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I've got 2 hardrives.


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#1
demirkol

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One of the hard drives is 60 gigs and the other 320 gigs. I want to use the 60 gigs for storage but I dont want to install XP on to it. Is there a way I could do this without installing XP?

Thanks in advance
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#2
peterm

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If it is for storage then you do not need to run any program 98/me/xp etc.
All you have to do is look on the drive for a map showing jumper settings on how to make the drive a slave. you will most likley have to change the 320gig jumper settings also to Master with slave.
If you get stuck then post make and model number of both drives.
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#3
Kemasa

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As was stated, you can add the drive to the existing system. You don't need to load any software, although you might need to re-partition the disk and create a filesystem. You may want to change the filesystem type, depending on what the disk was previously used for.

Depending on how much you are going to use the disk, you may want to consider installing the disk on the second IDE channel and have it be the master, which means moving any other devices around (master/slave jumpers, as described).

What else do you have on the machine and do you know how those devices are connected? Normally there are two IDE channels, which allows for 4 devices. In some cases companies are cheap and install two devices on one channel so that they don't have to provide a second cable.
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#4
demirkol

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I've got no idea what your talking about. I didnt buy my PC through a store one of my mates built it for me. My specs are: Pen 4, 2.0 GHz, 512 RAM.
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#5
Kemasa

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Remember, these forums are read by others, so something there are things included for those readers.

Since you had a mate put this computer together, you should be ask to find out what devices are on the machine which will be helpful to determine the best way to install the second disk. You can just add it to an open space on the IDE channels, but that might not be the best thing to do.

Are both of these disks IDE drives?

If so, I would assume that the 320Gb disk is the primary master. That leaves the question to what, if anything, is the primary slave, the secondary master and the secondary slave.

If you are going to leave the 60Gb disk in all the time (I personally would consider installing it in a USB case and removing it when it is not needed) then I would suggest have it be the secondary master and have any CD/DVDs be slaves.

You can also partition the 320Gb disk to divide up the space, which might have already been done, but I don't know, so I thought I would mention it.
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#6
demirkol

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When I first bought my PC I had 2 hard drives one 40 and another 60 gigs. The 60 gig hard drive was my primary slave and the 40 was my secondary. Since those hard drives are not enough for me I went and bought a new hard drive. So I want to make the new hard drive my primary slave and the 60 gig my secondary slave.

I dont know what IDE is.
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#7
Kemasa

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IDE is the name of the type of connection (actually it is EIDE, but that is being a bit technical and is not important). There are other means of connecting a disk, such as SATA (IDE is also called ATA, sometimes there are a lot of names for the same thing) or SCSI.

Most machines currently use IDE drives, although that is changing to SATA.

On each IDE channel, there can be up to two disks. The first disk would be the master, the second disk is called the slave. You can not have a slave without a master and the boot disk needs to be a master.

Based on what you meant (not said :-), I think you want to have the 320Gb be the primary master and the 60Gb to be the secondary master. This means you would need to move what is currently the secondary master to be the secondary slave. This is done in one of two ways.

The first way is to have each device be configured to use "CS", cable select, which means it will be master or slave depending on where it is on the cable. Some people like this, but I personally don't since I know what I have the device to be and don't want to have to deal with remember which cable position is which.

The second way is to put the jumper on each device to be what you want, either master or slave. So, you would need to change the jumper on the current secondary master to have slave selected, then add the 60Gb disk to that IDE cable.

You may need to move other things around, depending on what is in your system and how it is configured.

Since the 60Gb disk was used as a system drive, you may want to wipe out what is on it (assuming you got all the data you need off of it). You can use the disk management program to make the changes:

Go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management. In there go
to Disk Management.

Be careful in what you do and make absolutely sure that you are doing what you want since otherwise you can lose data. There are files on a system disk which can cause issues, which is why cleaning it up is a good idea.
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#8
demirkol

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So should I delete my 60 gig hard drive?
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#9
EmperorWoodrow

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:whistling: ...The ElderGeek.com has a few pages on hard drive configuring and partitioning..i hope u have mroe than one partition on the 320 gig.. i u ever have to reformat and reload u don't won't to lose all your info and data..
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#10
Kemasa

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If you have all the data that you need off the 60Gb disk, I would format it (actually just create a new filesystem). The quick would be good since it would take less time.

I agree that multiple partitions is a good idea, for a lot of reasons. Even on the 60Gb disk, it could be a good idea, but in part it depends on what you are going to do with it.
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#11
demirkol

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So I install XP on both hard drives?
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#12
Kemasa

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No, XP is only installed on the system drive. The 60Gb is just a second disk.
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#13
demirkol

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Nut last time I installed Xp on to the master drive I couldnt find the slave hard drive at all
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#14
Kemasa

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I am not sure of what you did last time or what the problem was.

You would not be able to see the disk if it did not have a filesystem on it or if the disk was not correctly configured (master/slave).

If you don't see the disk in "My Computer", check the disk management program to see if it can be seen there. If not, then check the hardware to see if it is listed.
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#15
peterm

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Ok I think we need to get things back on track.
1) Could you please post your make and model number of both drives.
This will let us look up to see if they are IDE or SATA drives.
Then we can advise how best to connect them.
2) Do you have any cd or dvd drives in the computer if yes can you have a look in the case and see if there is one cable going between them or do they both have a separate cable.
You can see in this picture how the cable goes between 2 drives. If you have a cd and hard drive are they both on the cable like thisCd & hard drive linked.
This is a type of IDE drive - note the wide cable.
IDE drive
This is a SATA Drive note the thin cable
Sata drive
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