mk wrote:
> Just to add to my last post: I tried switching the ribbon cable, using the
> "primary master" end on the Maxtor drive and the "primary slave" end on the
> Samsung drive and both drives were recognized. But I would still like the
> Primary Master to be the Samsung drive.
>
> "mk" <mk@unknown.net> wrote in message
> news:Osg9EbvAGHA.740@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>
>>I have a Dell dimension 4100 with the original primary master 10GB Maxtor
>>hard drive and a primary slave 60GB Maxtor drive. The 60GB drive was added
>>a few years ago. The OS is Win XP Pro and resides on the 60 GB drive. All
>>has worked well for years.
>>
>>I just moved the 60GB drive to a new computer and replaced it with another
>>hard drive (30GB Samsung) in the original Dell computer. I changed the
>>drives so that the Samsung drive would be the primary master and the
>>Maxtor 10GB the primary slave. However, the bios will only acknowledge
>>the primary slave position, no matter which drive I connect to it. I have
>>tried the jumpers in both the Master/Slave and Cable Select positions.
>>Previously it was set up in the Cable Select jumper positions.
>>
>>Why won't the bios now recognize the Primary Master position? Can anyone
>>give me some ideas?
>>
>

The 10 GB Maxtor would remain the primary drive because it is
the one with a primary partition for Drive C. Both the 60 GB
Maxtor and the 30 GB Samsung are probably configured as hard
drives with an extended partition (and logical drive(s)). And
if the 30 GB Samsung had been cloned from the 60 GB Maxtor, it
would have been made a HD with an extended partition.

The only way to make the 30 GB Samsung the Primary Master would
be to physically configure it as the Master HD and do a clean
install of Windows XP on to it.