second hard drive

[JRO7563]

hi all

im looking at adding a second hard drive in my system as the raptor i have is running out of space fast, i was hoping to use one for storage of mainly images textures etc (i use my pc mainly for 3D rendering programs such as cinema 4D) and the other for the main programs. i was just wondering how i actually go about setting this up ??????? im not interested in any raid setups just want to add another drive to extend the storage capacity.
will i have to load windows on the second drive too ?????

thanks for any help offered.

system :-

athlon 64 4000+
2 gig corsair twin channel ram
raptor HDD
windows xp pro

[peterb]

Depends what else you have on the system, and the Operating system.

You probably have a CD or DVD reader/writer. Most MOBOs have two IDE channels, each one can take two IDE drives as a master or a slave. Youyr C drive (the first IDE drive will be connected as the master drive to the first channel. The CD device will probably be the mastter drive on the second channel. Basically when you get the replacement drive, configure it as a slave drive (instructions will come with the drive, but usually involves putting a jumper across a couple of pins. You then connect it to the spare socket on the cable that goes to the existing hard drive. (If it doesn't have one, you will need a replacement cable). You will need a spare drive bay to fit the drive and power cable to connect to the power supply (If there isn't one, you can get power cable splitters)

Power up the PC, go into the bios and check that the drive is recognised. Provided it is, you can then run the operating system and using the disk management functions configure and format the drive for use. Exactly how depends on the OS. Don't forget that when working on the internals todisconnect the PC from the mains supply, operate the power switch to discharge anty capacitrs in the PSU, and make sure that you and the computer are earthed.. ie take anti-static precautions. It isn't really difficult.

[JRO7563]

hi

the drive i have is a sata drive as will be the second, with regard to power/drive bays that wont be a problem, plenty of room/spare connectors etc. its not the install i have problems with, more i dont know how to go about configuring it when its in there.

thanks for the reply

[peterb]

Not played with SATA so can't help, although I would expect the normsal disk management tools to work as the SATA controller will handle all the low level stuff. To the OS it would appear as A N other drive...

[project187]

i have had this problem also