Hard Drive Advise Needed.

**cudakite** · January 05, 2007, 10:58 AM

Hello again.

I unpacked the Med2 files last night. So now my hard drive is pretty much full. It was the last straw. I only have 1.7 gig left. So I plan on getting a new hard drive at newegg. I have experience replacing/adding RAM, videocards, power supplies, CD-ROM drives... which basically leaves HDs and processors as the two last unknowns for me. and HDs scare me the most for some reason.

OK Questions-

-I'm pretty sure i have a 80g SATA HD in my computer right now. If I buy another SATA HD from newegg can I just add it without having to reformat my existing HD?

-Do I need to change my RAID config in the BIOS?

**Maical** · January 05, 2007, 11:26 AM

-I'm pretty sure i have a 80g SATA HD in my computer right now. If I buy another SATA HD from newegg can I just add it without having to reformat my existing HD?

yes, sure, but check to see if u have existing power line from the psu and a free sata cable

-Do I need to change my RAID config in the BIOS?

no, raid is probly disabled if ur using 1 hdd

u could use raid 0 to double ur reading/writing speed, but for that ud need 2 identical hdd's and a system format

**belson** · January 05, 2007, 11:34 AM

In order to do RAID, you would have to do a complete reinstall of windows and set up the drivers and bios right. It's kinda tricky and didn't boost my speed very much at all, so I went back to the single. So if you're unsure, don't bother (unless this is for a server, where RAID will help a LOT.)

And yes, if you check what Maical said about the cables, then you can just buy a new drive and plug it in and never have to do anything to the old drive.

I am assuming this is a desktop, because it won't fit in a laptop.

**cudakite** · January 05, 2007, 02:40 PM

coolaid! good advise. Thanks for the replies fellas.

p.s. yes desktop not laptop

**cudakite** · March 22, 2007, 12:39 PM

UPDATE:

OK so i got the HD yesterday. I installed it on the little rack thingy, hooked it up to the power supply, and connected it to the motherboard. At this point I would like to disclose that I am a total newb to all things hard drive. That said, I noticed there are 4 ports available to plug a sata cable into. They are labeled '0' '1' '2' & '3'. I also noticed port '0' was colored blue and the rest were black. My existing HD was plugged into port '0' so I plugged the new drive into port '1' and turned on the machine. I went to the BIOS and noticed that only port '0' was set to on and the rest set to off. So I set port 1 to on and let windows start up. So now I'm in windows and I go to MyComputer and notice only one hard drive being listed. C: drive filled to the brim like nothing changed. So I looked in the Device Manager and the new drive was listed there...

so here i am. with no idea what to do next. PLEASE HELP ME GUYS! I just an ignorant little fool that just wants more hard drive space.... =(

P.S. FYI 1-both HDs are SATA. 2-The new Hard Drive was bought OEM. 3-I don't know anything about masters, slaves, jumpers... are those only for IED? & 4-(this might be the kicker) do I have to install windows on the new hard drive? ...don't laugh

**Erik** · March 22, 2007, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by cudakite

So now I'm in windows and I go to MyComputer and notice only one hard drive being listed. C: drive filled to the brim like nothing changed. So I looked in the Device Manager and the new drive was listed there...

Good, this is normal.
Looks like you hooked up your hard disk correctly, congratulations!
The reason your new hard disk doesn't show up in "my computer" is because "my computer" lists partitions, not actual hard disks, and you haven't created any partitions on your new hard disks yet.

What you need to do next is format your new hard disk, and create at least one new partition on your new disk.
There are several ways you can do this, one way is by booting your system from your windows CD, and using the windows setup.
You can also do it from windows, but I'm not really sure how. (some 3rd party software like "partition magic" can work, but usually costs money)

WARING: You want to be absolutely freaking sure that you format your new hard disks, and not the old one.
If you aren't sure just unplug your old hard disks and use the windows setup on your windows CD to format what is the only remaining hard disk.

P.S. FYI 1-both HDs are SATA. 2-The new Hard Drive was bought OEM. 3-I don't know anything about masters, slaves, jumpers... are those only for IED?

Yes, only IDE (aka ATA or pATA) have the master/slave settings, you don't need to worry about it.

