I recently decided to take two (very) old computers of mine, take the parts from both of them, and create a "best of" :D . So, I need to know how to connect two hard drives (one has Windows 95, the other empty) to one computer. Thanks!

Both can connect to the same cable (one with the OS as Master, the other as Slave) or each can be connected to its own IDE port (the one with the OS goes to the Primary IDE connector). In either case, be sure you set the drive jumpers properly for Master or Slave.

On the cable, does the top connector goto the Master, and the middle to the Slave? Or does it not matter? Would I set this in the BIOS settings?

hi you set the jumpers on the drives and should not matter where they are at on the cable unless you are doing a cable select. in the bios just have to be sure the IDE's are set for auto detect

I have a similar question. I have a seven year old Quantum drive which I have removed from my Gateway because Windows 98 will no longer boot correctly. The ultimate goal is to replace the computer. In the meantime I want to take the drive and put it into someone esle's little used machine as a slave and slog on. There is no obvious master/slave jumper. On the circuit board attached there is a J1 jumper with four options: DS (current setting), CS, SP and something else. On the back of the drive is the ribbon socket, a four pin power socket and what I take to be a three pin power socket. The second half is that the Compaq that I want to install into has only one spot available. There is an unused plug on the CDRom ribbon and available power plug. For some reason I am under the impression that the slave and master have to be on the same ribbon. There is a Zip drive on the same ribbon as the current hard drive. Your thoughts are welcome.