second hard disk

adamr1001

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i am wanting a second hard disk as mine is nearly full and i would like the ability to duel boot with a second os. I was wondering which type of hard disk ide? or sata? and was also wondering how to connect it up? Raid1,2,3? i want to be able to use it as a separate drive so i can selct to save to c or the new drive and also use it to install a second operating system, if you need any of my current specs i can get them, your help would be greatly appreciated thanks.
 
I would just set it up as a primary slave channel. If you want to leave it separate so things don't get put on both drives, use RAID 0 or nothing. But make sure that if you go with IDE, to set your jumpers accordingly. Had 1 other person who probably didn't set their jumpers. Jumper for new drive should be set on slave and plugged into middle IDE port on the primary IDE controller cable. Let me know if this answers your question.
 
If you're setting them up as separate drives, then I wouldn't recommend setting them up in RAID. THey provide redundancy (except for RAID 0, but you can't really use the second hard drive anyways because it's used for striping coinciding with the first HDD). I would set up both HDD as Masters for best performance. If they're SATA drives, then it doesn't matter.
 
my current hd is a maxtor 6l200po, is this an ata interface, if so would it still be possible to use ide? and how do i set the jumpers? thanks
 
Yes, you have no choice but to use the IDE controllers. Set the main hard drive to Master. The other hard drive, I would set that to Master too but on another IDE controller. Move the DVD burner down to Slave. The jumpers are these little pins with a cap on top that are usually located on the back of the hard drives. Usually, there will be a small picture telling you what pins are Master, Slave, or Cable select. You just put the little cap over those pins.
 
If it isn't specifically SATA, it would be IDE. You probably have Parallel ATA. That's what my research is showing. I agree with what TRDCorrola said, but make sure that if you decide to use both hard drives as IDE Masters and you take both channels, make your CD drive a secondary slave, or else the letters will be all mixed up.
 
ok so an ide interface set both hds to master, to set the dvd/cd to slave will i need to remove it? and then just install 2nd hard disk and im away? thanks for all your help
 
also on the hd cable to the motherboard, theres a connector with nothing plugged into it? will that be where the 2nd hd plugs into because i dont think there is another long slot to plug it into, ill upload a picture to show you if itll help
 
Make sure that the DVD Writer is on the Secondary Slave interface. That way the two harddrives are together as far as drive letters go. Make sure that you take out the DVD Writer and set it for slave setting, then connect it to the middle port on your IDE ribbon cable.
 
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