HDD upgrade.

[LFCJohnSmith]

I want to add extra HDD capacity to my pc but I think I may have a problem. The thing is my os is pre installed and I don't have a copy of it I only have a recovery disk. If I was to buy a hdd and pluged it in would it register or would my pc fail to work or just fail to recognise the new drive?

 

[hikaricloud]

Well, you'd just be adding an HDD, not replacing your current one, right?

 

[LFCJohnSmith]

Yes just adding extra capacity not replacing the original one.

 

[Hefemeister]

No problem. You will just need to set it up with disk management when you get it installed.

 

[LFCJohnSmith]

So I can just plug a new one in and I don't need to reinstall any of my software i.e. operating system.

 

[carnageX]

No, just plug it in, and format it via Disk Management.

Start > Right click Computer > Manage... > click DIsk Management on the left-panel > find your drive in the bottom half of the screen on the right side (will have a black strip, should have the capacity of the drive and say its RAW / unformatted). > Right click it > choose to format / create a partition. You can do a Quick Format if you wish.

 

[LFCJohnSmith]

So I have to create it as a separate disk i.e. a new partition on my pc so fo instance it will not be c drive it will be say g drive.

 

[carnageX]

Yes, since it will be a completely new drive it won't have the same drive letter as another one. Each disk and/or partition has to have its own drive letter.

 

[LFCJohnSmith]

If i was to reinstall my os would it read as the c drive or would it still be a separate drive?

 

[carnageX]

Like I said, you cannot have 2 drives or partitions with the same drive letter. THe only way you can do that, is it put it in some sort of RAID array, but then you need 2 drives of the same capacity/type to do it. Your C drive will be whatever you install your OS on.