Fitting second HD

Jimpowers79

Jimpowers79

Jimpowers79

Associate
Joined
1 Jun 2009
Posts
86
Hi, i currently have a 160Gb SATA HD (now 4 years old). Whilst i want to keep this as backup storage, i have bought a 500Gb Seagate barricuda https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-206-SE

There is a blue cable that runs from my existing drive to the motherboard is this the SATA interface cable?, and another cable with several red and yellow cables that has an adjoining connector for another drive, is this the power adapter cable? Do i need another interface cable for the new drive, or is it merely a matter of connecting the power adapter cable?

How do you set the master and slave settings on two drives, is this done through BIOS?
 
Last edited:
You're right about what the cables are.

You need another data cable. (the smaller of the two). You should be able to find a spare power cable from your PSU.

With SATA, just plug it in and turn on, jobs done. The BIOS deals with which HDD to boot from, and since you've already got it built, you don't need to worry about setting any more.

If it doesn't show up in windows, just go to the computer management (right click on my computer, select manage) then go to disk management. One of them may not be initialised - your new one. Just format it with whatever size partition you want :)

Couldn't be easier!
 
Cheers for that SMAndy. If i were to decide to do away with my old drive altogether, would i just replace my current drive with the connectors i have? Would the OS automatically be put onto my new drive?
 
Jimpowers79 said:
Cheers for that SMAndy. If i were to decide to do away with my old drive altogether, would i just replace my current drive with the connectors i have? Would the OS automatically be put onto my new drive?
Click to expand...
You'll need to have both connected simultaneously and then use something like Acronis True Image to copy the content of the old drive onto the new one.
 
If you've got the data on the old drive saved somewhere, then yes. go ahead. As long as its not your system drive!

For the memory problem, i've had a look at the thread already, but i'm afraid i've not got a clue about it. Also, might I suggest that you edit your posts to add things, rather than double post? The admins might think you're spamming to get free delivery!
 
Ok thanks for that SMAndy, ha ha, i'm a million miles away from free postage, but i know what you mean! Does that mean that my system drive has data on it specific to the OS? I thought that when you perform a reinstallation of windows it requires you to format the HD anyway?
 
So when you do a reinstallation of windows, the back up cd you use is merely retreaving the OS that is still present on the HD. The reinstallation of windows does not first tollaly remove it from the HD, but resets it?
 
Oh and another question concerning the SATA interface cable i will need for my new drive. Is the type of cable different depending on whether the drive is SATA or SATA II? Does my motherboard need to have a SATA II port?
 
Jimpowers79 said:
So when you do a reinstallation of windows, the back up cd you use is merely retreaving the OS that is still present on the HD. The reinstallation of windows does not first tollaly remove it from the HD, but resets it?
Click to expand...
No. If you choose to format the HDD during the reinstallation then the disk is completely wiped and a new copy of the OS is installed from the CD. If you don't format then the new OS will overwrite the existing one.

There is no retrieval or resetting with either method, the OS is installed afresh from the CD.


Jimpowers79 said:
Oh and another question concerning the SATA interface cable i will need for my new drive. Is the type of cable different depending on whether the drive is SATA or SATA II? Does my motherboard need to have a SATA II port?
Click to expand...
SATA II is a misnomer, it's just a marketing name. A SATA cable is a SATA cable, they all work regardless of the interface speed.
 
Thank you for that information. It can be misleading for novices like myself, i have seen interface cables for sale that have said to be specifically for SATA 2 drives!

Therefore, if i want my new drive to be the system drive i just replace my old drive and reinstall windows from my cd. My old drive can then be fully formatted and used as extra storage?
 
So you mean if i were to have both drives connected, there is a chance that i would put windows back onto the same drive? If i start from scratch with my brand new drive i dont have to worry about what is left on the old drive (provide i have copied all files i wish to keep) which can later be formated, is that right? I'm confused now!!

How about this plan...

When i'm ready to do so i tell the computer to format my old HD. Then turn it off, replace the HD with my new one and install windows on it. Later the formated drive can be added. Does that work?!
 
The key here is making sure you don't lose anything from the old disk.

If you only have the new drive connected when you install windows then a) you're sure that it's installed on the right drive and b) the contents of the old drive are safe.

Once windows is installed on the new drive and you're sure it's working correctly you can then connect the old drive and copy anything you need off it onto the new drive. Finally you can format the old one.
 
Great, that makes sense to me now! Sorry for the slow uptake, just wanted to make 100% sure before i did anything drastic! Cheers rpstewart.

... i don't suppose you could have a look at the memory problem i had on my other thread could you? No one appears to be interested in giving me feedback on it. I'm worried it isn't a straight forward answer!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom