La hard disk configuration slave or slave is optimal for a secondary device, as it refers to the case in which there is already a device that was selected as the master.
Cable selection
To this kind of hard disk configuration It is also known under the name of cable select. The selection of the roles under this modality depends on the location of the devices with respect to the cable.
In other words, if there is only one device, it must be located in the position that corresponds to the Master. On the other hand, it is important to note that while one device is in use, the other must remain inactive, that is, it cannot be used.
However, it is important to clarify that new computers automatically recognize the disks that are installed. Additionally, they allow the placement of up to four hard drives, namely: primary master, primary slave, secondary master and secondary slave.
Technical requirements
In general terms, to perform any of the three types of hard disk configuration We just mentioned, you need two connectors, a power cord and a 40-pin flat ribbon cable.
How to perform the hard disk configuration correctly?
In the first place, for a hard disk to be used, it is necessary to apply a low-level format by an operating system, which is based on the following steps:
Steps
The first thing to do is locate the hard drive in the space designated for it inside the computer case. For this we must make sure to fix it correctly, through the corresponding anchoring system.
Subsequently, we connect the cables, both the electrical current and the data transmission to the motherboard. At this point, it is important to respect the way how they should be connected, in this way we will avoid possible damage to them.
For more information on this, I invite you to read the article called format hard drive low level how to do it.
Next, we must format the hard drive internally, placing us where it says This computer and, within the drop-down menu, selecting the Manage option. In the next window we double click where it says Storage, then we do the same in Disk Management.
Next we are shown a list that contains all the hard drives that are installed on our computer. Within it we select the one we have just installed and proceed to create a new partition.
For this it is necessary to right click on the disk name and select the option New simple volume. The next thing is to follow the instructions shown on the screen to format all the partitions that we have created, thus we conclude the process for the hard disk configuration.