Installing a second SATA drive

[Iron Feet]

Currently running a single 500GB SATA hard drive and want to add a second maybe 1TB internal hard drive and wanted to ask a few questions before I do this. The second drive is only going to be used for storage - games, music, movies, etc.

1. Will the new hard drive need to be partitioned for any reason? I'm thinking not?

2. Will it need to be formatted before it's able to be used?

3. Will windows (i'm using XP) need to be installed on the second hard drive?

Thanks for any input. I've always just run single hard drives, so this will be my first time adding a second one.

 

[patonb]

Only if you want too, no real need though.

Yes, drives come unformated, it takes 10minutes through disk managemdent.

Nope, just toss it in.

 

[Yami]

Remember just to do a quick format, you don't need to do a full one since the drive comes blank.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Wouldn't it be better to do a full format, to check for bad sectors?

 

[patonb]

It'll take 4-5hrs! A chkdisk after would be better time use.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Won't a simple GParted be faster?

 

[patonb]

P[robably more work than needed for a secondary drive.

 

[Iron Feet]

Wouldn't it be better to do a full format, to check for bad sectors?

Is that common problem on a new hard drive?

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

It's not a common problem, but, even a "full format" in windows, rarely marks bad sectors, I find other software to do a far better job of that, though it takes like, all day to do so.

 

[Iron Feet]

Thanks everyone for the info!