Manuals

Storage Devices: Dell Dimension™ XPS P60 M

General Notes on Drive Installation | Diskette and Tape Drives | CD ROM Drives | Hard-Disk Drives

General Notes on Drive Installation

Terminators

For non-SCSI devices, the general rule is that a terminator is present on the drive connected to the first drive connector on the end of the interface cable. Exceptions to this rule are possible. Always refer to the documentation for the drive the user are installing. Some possible exceptions are:

• Some drives have permanently installed terminators, which are disabled by means of jumpers.
• Some drives have terminators that are never removed or disabled.
• SCSI devices have their own strict termination rules.

Jumpers and Switches

Drives may have jumpers or switches that must be set to reflect the configuration. Refer to the documentation for the drive the user are installing. General guidelines for configuration jumpers/switches are as follows:

• Some diskette drives have jumpers that configure them as drive A or B.
• When daisy-chaining EIDE drives, the user will need to configure one or both drives in order for the operating system to differentiate between them.
• All SCSI devices must be configured with a unique SCSI ID number.

Partitioning and Formatting Hard-Disk Drives

Low-level formatting divides the disk into concentric magnetic tracks, which in turn are divided into storage segments called sectors. Low-level formatting is rarely required; drives are shipped already physically formatted. If having trouble with the hard-disk drive, run the appropriate diagnostic tests. Partitioning assigns the storage area to one or more logical drives. For MS-DOS�, use fdisk.exe to partition the drive. For OS/2� or the UNIX� operating system, see the documentation that came with the operating system. Logically formatting the drive sets aside groups of sectors that store start-up information, directory information, status information, and data. For MS-DOS, use format.exe to format the drive.

Diskette and Tape Drives

Drive Bay Locations and Cable Connections

To install a diskette, tape, or CD ROM drive, follow these steps:

NOTE: If installing a tape drive that came with its own adapter and interface cable, do not use the system diskette/tape drive interface cable. Instead, install the adapter and interface cable supplied with the drive, referring to the instructions provided with the drive.

1. Slide the drive into the selected drive bay. If necessary, remove the front-panel insert covering the bay to be used.
2. Attach the DC power cable and the diskette/tape drive interface cable

NOTE: If installing a dual-mode diskette drive, use the middle connectors on the interface cable.

3. Update the system setup program.
   Set the Diskette Drive category to match the diskette drive the user is installing.
   If installing a tape drive as the third drive, the user does not have to update the system setup program.
   If installing a tape drive as the second drive, the Diskette Drive B category should be set to Not Installed.
4. Run the appropriate diagnostic tests.

CD ROM Drives

1. Install a SCSI adapter (or the special CD ROM controller that came with the drive) in the computer. If using a SCSI adapter, see the section on SCSI drives.
2. Slide the drive into the selected drive bay. If necessary, remove the front-panel insert covering the bay to be used.
3. Attach the DC power cable and the SCSI or CD ROM interface cable.
4. Run the appropriate diagnostic tests.

Hard-Disk Drives

The hard-disk drive bracket next to the power supply holds up to 2 half-height, 3.5-inch drives.

EIDE Drives

To install an EIDE hard-disk drive, follow these steps:

1. Install the drive in the drive bracket.
2. Attach the DC power cable and the IDE cable.
3. Update the system setup program. At the Hard-Disk Drive 1 category, select Auto.
   If the user receives a drive error message on next boot the system, the automatic drive-type detection feature may not work with the drive. Highlight the appropriate hard-disk drive category, type u for user, and enter the drive's parameters: cylinders (Cyls), heads (Hds), and sectors per track (Sec).
4. Run the appropriate diagnostic tests.

SCSI Drives

To install a SCSI hard-disk drive, follow these steps:

1. Install the SCSI adapter card in the computer.
2. Set the SCSI ID number for the drive the user is installing.
   SCSI ID numbers range from 0 to 7. Each device on the SCSI bus, including the controller, must have its own unique ID number.
   There are no requirements that SCSI ID numbers be assigned sequentially or that devices be installed on the SCSI cable in order of ID number.
   A SCSI drive is usually assigned ID 0. If planning to use a SCSI drive as the boot device, it must be configured as ID 0.
   If installing an IDE hard-disk drive, it will automatically be the boot device, regardless of the ID number assigned to the SCSI drive(s).
3. Install or remove the SCSI bus termination on the drive. Each end of the SCSI bus be terminated.
4. Install the drive in the drive bracket.
5. Attach the drive's interface connector to the SCSI cable.
6. Update the system configuration information (in the system setup program).
   Set the Hard-Disk Drive 1 and/or Hard-Disk Drive 2 system setup categories to Auto.
7. Run the appropriate diagnostic tests.