How easy is installing a new HDD?

Zaphod B

Hi,

I've got a 60Gb drive on this PC and only 2 Gb free, so I'm thinking a new drive might not be a bad idea. I have a Maxtor or Western Digital 160Gb IDE drive in mind, and was hoping it would be as simple as just whacking it in there above/below the existing one. I know this all sounds very n00bish, which is probably because I am actually completely new to this. I've done RAM, GFX cards, CD-RWs and the odd network or firewire card, but never installed a hard drive before. Once I helped replace a hard drive, but then, that was replacing and not adding one...

It's a bit late now to be popping my case open but I'm pretty sure I have the physical space to install the new drive. So...

Is it possible to install a secondary hard drive without having to format the existing one?

If so, what would follow after physically installing and formatting the new drive? Would I install the same OS as used for the other drive or would it not be necessary to install an OS on the new drive?

How easy would it be to access files from both drives?

Anything else critical I should know?

I did Googlise this first but my Googling skills are weak and none of the results really answered my questions. Any advice would be great. Many many thanks in advance to everyone.

Winters

In one word: easy


When throwing in a second HDD make sure you set the second drive to Slave and the Primary drive to master [little jumper at the back] so as not to cause a conflict between drives. Its as easy as 3.14 besides that.

and you dont need to install the OS again on the second drive, if you already have the OS installed on the first.

Giblet

Try leaving a bit of space between the two drives so they wont get to hot. A case fan in front of them might be handy.

tobi

It’s much the same as install a cd drive so you should have no problem. Just watch that you have your master/slave set up correctly and that your power supply can take a second drive. When you boot up after installing check the bios to see if the drive has shown up, if it has your OS should pick it up and label it for you.

unkel

Originally posted by Giblet
Try leaving a bit of space between the two drives so they wont get to hot. A case fan in front of them might be handy.

Make sure you follow Giblet's advice or you will probably run into trouble - I did

Zaphod B

Ah great, so it is that easy. Ta everyone.
Better safe than sorry, think I'll pop a fan in there too. Can anyone recommend a good fan for it? Thx again

nava

Hi

I had a 4 yesars old Jetway motherboard that Maxtor knew they had some problems with large Hard Drives.

Is worth to look into this type of issues before you buy. Check motherboard for possible issues.

Regards

Hellrazer

Another question-which Im probably going to explain arse ways.

Ive just bought an 80 gig Seagate which I want as my main drive but my OS is on my existing drive.I want to keep the old drive and use it as a slave because there are a few files on it that I need and I cant really format it first until I have everything copied to the new drive.If I install the OS on the new drive with it set as a master will it interfere with the OS which is still on the old drive and which is now the slave drive??

Also---
Whats faster-Having the OS on one drive and applications on the other or having everything on one drive at the same time???Reason I ask is because if the above is too much hassle I can leave things as they are and set the new drive as a slave.
Reason Im changing is because the old drive is old,fairly small and I believe fairly slow and the new drive is supposedly much faster etc.
Mind you my old 10 gig has done the job for me for a few years now so I hope this new one is all its made out to be.
Thanks
Richie

Giblet

Os on smaller HDD, rest on bigger.
Safest way incase one or the other goes arseways.

joc_06

Originally posted by Hellrazer
Another question-which Im probably going to explain arse ways.

Ive just bought an 80 gig Seagate which I want as my main drive but my OS is on my existing drive.I want to keep the old drive and use it as a slave because there are a few files on it that I need and I cant really format it first until I have everything copied to the new drive.If I install the OS on the new drive with it set as a master will it interfere with the OS which is still on the old drive and which is now the slave drive??

Also---
Whats faster-Having the OS on one drive and applications on the other or having everything on one drive at the same time???Reason I ask is because if the above is too much hassle I can leave things as they are and set the new drive as a slave.
Reason Im changing is because the old drive is old,fairly small and I believe fairly slow and the new drive is supposedly much faster etc.
Mind you my old 10 gig has done the job for me for a few years now so I hope this new one is all its made out to be.
Thanks
Richie

No probs here, just make sure that you only have the 80 gigger in when installin the new os in case you make a mistake and format the pld one. You can change back and forth between new one and old one as master as many times as you like, as long as you dont go deleting your windows or program files folder



Ah this thread takes me back to when i first went at a pc to put in a new 40 giger about 4 years ago (big bucks then). I hadnt a clue what i was doin and formatted my primary hdd and deleted all important files, broke my cdrw/dvd drive!!

My motto since -
The only way to learn how to fix a pc is to break it first!!

peckerhead

Was going to post this as a new thread, but Zaphod B seems to have got some pretty knowledgeable replies, so I hope he won't mind me piggy-backing...?

I've an old Compaq Presario notebook which came with a 4Gb HDD, which is forever 80% full. I've already increased the RAM to 128Mb — which was a piece of p*** since you don't even have to open the case — is fitting a new HDD as simple? The machine still runs Windows 98 SE reasonably well (for an old Celeron 333Mhz!) — and if I could just get a little extra HDD space I'd hold on to it as a 2nd machine. Compaq tell me the BIOS will recognise a new HDD up to 10Gb, and I see these going on Ebay for as little as Stg£30 plus p&p.

So what should I look out for? Do I just remove the old drive, connect the new one and reinstall the OS? Should I be wearing one of those anti-static wristbands? Avoid doing the job when the moon is full? Chant backwards in Latin as I remove the screws? (etc., etc.) As you can guess I'm a complete 'noob' (?) at this, so would appreciate any advice anyone can offer...!

Cheers,
peckerhead