dual hard drive

[shoein]

hello everyone,

im considering adding another hard drive to my computer for more storage for my media (mp3 files). i have decided to go with another internal hard drive, due to the fact my income consists of being a paper boy.

my current system is:

amd athlon xp 2400+
2.0 ghz
512 mb ddr ram (480, 32 mb shared video)
80 gb hard drive.


im thinking of buying a 40 gb, but, i need a couple of questions answered:
1) do i need to install a driver, or anything with the hard drive (can i hook it up and it will automatically show as the E: drive?)
2) if my system were to crash, and the 80gb hd is the one im running the OS on, would the 40gb harddrive im using as a storage drive lose all of its content, or would it remain untouched?

also, the reason why im keeping the 80gb hd as the OS drive is because it has a legal version of xp pro., whereas if i purchased a 40gb, i could only install a bootleg version, and i'd rather run on a legal version.

thanks for any input,

tommy.

 

[btv]

you will need to partition and format the drive.
in xp you can do it in windows or use the disk that came with the drive(or can be downloaded).the second will be faster.

if something happens to the 80GB drive,the 40GB will be safe.

i suggest buying OEM.a retail just comes with the utility disk(can be downloaded) a cable and brackets

 

[jinexile]

Remember to set you jumpers correctly... the 40 should be set to master and 80 set to slave... there should be a diagram on them pointing out which is what.


ps. cable select is for newbs

 

[adinu]

If hes keeping the 80gig as his OS hard drive, shouldnt he set that as the master and the 40 as the slave, not the other way around?

 

[Chankama]

im keeping the 80gb hd as the OS drive is because it has a legal version of xp pro., whereas if i purchased a 40gb, i could only install a bootleg version, and i'd rather run on a legal version.

Hey dude. Just out of curiosity, whatever happened to the CD with the "legal" version of the OS?.. Did you lose it?

 

[ShoobieRat]

You don't need to partition the drive if you're using XP, and you likely won't need any drivers or anything either. Just turn the PC off, connect it up, set it to SLAVE if it's going to be a secondary drive, and turn the PC on.

You should boot through without any signs of the drive. When you enter Windows, it'll likely say it's detected new hardware, dork around for a minute, then be done.

If the drive doesn't show up, you can go to diskmgmt.msc (from the RUN prompt) and name and format the drive from there.

You should be all set.

 

[TheMajor]

You won't need drivers. Master or Slave doesn't matter. Just make sure you have 1 Master and 1 Slave on the same cable. I would leave your current drive as it is (probably Master) and set the new drive to Slave.

The drive letter will depend on multiple things. You can easily change it in Windows. If you want to know wich driveletter will be assigned to the drive you could post a screenshot of the (current) diskmanagent information and I can help you out.

Go to Start>Run>
type: diskmgmt.msc

 

[shoein]

i bought the computer originally at a shop, where they built it for me. they installed windows and never gave me a disk.

but i just hooked up an old hard drive ive had sititng around to my comp and it shows up as the D: drive, so all my questions were answered.


thanks guys
-tommy.

 

[idiotec]

i bought the computer originally at a shop, where they built it for me. they installed windows and never gave me a disk.

Thats a bunch of bullsh!t. You should go down there and get your disk!

 

[Chankama]

Thats a bunch of bullsh!t. You should go down there and get your disk!

loll.. Yeah.. That's what I was thinking. It just sounded like these guys put up their "regular customer copy" of XP on you computer .. Chances are there are like 50 other ppl in the city with the same serial # as you.. If you have "XP" on your receipt, you should go and demand your CD from them. Otherwise, just report them to Microsoft or the police and they'll deal with them...