this is an HP Vectra XM series 3 5/90 system running Win 3.11.

How do I add a slave drive?

Just like you would on any machine - either as primary slave or as secondary slave or master, depending on your existing setup and available IDE connections.

More info

A "Win3.11 system" is actually running DOS, so the drive must be prepared for DOS if it hasn't already been.

FAT32 drives or partitions won't work under 622 - you're limited to 2Gb or less per partition

Why don't they make computers that will do what we think we want them to do?

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With your P90, the BIOS will be modern enough so that once the new drive is properly installed, start the computer, enter your BIOS and it should autodetect the new drive.

Once that happens, DOS and Win 3.11 should see the drive.

It may not be so cut and dried as that - much depends on the drive. A P90 isn't too far removed from a 486 and a large drive might exceed the BIOS limitations.

.. and yes, setting up the drive for DOS is all that's required for Windows.

Why don't they make computers that will do what we think we want them to do?

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jboy, I agree with you on the drive size. He will be locked in to 2 gig partitions unless he uses drive overlay software but assuming he is within the 2.1 gig size limit, I have found that most Pentium 1 CPUs come with in computer that has a BIOS that pretty autodetects the drive, once you go into the right part of the setup in the BIOS.

Well, there is a 2Gb is a DOS/FAT16 limitation, as well as a number of Bios limits, depending on the system.

As far as autodetecting, sure, that shouldn't be a problem but it may have to be invoked from the CMOS much like a 486 or (some) 386 machines - today's machines are a bit more 'cooperative' and figure things out on their own (so to speak)

Bit of an overview at PCGuide - 2Gb is one of a series of possibilities.

Kind of whistling in the dark though, since we don't know if the intended HDD is 40Mb or 40Gb

Why don't they make computers that will do what we think we want them to do?

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firstly, i would suggest that this is really a hardware forum question, as, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a 'win 31' system..as it runs on everything from the 386 to a P4.
on any PC you have the option of adding a slave drive simply by using a cable with two sockets..the slave just plugs into the one in the middle, the master at the socket at the end of the cable.
whether it reads over 500x mb on the drive depends on the computer bios and/or the drive overlay software (if any).
obviously you need a drive bay for the harddrive...
if the computer doesn't see the drive you'll have to enter it in the bios manually (you'll need the specs ..like how many cylinders, etc..should be written on the harddrive), or use a utility like 'disk manager' or so....