& 4-(this might be the kicker) do I have to install windows on the new hard drive? ...don't laugh

It's not necessary, but if your new hard disk is faster than the old one it can make your system a little faster.

Originally Posted by Maical

u could use raid 0 to double ur reading/writing speed, but for that ud need 2 identical hdd's and a system format

Not necessarily, it depends on your RAID implementation.

Most implementations that come standard on Mobo's today can set up RAID 0 across different hard disks.
But the maximum capacity is limited to n times the size of the smallest hard disk in the array, where n is the number of hard disks in the array.
So one 80GB hard disk and one 250GB hard disk will give you a maximum RAID 0 size 2x80GB=160GB.

Some implementations can even use the remaining space (250-80=170GB on the 250GB HD) to create a second (non-RAID) partition.

**ajimenez3** · March 22, 2007, 02:55 PM

This is how you can format and setup your new drive in windows.
If you are using Windows XP.
Step 1: Click Start button
Step 2: Click on control panel
Step 3: Click on Performance and Maintenance
Step 4: Click on Administrative Tools
Step 5: Double Click on Computer Management
Step 6: Look for Storage and click on Disk Management
Step 7: On the left you will see all the Hard drives, It will list them as Disk 0 and so forth as it is in the BIOS. Disk 0 is usually the boot or primary drive. Your new disk should be Disk 1. Just right click on the new drive and choose to Format and it will take you through the format and give you options.

All the above being said you could also get a hold of GHOST and boot from the CD and then just copy the original drive to the new one and have all your info and the new extra space. Then swap the drives on the board and format the old drive and use it for extra storage space.

Good Luck.

**Doono** · March 22, 2007, 01:42 PM

I don't know if you still need to change jumpers but I would recommend you try it. Set the jumpers on the new hard disk to Slave it usualy looks something like this: (## is the jumper). I don't know what CS is and ive never used it, however normally having 2 masters makes windows refuse to boot.

M[#] S[] C[]
A[#] L[] S[]

Change it to this

M[] S[#] C[]
A[] L[#] S[]

You probably need to format the disk as well, mus tbe a guide online that you can follow.

**spartan_phalanx** · March 22, 2007, 02:09 PM

You need to format the disk and then it will be available. This is what i did anyway when I built my comp.

**cudakite** · March 22, 2007, 02:42 PM

Originally Posted by spartan_phalanx

You need to format the disk and then it will be available. This is what i did anyway when I built my comp.

That sounds promising. Can anyone clarify how that's done?

@doono, I don't think there are any jumpers on the sata drive.

EDIT:

Oh thanks Eric! you snuck in there =)

**cudakite** · March 22, 2007, 03:04 PM

Coooool ! I'm at work right now. Can't wait to get home and try it. Great instruction gentlemen. Thank you very much.

**King Edward I** · March 23, 2007, 01:02 AM

those steps for computer management work well, I use it when i add hdds

**Valerius Maximus** · March 23, 2007, 02:32 AM

i also have a hdd pbm. I just built a new system (first time doing it myself). I have a 320gb hdd, but in win xp it only shows 130gb while in the BIOS it clearly states that the capacity is 320gb.

Any ideas what went wrong?

**Erik** · March 23, 2007, 07:32 AM

Originally Posted by Valerius Maximus

i also have a hdd pbm. I just built a new system (first time doing it myself). I have a 320gb hdd, but in win xp it only shows 130gb while in the BIOS it clearly states that the capacity is 320gb.

Any ideas what went wrong?

Like I said above: "my computer" shows partitions (or "logical drives"), not actual hard disks.
It looks like your 320Gb hard disk currently has one partition of 130GB, which should leave 320-130=190GB of unpartitioned space.

If you follow ajimenez3's steps in post 10 you should get a to windows' "disk management" which has a graphical representation of your hard disk showing the partitioned/unpartitioned space.
Here you should also be able to create a new partition on the remaining unpartitioned space.

I am not sure if it's possible to resize existing partitions here, but I do know that some 3rd party disk management programs can do it.
Having two partitions can be extremely useful though, because it allows you to wipe one partition while keeping the data on the second partition, which is great if you want to re-install windows and installed software/games from scratch while keeping your personal data, saved games, school projects, etc. etc.