Two Hard Disk Drive Help

Status
Not open for further replies.

asad0921

Baseband Member
Messages
24
I currently have a SATA hard disk in my computer. i have installed Windows XP PRO SP2 on it. I want to install a second internal drive so i can use it to back up etc. I have heard that to get the 2nd drive to get recognized by the OS u have to partion it with windows or something. If i do this then will i need to buy a new windows xp license or use the same existing one?
 
if you just plan to use it backups, i would recommend that you just get an external drive.
 
i think what you have heard about is formatting the drive. your computer motherboard and bios will recognize the new hdd but it must be formatted before windows will recognize it. you may be able to do this from windows but i have never done this before so i'm not sure.
 
go to control panel>administrative tools>computer management>storage>Disk Management(Local)>your hdd should be listed there but not have a filesystem that windows can read (FAT, FAT32, NTFS) or none at all. You are going to want to format it to NFTS, FAT32 if you want to use it on non windows machines.

If this dosent work, download a boot utility, i reccomend hiren's boot cd, and load a hard disk management program and it will give you a similar interface and you are going to want to format your new drive. If you do it this way, its easier to accidently format the drive with windows on it so be careful and read.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom