Western Digital Hard Drive Jumper Settings

Computer Hardware SSDs, Hard Drives and NAS
#1

Hello all,

I didnt know where to post this - either here or the External Enclosure thread.

Anyways, I have a Western Digital WD400 40 gig Caviar that I never used. Would like to put it into an external enclosure with the Oxford 922 chipset.

Basically wanted to confirm which jumper setting to use. The diagram on the drive is a little confusing. Im assuming that I should set it to master? But there are two settings. One is for master or single drive, which seems to be removing the jumper all together. Then there is another for master, when slave is present. Or Cable Select is also an option? In any case, with the drive just out of the packaging, it appears that the jumper is in none of the proper positions - its sideways in fact…

Thanks mucho

Rothie

#2

Master would be my first guess.

#3

i think he’s asking which master setting to use.

WD srives (along with some other brands I’m assuming) give directions for “master” or “master with slave”

for your WD drive, remove the jumper altogether as it will be the only drive on that “cable” (ie in the enclosure)

Most enclosures require that hard drives be set as master. some will work with the jumpers in different positions, and some might require a different jumper setting (although i’m not aware of any that do).

definitely check the documentation with the enclosure, but without knowing much about that particular enclosure my guess is to set as Master-Single (ie no jumper)

#4

Western Digital HDDs have 3 primary jumper settings.

  • MASTER
  • SLAVE
  • SINGLE
    When using the WD drive alone on the IDE cable or in an enclosure, you should use the SINGLE setting.
#5

When the jumper is “sideways” on those 2 pins, it’s considered to be “parked”, which is the same as no jumper, which is the same as “single drive master”.

Consult the manual for the enclosure for proper jumper settings. With some enclosures, it doesn;t matter, with some it does, but the WD drive will likely want the jumper to be where it is now.