2 Hard drives in one computer?

[WaterMelon34]

My mom bought a new computer but she wants to use the hard drive that came with the computer and the one she uses now. How do I do that? Should I just stick the old hard drive in the secondary slot and hope for the best?

EDIT: Someone told me I had to do something with reformatting. Should I put it in and then split partitions?

 

[staticprimer]

Yeah, just put it in the slave configuration and your new drive as primary and you should be good to go.

 

[WaterMelon34]

Is there any chance that it will wipe out the information stored on the old drive? It has some important stuff on it.

 

[The Mullinator]

Is there any chance that it will wipe out the information stored on the old drive? It has some important stuff on it.

None, even if you screw up the configuration there won't be any data lost on either drive.

 

[Kamikazie]

It has some important stuff on it.

:naughty: eh?

it shouldnt wipe anything out of your old HD.

 

[Fliko]

It should be fine.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

Make sure your jumper configs are right.

Do new HDs still use jumpers?

 

[Kamikazie]

i think so Z.

 

[giant384]

all hardrives use jumpers even sata

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

all hardrives use jumpers even sata

Right but I thought some are auto detecting now and not manually configurable.

If the one he has is manual, he needs to get familiar with them.

In any case HDs are pretty much PnP.

 

[ShinRa]

Does windows have to be installed on both the primary and slave drives in order to access both? Like can I have xp installed on my primary, but while on that still access files from the slave? sry for thread-hijacking

 

[The Mullinator]

Does windows have to be installed on both the primary and slave drives in order to access both? Like can I have xp installed on my primary, but while on that still access files from the slave? sry for thread-hijacking

Nope, it will just view the hard drive in almost the same way it would view a portable hard drive or a flash memory card.

 

[TheGrimSweeper]

Its an impossibility for it to lose data unless you repeatedly hit it with a hammer, or drill a hole through it while trying to install it.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

Its an impossibility for it to lose data unless you repeatedly hit it with a hammer, or drill a hole through it while trying to install it.

Don't forget about magnets.
Data is stored and written magnetically.

Other guy, it would be better if you didn't have an OS installed on the slave drive.

 

[giant384]

Its an impossibility for it to lose data unless you repeatedly hit it with a hammer, or drill a hole through it while trying to install it.

lol i can imagine someone doing that thinking they know how to fit it

 

[psyno]

all hardrives use jumpers even sata

Right but I thought some are auto detecting now and not manually configurable.

If the one he has is manual, he needs to get familiar with them.

In any case HDs are pretty much PnP.

Lies!

First, SATA drives do NOT use jumpers. The serial architecture demands no more than one device per channel, so jumpers couldn't even remotely make sense.

Second, HDD are not smart. They don't autodetect and they aren't "PnP." If both HDDs on a channel support cable select (CS) and you set them both to CS and your system supports it and you're using an 80-pin IDE cable, then they might get it right.

WaterMellon34, formatting a drive wipes away any file system that existed on a partition and replaces it with a new (empty) one. You need to format your new drive before you use it. Windows will do this for you on the installation. You need NOT to format your old drive, or else your data will be lost.

Finally, it is certainly not the case that you can't lose data durnig this operation. The underbelly of the HDD almost always exposes sensitive electronics. If you damage this circuitry, your drive is as good as toast, so stay grounded and don't touch it!

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

They don't autodetect and they aren't "PnP."
If both HDDs on a channel support cable select (CS) and you set them both to CS and your system supports it and you're using an 80-pin IDE cable, then they might get it right.

I meant if you plug it in correctly and it's not broken it will work.

Finally, it is certainly not the case that you can't lose data durnig this operation. The underbelly of the HDD almost always exposes sensitive electronics. If you damage this circuitry, your drive is as good as toast, so stay grounded and don't touch it!

The chances of damaging a hard drive merely by handing it is very minimal. You'd need a strong dose of static built up to fry anything.

Even so, touch the case before anything else and try not to rub your socks on the carpet while "operating".

 

[psyno]

I meant if you plug it in correctly and it's not broken it will work.

Maybe you should use the term for what it actually means instead? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-and-play

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

Thank you Professor A+,

but the means to the end were justified here.

And your princess is in another castle.