Reformat question...... installing a second hard drive, or not????

Started by _AH_Moby, December 05, 2008, 05:28:14 AM

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_AH_Moby

~S~ Gurus!!!

I have an extra 40 GB hard drive from an older puter.  If I were to install that in my current system, when I reformat over the holidays, do I have to install the operating system on that one too, or will the operating system automatically install on my previous 160 Gb hard drive and read the other hard drive as well...????   Or is it just too much trouble having two hard drives in one computer system?  I was hoping to get the 40 Gb hard drive installed and simply use it for storage, but run everything else from the 160 Gb hard drive.  ( I also plan to partition the 160 Gb hard drive as I have in the past).  Running Windows XP Home.

Is this a waste of time for the effort to maintain???  Or should I just get an external hard drive...?

~S~!

Mobes.

If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

_AH_Hornet

You can add a secondary hard drive without reformatting everything. When you add the secondary hard drive, you can boot normally and format it in Windows and you can add it as D: or E: etc. It's pretty easy and takes little effort. The only thing easier is adding RAM.

Be sure to set your jumper to 'slave' on the secondary drive.

_AH_Moby

~S~!  Thanks Hornet, awesome advice as usual!!!  It's obviously easier than I thought. 

Now one more question....  Should I reformat the primary 160 Gb drive first, then install the secondary hard drive, or.... can I add the secondary 40 Gb drive first, formatting it with windows, then reformat my whole system?  Which would you recomend....?

~S~!

Mobes.

If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

_AH_Hornet

I would recommend installing the secondary drive first and formatting it in Windows. Doing this will allow you to save any files (such documents or a 4.08 install) you might want to carry over to your new installation of Windows on the secondary disk and copy it back later.

When you add the drive, Windows will automatically install it on startup. If you need any files off it, take them and copy them to your primary disk.
Then delete all partitions and volumes on the disk and create 1 volume and primary partition on the disk
1. Start > Right click on My Computer > Manage
2. Click on Disk Management (Storage) in the left pane.
3. Identify your secondary disk. Right click on it and delete any and all partitions and volumes and 'disks' on that drive. You should now have an unallocated disk (it should be black instead of blue).
4. From within Disk Management, right-click the unallocated area and then click New Partition. This starts the New Partition Wizard.
5. On the next page make sure Primary Partition is selected and click next. Now make the size the maximum allowed, and click next again. It will automatically choose the first available drive letter for your secondary drive. You can choose another drive letter if you want.
6. It will ask you if you would like to format the new partition and if so what format. Go with NTFS, Default, and a creative volume name of your liking. One word names are good. Make sure you don't perform a quick format or enable compression.
9. Click Finish and it'll do it's job. Don't close that window, though! It will spend some time formatting the drive. You will know it is done when the word under the size of the drive changes from "Formatting" to "Healthy". Then you're done!

That should be pretty close... I'm doing it from memory.  :drinking-29:

_AH_Moby

~S~!

Hornet, you are awesome to say the laest, thank you so much for the help!   BTW, I have an extra room in the basement, heated bedroom with a double bed, 3 piece bath with stand up shower, and a rec room with a TV and cable internet, any chance you might want to move in...????  My wife is an awesome cook and rent is NOT an option, your services speak louder than $$$$!!!!  Don't tell DW though, I don't think it would be a good idea for the both of us to be in the same structure for too long together....LOL!!!

Cheers, and thanks again!!!

Mobes.

If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

_AH_Hornet

S!
Haha, yeah, I usually don't get such nice offers. I'd have to transfer to UW to finish up my last year
Throw in a babe, and it's a deal.

If you have any problems, let me know.