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Storage Devices: Dell Latitude CP and CPi
Diskette Drive | CD-ROM Drive
| Hard-Disk Drive | Installing
a Hard-Disk Drive | Partitioning
and Formatting the Hard-Disk Drive
The computer comes with a 3.5-inch, 1.44-MB diskette drive that may be installed in the
modular bay located at the front of the computer or in the C/Dock Expansion Station media
bay.
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NOTE: Remove any diskettes from the drive before
moving the computer. Otherwise, the diskette-eject button, which extends when a disk is in
the drive, may be damaged. |
The diskette drive can also be used as an external
device if you have a CD-ROM drive, DVD-ROM drive, LS-120 drive module, battery, or
travel module in the modular bay. The external diskette drive letter is A. (If there is a
diskette drive in the modular bay, the external diskette drive letter is B.)
Use the parallel diskette drive cable that came with the computer to
connect the drive to the parallel connector on the I/O panel.
If the Diskette Reconfig option is enabled in the System Setup program,
you do not have to reboot the computer when you connect the diskette drive to the parallel
connector.
The drive access indicator does not blink when data is being accessed
from the diskette drive connected to the parallel connector.
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CAUTIONS: When the diskette drive
is not being used externally, remove the parallel diskette drive cable from the parallel
connector.
Use the parallel diskette drive cable only with the diskette drive. Do not try to connect
any other device to the computer with this cable.
Protect the diskette drive when it is not in the modular bay. Do not squeeze the drive or
place objects on top of it; doing so could damage the drive motor. |
The computer comes with a CD-ROM
drive that may be installed in the modular bay located at the front of the
computer or in the C/Dock Expansion Station media bay.
The computer also comes with a hard-disk drive located on the left side
of the computer. The computer automatically senses the hard-disk drive type.
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NOTE: The computer is designed to work with
Dell-tested hard-disk drives only. Use only hard-disk drives purchased from Dell. Do not
use hard-disk drives purchased from vendors other than Dell. |
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CAUTION: To prevent data loss, turn off the
computer before removing or installing the hard-disk drive. Do not remove the hard-disk
drive if the computer is in suspend mode or if the hard-disk drive access indicator is on.
Removing the drive under these conditions leads to loss of data. |
To remove the hard disk-drive, perform the
following steps:
- Close the display and turn the computer over.
- Remove the two screws below the hard-disk drive cover.
Use a small Phillips-head screwdriver to remove the two screws that
hold the drive carrier in the drive bay.
- Gently pull the drive carrier out of the drive.
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CAUTION: Do not drop the drive,
or squeeze the top cover of the drive. Mechanical shock can damage the drive and lead to
the loss of data. When the hard-disk drive is not in the computer, protect the drive from
exposure to static electricity. |
To install a new hard-disk drive, perform the following steps:
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CAUTION: Do not remove or install a hard-disk
drive if the computer is in suspend mode. Removing or installing a drive under these
conditions will lead to the loss of data. |
- Create an MS-DOS� bootable diskette. Insert a diskette into the diskette
drive of a computer running MS-DOS. At the MS-DOS prompt, type format a:/s and
press the <Enter> key.
- To use the computer's suspend-to-disk feature, you will need the mks2d.exe
and rms2d.exe utility programs.
The mks2d.exe and rms2d.exe
files are available from several potential sources:
- The c:\dellutils directory on the computer's original
hard-disk drive
- The utility diskette supplied with the computer
- The program diskette set that should have been created when the computer
was received
- Copy the mks2d.exe and rms2d.exe files
to the MS-DOS bootable diskette created in step 4. For information on copying files, refer
to the documentation provided with your operating system.
- If an MS-DOS–compatible system will be used on the new hard-disk
drive, also copy the fdisk.exe and format.com MS-DOS
files to the MS-DOS bootable diskette.
- Save any open files, turn off the computer, and remove any installed
batteries.
- If necessary, remove the hard-disk drive currently installed in the
hard-disk drive bay.
To physically secure the hard-disk drive in
the computer, install a commercially available antitheft device in the security cable slot
and turn the key.
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CAUTION: If the drive does not
slide easily into the bay, pull it out and try again. Do not force the drive into the bay. |
- Partition and logically format the drive as described in Partitioning and Formatting the
Hard-Disk Drive found later in this document.
- Install the operating system on the drive.
Use the program diskettes you made when you received your Dell computer.
Or, see the documentation that accompanied the operating system.
- Test the drive by running the Hard-Disk Drive test group in the Dell
Diagnostics.
See Chapter 4, "Running the Dell Diagnostics," in the Reference and Troubleshooting
Guide for information on running the diagnostics.
Partition the hard-disk drive.
Use the partitioning software for your particular operating system. (For
an MS-DOS–compatible operating system, use the fdisk.exe program on
the MS-DOS bootable diskette you created in Installing
a Hard-Disk Drive.)
When the partition(s) on the hard-disk drive are set up, some disk space
for the S2D partition must be set aside, rather than having the entire hard-disk drive
allocated to the operating system(s). Use the following guidelines to determine the size
of the S2D partition:
- If you are using an MS-DOS–compatible system on the hard-disk drive
and you do not use a file compression utility, allow at least 1 MB of space for the S2D
partition. Additional space needed for the S2D storage will be derived from the MS-DOS
operating system's file storage space.
- If you are using an operating system that is not compatible with MS-DOS,
the S2D partition should be at least 2 MB larger than the amount of memory installed in
your computer. For example, if you are using the Microsoft� Windows NT� operating system
and your computer has 4 MB of memory installed, allow at least 6 MB of space for the S2D
partition.
- If you are using a file compression utility with an
MS-DOS–compatible system on the hard-disk drive, the S2D partition must be 1 MB or
larger. In addition, the total capacity of the S2D partition plus the uncompressed
physical file space on the physical hard-disk drive must be equal to the amount of system
memory plus 2 MB.
For example, a computer with 8 MB of system memory would require a total
of 10 MB of space for S2D purposes. Given a 1-MB S2D partition, 9 MB of free space on the
uncompressed physical drive would be needed to serve as S2D file space.
- Format the hard-disk drive.
- If you are using an MS-DOS–compatible operating system on the
hard-disk drive, use the format.com program. At the MS-DOS prompt, type a:\format c:/s and press <Enter>
to run the format program.
- If you are using an operating system on the hard-disk drive that is not
compatible with MS-DOS, refer to the documentation provided with that operating system.
- Restart the computer from the MS-DOS bootable diskette you created in Installing a Hard-Disk Drive.
- Create the S2D partition.
- If you are using an MS-DOS–compatible operating system on the
hard-disk drive, type a:\mks2d and press <Enter>.
- If you are using an operating system on the hard-disk drive that is not
compatible with MS-DOS, or you want to restrict the suspend-to-disk file storage area to
the S2D partition, type a:\mks2d -f and press <Enter>.
The mks2d program creates the S2D partition on the
hard-disk drive. Once the message appears confirming that the partition has been created,
press the <Enter> key to quit the mks2d program.
- Install your software on the hard-disk drive.
Although it is rare, a drive may lose its physical formatting; if you
have trouble with your hard-disk drive, run the Hard-Disk Drive test group of the Dell
Diagnostics. See Chapter 4, "Running the Dell Diagnostics," in the Reference and Troubleshooting
Guide for information on running the diagnostic tests.
If you ever need to remove the S2D partition to free up capacity on the
hard-disk drive, use the rms2d.exe file on the MS-DOS bootable diskette
you created in Installing a Hard-Disk Drive.
When more space is available on the drive, you can recreate the S2D partition using the mks2d.exe
program.
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