Adding a second HDD to a M50 8187

[Islandguy]

I am planning on adding a second HDD to my M50 and have a few questions. I have a floppy drive that is connected to the "diskette drive connector" on the mb. The first HDD is connected to the PATA primary IDE connector and is "Cable" optioned. The DVD drive is connected with a "2 connector" cable to the PATA secondary IDE connector. I am not sure how it is set up...master vs cable? I am planning on using the spare connector in this cable to mount the new HDD. So my question is how should I set up the drives? Master, slave, cable etc....
Thanks in advance for any help.
Jim

[bill bolton]

So my question is how should I set up the drives? Master, slave, cable etc....

Put both PATA hard drives on the same PATA IDE channel and set them to whatever the "CS" (Cable Select) setting is on the drive.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[Islandguy]

Ok I was afraid of that only because I have to find a new ribbon cable that will "reach" both drives. They will be mounted "next" to each other instead of on top of each other...just the way the 8187 is set up....the floppy is on top of the HDD now and the new HDD will go under the DVD drive.
Jim

[bill bolton]

Ok I was afraid of that only because I have to find a new ribbon cable that will "reach" both drives.

Well, you can out the second HDD on the same IDE channel as the CD/DVD player if you want.

In my experience that will still work OK but you will probably then need to work out the Master and Slave status/settings between the devices on that cable, as Optical drives usually do not play nicely in respect of cable select!

Cheers,

Bill B.

[Islandguy]

OK thanks for the info...I am pretty new to all of this...but I am having fun!!
Thanks,
Jim

[ryengineer]

According to HMM:

If you are installing a parallel drive, make sure the drive is set correctly as either a master or a slave device. Jumper the new drive the same as the drive being replaced.

Hardware Maintenance Manual (HMM) (March 2006) - ThinkCentre A50p, M50.

You can also refer to the following movies:

Removal and installation movie index - ThinkCentre 8149, 8177, 8178, 8187, 8188, 8191, 8193, 8414, 8431.

If I'm not wrong then the second HDD would fit inside the second optional bay under the optical drive, for that you may also require a rail harness.