Adding second Hard Drive?

[longhaul747]

I picked up a second Seagate 120GB Hard Drive (ST3120026AS). I won't have any problems installing the hard drive itself but I am confused on configuring it. The directions are written as if this was going to be the primary drive using a boot disk and FDisk. All I need for the second drive to be a large storage drive.

Would I just install it and format it just like a floppy or ZIP disk?

[Localizer]

Hi, longhaul747

Please, give us some more information, like:

This new HD was instaled on IDE0 or IDE1 ?;
Master or Slave ?

Generaly, you have only to format it, after creating the partitions, using FDISK, nothing more.

Regards,

Val
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...21270b9c15.jpg
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...472728ce5f.jpg

[longhaul747]

Thanks for the reply,

I currently have one Seagate Baracuda ST3120026AS hard drive. I bought a second drive of the same type and model. This type of drive is the newer SATA style hard drive. This type of drive does not have Master and Slave option. The Hard Drive is installed and the 2nd hard drive is plugged into the second SATA slot on my mother board.

Right now the 2nd hard drive is installed and getting power. However Windows XP currently does not recognize it. At this point I am a bit lost because SATA drives are a bit different. Also I can't figure out how to run FDISK from Windows XP.

[TheFlightMan]

Windows XP will not recognize it until you partition the drive and format it. I believe this is something you have not done and therefore, you won't see the drive. You don't need FDisk to do this, you can perform this task using Windows XP. You need to right click on your computer and select Manage. The Microsoft Management Console will display, in the left pane, select Disk Management. Once you have done this, if the drive is recognized by your system, it will display in the right pane. Right click on the drive and proceed with partitioning and formatting it.

After you have completed these steps, you will see a new drive letter under my computer when you double click on it. Lookup partioning and formatting drives in the help section if you want really detailed information.

TheFlightMan

[longhaul747]

TheFlightMan,

I see what you are talking about now. In the Disk Management menu my second hard drive is listed. It currently says that it is Unallocated, Not Initialized and Unknown. This makes sense because I have not Partitioned or Formatted yet. However when I right click on that drive the "New Partition" option is grayed out. Now on the top menu bar I have a settings option. Inside is Unallocated, Primary Partition, Extended Partition, Free Space, Logical Drive, Simple Volume, Spanned Volume, Stripped Volume, Mirrored Volume and Raid-5 Volume. I don't know what is the best option or if I should even mess with these options?

[TheFlightMan]

Longhaul747,

Create a primary partition on that drive, that will solve your problem. The other options will require me to type a book in order to explain them to you. Open XP's help and look for disk management, there you will find an explanation for the other options. But to address your concern, just do primary and don't even worry about dynamic disks, basic will be ok for you.

TheFlightMan

[longhaul747]

TheFlightMan,

I think I got this figured out. The drive is currently formatting. It was kind of difficult to figure it all out for the first time. However like everything else once you figure it out it will be easy from now on. I used the XP help option and had to dig pretty deep.

Only thing left to do now is assign a drive letter. I will see what happens after it is done formatting.

[longhaul747]

Yep,

I am happy to report that my second hard drive is now working as advertised.

Only thing I have noticed is my power supply is running warm. It is still stable and not hot but I don't think it can take much more hardware. It is a 300W unit. Luckly a new power supply is only $75 to $100 for a quality unit. I will change it out when I upgrade my video card. I plan to get a FX5950 Ultra when and if they ever drop in price.

Anyways I appreciate the help.

Longhaul747