Adding a second HDD

[le_steve]

Hi all,

I'm thinking of adding a second hard drive to my system (to serve as the main HD and use the current one for file storage). I have a few questions:

1. the current HD is IDE, but i'm thinking of getting a SATA HD. My mobo (asus a8v-e deluxe) seems to have SATA ports, so it shouldn't be a problem having both types installed, right?

2. because the drives would be different types, would I have to change the IDE from master to slave? or could I just leave it as is, and set the boot priority to the SATA drive, in BIOS?

...btw, my computer knowledge is more than, "this coffee mug holder named "DVD" is darn-sure handy!!"... but i ain't certainly no expert. So please forgive me if these questions (like #2) don't make sense.

3. To format the new (primary drive) can I just use my WinXP CD, or do I have to make a boot disk / use fdisk blah blah blah...?

4. (silly question) Can I give the new HD a new drive letter other than C: when formatting it?

5. Will I have any conflicts between devices and drivers from the old HD and the new one? Should I delete all the devices from the old drive and install them to the new one? Are they ok to stay on the old drive? Should both drives have everyting installed?????

That's all the questions I can come up with right now.... I might have more later. If anyone can enlighten me, I'd be very grateful for the help. And if I missed any important points, i'd love to hear from you.

tyty ^_^

 

[socom36252]

I have the exact same configuration as you want to do. It works great and i have had no problems. Keep your current harddrive the way it is, reformat it if you would like though. Yes to format the new sata harddrive just use the windows xp disk since you are installing xp on that hard drive. If you change your mind you will need a boot disk from that company.

 

[kaname]

Easy way - hook up both hard drives, format them both and do a clean install of XP on your primary (I assume SATA) drive.

If you have a bootable copy of XP, set your BIOS to boot from CD first, install SATA drivers then install XP. After XP is installed and running, you can change drive letters and partition your IDE drive under disk management in Start->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Computer Management->Disk Management.

If you for that route, make sure you save all your important stuff to CD or some removeable media and make sure you have a valid XP key. A fresh install will help get rid of everything you don't use on your computer anymore.

And you can leave your IDE as master, it's a different interface so it shouldn't cause you problems. And for simplicity's sake I'd leave your primary drive (SATA) as C: and your storage (IDE) as D:, It'll make organizing your info much eaiser.

 

[le_steve]

thanks!
sounds like it will be simple enough.

Cheers!