how to add new sata hard disk

linuxsikandar · 11-14-2007, 11:59 PM

Dear All,

Can anyone please tell me the step by step procedure to add new 500 gb
sata hdd in linux box.

Thanks in advance

leosgb · 11-15-2007, 12:26 AM

Hi, The process is the same if you were to do it in a Windows machine. First you need to know what you are doing and have a basic understanding of electronics in order to keep your computer safe. Be aware that this can damage your other hard drive or other components of your computer system. Do it at your own risk.

You will need a phillips screw driver and, of course, some attention. Also, a SATA cable for the new drive. You need to check that your power supply can handle the extra load.

1) Unplug the power cord from the computer. Open the computer case. Touch the case to discharge any ESD from your body.
2) Locate an empty slot for the drive in the case, make sure it is within reach to the SATA connector on your motherboard.
3)check the jumpers on the drive. There should be a table on the drive saying the mode: slave, master, ... Set it accordingly.
4) Install the drive in the slot carefully.
5) Connect the cable from the drive to the mobo (you will be able to tell because the connector has a very particular shape)
6) connect the power cable to the drive (also has a very particular shape)
7) make sure that you didnt leave any metal in the case and close it.
8) plug the power cable and power on the system.
9) the drive should be presented in the BIOS. Press DEL to enter setup (or whatever other key your BIOS uses) and verify that the drive is enabled and that it is listed.
10) boot your linux
11) Post back if you get this far. We will need to partition and format the drive.

Good luck.

Eniac · 11-15-2007, 01:26 AM

After that u can use fdisk
to partitions your hard drive and mount it

linuxsikandar · 11-15-2007, 04:10 AM

Thanks leosgb for step by step procedure

Done the same !

can u plese tell me the procedrue for partitioning hard disk and how to mount it permanently ?

mrrangerman · 11-15-2007, 04:36 AM

Quote:

can u plese tell me the procedrue for partitioning hard disk

Do a search on this site like "How to partition a harddrive" I'm sure this subject has been touched on 1000 times before.

Quote:

how to mount it permanently ?

As for adding a new harddrive to linux take a look Here.

ziggy25 · 11-15-2007, 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leosgb

3)check the jumpers on the drive. There should be a table on the drive saying the mode: slave, master, ... Set it accordingly.
Good luck.

I thought SATA drives dont have jumpers.. do they still have to be set to master and slave?

leosgb · 11-15-2007, 10:01 AM

I dont even remember if they do. I just added there to be on the safe side since the PATA drives do have it. If it doesnt have jumpers, then ignore step #3.

As for the rest now, you got some good tips on how to go already.

You should read man page for fdisk or you can check, this is a great guide:
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handboo...?part=1&chap=4

And then all you need to do is to create your fstab, so the drives will be mounted at boot time. You can also read the man page for fstab or again:
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handboo...?part=1&chap=8

This is mine:

Code:

/dev/sda2               /boot           ext2            noauto,noatime  1 2
/dev/sda1               /               auto            noatime         0 1
/dev/sda4               none            swap            sw              0 0
/dev/sda3               /home           ext3            noatime         0 1
/dev/cdrom              /mnt/cdrom      auto            noauto,user     0 0
shm                     /dev/shm        tmpfs           nodev,nosuid,noexec     0 0
proc                    /proc           proc            nodev,nosuid,noexec     0 0

Good luck.

HappyTux · 11-15-2007, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy25

I thought SATA drives dont have jumpers.. do they still have to be set to master and slave?

They don't have master/slave jumpers ALL SATA drives are masters on their own individual channel what some of them can have like mine if it is a SATA 300 drive is a jumper to set them to SATA 150 mode so they will work on older boards that will not do the auto-detection properly and fall back to SATA 150 so you need to force it to do so with the jumper.

Edit: I may as well suggest using cfdisk to the original poster for partitioning it is easier to use than plain old fdisk that thing gives me a headache trying to figure out the partition numbering whereas cfdisk does it semi-graphically.