I just bought a new Dell Dimension 3000 with Window XP on it and went to install anouther hard drive on it. However I can't get the computer to recognize the new hardrive. It's already been partitioned and set up, but it still won't read it. Dell claims that it's a SATA drive when the machine only came with IDE hard drives. However, the hard drive that came with the machine seems to have the same connection as the one I'm trying to install. The cables hook in and seem to be sure. Any help?

if you've just bought it and tried to install other hardware you've invalidated your warranty


ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment)– a 16-bit parallel interface used for controlling computer drives. Introduced in 1986, it has undergone many evolutions in the last 18+ years, with the latest version being called ATA-7. Wherever an item is referred to as being an ATA device, it is commonly a Parallel ATA device. ATA devices are also commonly called IDE, EIDE, Ultra-ATA, Ultra-DMA, ATAPI, PATA, etc. (each of these acronyms actually do refer to very specific items, but are commonly interchanged)

SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment)– a 1-bit serial evolution of the Parallel ATA physical storage interface.

http://www.maxtor.com/_files/maxtor/...t_a_glance.pdf

Big Bubbs: If the new HD is IDE (the one that takes ribbon cable) mkae sure that your jumpers are set properly.

If the new HD is SATA (the one with a suprisingly narrow cable connection) then make sure to see if your MB needs to have the drive limited to 1.6Gb/sec (a jumper setting).

But by the sounds of it you have an IDE drive that you are trying to install.

What is the model name of the new drive.

Does your BIOS "see" the new drive when installed?