Hard Drive Question

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Ophie, Mar 1, 2007.

  1. Ophie

    Ophie Private E-2

    Ok this may be the dumbest question in Canada but here goes. So my husband and I both have the same computer. He just inherited a bigger and better computer which we cleaned up with your help and its up and running brilliantly.

    So... both of the old computers have 80 gig hard drives. Is it possible to take the hard drive out of one of the old computers and add it to the other. The computer has a slot for it but I wasn't sure what other factors to consider. Also, If I am able to do that, do I reformat it with windows as well? Basically, I would want to use the extra space for photo and video storage to keep those files off the drive that is running my programs.

    Thanks!

    O
     
  2. usafveteran

    usafveteran MajorGeek

    Yes, you can do that. With two hard drives installed in one computer and connected to the same data cable (the flat, wide, gray, cable), one drive is configured as master and the other as slave. This is done be placing little things called "jumpers" over two pins. Take a look at the hard drive; it should have a diagram of how to do this master/slave configuration via the proper jumper placement. And, your hard drives may already have jumper on them; you just need to change it, as needed per the diagram, to set the drives as master and slave.

    Assuming you have Windows installed on drive C and plan to continue that way, that hard drive would be master and is probably already set to the proper jumper setting for master. The other drive, the one you're going to install as a second hard drive, will be slave. And, you'll need to change the jumper on it to the slave setting.

    Once you get the second drive installed, then you could format via Windows. Or, you could just delete all the windows and program files from it and whatever other files you have on it that you do not want to keep. Then, if you have some files on it that you want to keep, I suggest defragmenting it before you start adding new files to it.
     
  3. studiot

    studiot MajorGeek

    Not dumb - ask away that is what these forums are for. Far better that than blue smoke.

    Generally agreed but there is no point defragmenting a drive with no files any more than there is any point visiting a pub with no beer.
    You might find that the hard drive where you want to keep windows is set to 'cable select'. This is the normal factory setting these days. Go ahead and move the jumper to master. Some drives (seagate) generally have all jumpers removed for the slave setting.
    Before dimantling note how the cables work. You just give a straight pull to remove bothe the power and the data (flat) cable. The data cable has a strip along one edge to identify pin1. This should be marked on the drive. Hopefully the cable will be long enough to reach both and will have three connectors (motherboard plus two drives). If not youwill have to buy one - they are quite cheap. There may be a bump (key) on one side of the connector which corresponds to a cutout in the socket on the drive. Otherwise you will have to use the stripe identifier.
    The power cable goes with the YELLOW leads to the outside.

    Let us know how you get on.

    Studio T
     
  4. Ophie

    Ophie Private E-2

    Thanks so much for all this great info. I will let you know how it goes. I'll wait till the weekend to attempt it though I think :)
     
  5. usafveteran

    usafveteran MajorGeek

    Right. I said, "Then, if you have some files on it that you want to keep, I suggest defragmenting it before you start adding new files to it."
     
  6. studiot

    studiot MajorGeek

    Right-On vet. As every teacher tells the pupils read the question properly.

    Further thoughts for Ophie.

    When you have connected up the second drive you will probably need to use setup (the bios) before Windows will recognise it.
    To do this watch the screen as you switch on - you have to be quick - and press F2 or del or whatever to enter the bios.
    With luck one of the options on the menu will be 'autodetect hard drives'
    Select and press return wait a moment for things to finish and follow the instructions for primaray and secondary master and slave.
    Select 'save changes and exit' and yes
    The system will reboot and windows will now recognise the drive.
    You may have to hunt around a bit for this instruction esp if it is a DELL. Use the escape key for anything you don't want to change.

    When you see the drive in mycomputer/explorer you will find that either a massive delete or a defrag will take a long time. Also deleting will keep halting at xxx.sys is a sytem file do you really want to delete etc.
    The quickest way is to copy over any data to your other drive, right click and choose format. Format the drive. Then copy back any data.

    Studio T
     
  7. Ophie

    Ophie Private E-2

    This is awesome. There is one thing I'm still a little fuzzy on which is the best option for formatting. As I mentioned, I want to use the drive that I'm adding to the computer for storing video and photo files which take up a lot of space leaving my drive with programs free to run the programs. Is it the best option to reformat the drive I'm moving with windows before I move it? The only thing I have is the system restore CD to reformat and install windows XP that came with the system when I bought it. Will it not be more taxing on the processor to have 2 copies of windows running? But then if I don't do this, I guess, how would the second drive recognize that a photo was a photo or a video file a video file...
     
  8. studiot

    studiot MajorGeek

    The Format command is part of Windows. Just physically change the jumpers and move the drive.
    Get the new pc to recognise the disk
    Right click on drive ____NOT YOUR C DRIVE
    Choose Format
    choose NTFS
    Choose entire drive
    Make coffee
    finish pruning roses
    Use newly formatted drive.

    Studio T
     
  9. Ophie

    Ophie Private E-2

    Got it. Thanks again.

    O
     
  10. Ophie

    Ophie Private E-2

    We did it!

    I have to say that cleaning up 2 major virus attacks and adding additional hard drives to both of our computers has been easier than getting my defective earbud headphones for my ipod replaced by apple. You guys are awesome...really.

    The instructions were crystal clear and we had no trouble to speak of. The hardest part was moving over my DVD burner because we couldn't find the proper jumper configuration for it but the drives were a piece of cake.

    I'm going to enjoy my new space for a bit and then figure out if upgrading the processor is a worthwhile cause. :) I'll be back!

    Thanks again for everything.

    O
     
  11. studiot

    studiot MajorGeek

    Another satisfied geek

    Studio T logging off
     

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