Add a Second Hard Drive - Comments Page 8

I read all the postings but still can't figure it out. Win XP crashed on current SATA hard drive (200GB). Bought a new WD 250GB and installed WIN XP (everything OK). Added old drive, still partitioned in 2nd SATA slot. BIOS sees OK, and boot order verified. Device manager "sees" C: (new 250GB) and recognizes 2 partitions of the old drive but will not assign a drive letter. Format and re-partitionis NOT an option. How can I get the data off? Thanks

EDITOR'S NOTER: Sounds like the file access table got munged. I hate to sound like a broken record, but the TESTDISK program will probably do the trick. See http://askbobrankin.com/hard_drive_recovery.html

i have a problem that i couldnt resolve it yet . i have 2 HDDs SATA, one is insatalled windows Xp and it is work properly , but i connect the 2nd HDD which is also SATA, but it is not recognized by the windows , I have CDR and has a jumpor which is located as a master , how can i let the windows recognize the 2nd SATA HD , and thank you

Hi, I have got a similar issue when trying to install the second harddrive into my computer. I have got the windows XP pro SP2 running on my 250G HDD. when I trying to connect my SATA 500GB HDD which worked fine on my vista machine to the windows XP. The disk manager showing GUID partition table (GPT) partition style and I could only see the HDD name and the size, no actions could be taken when I right click on it.

the correct HDD name showing under the device manager.
tried to use Partition Manager, could not assign the harddrive with a drive letter. what could i do from here?

EDITOR'S NOTE: You probably need SATA drivers for XP. Check the HD vendor's website.

I currently have a computer set up for an IDE hard drive and I want to install a SATA hard disk. Can i simply buy a SATA - IDE Adapter cord to install my new SATA hard drive?

EDITOR'S NOTE: You can buy an adapter to enable the connection of a SATA drive to an IDE-based motherboard. Or you can connect an external SATA drive via USB.

i have a new computer with a sata hard drive, can i transfer files from my old ide hard drive?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Sure, see http://askbobrankin.com/copying_old_hard_drive_to_new_pc.html

I just followed your instructions and added a second hard drive and partitioned it into to 2 parts with XP and I found it alot easier than I thought it would be, just be sure to check and double check your jumpers and cables, The rest is pretty easy. Some BIOS's are different just keep that in mind it's a good idea to check and make sure BIOS sees your new drive as SLAVE on older models.

My friend had a 5Gb drive. I found a 10Gb one and added it as the slave. It appears to work fine. We deleted all the files on the 10Gb drive and formatted it correctly, I believe. But I didn't know how two drives work together, so we tried loading up the 5Gb drive until it was full, then seeing if the excess went to the new drive. Instead we just got a message that the C: drive is full. I thought that they would work together, as one 15Gb drive. I've looked all over trying to find some information. I guess now that you need to put some programs on one drive, some on the other, then if one drive becomes full you do some shuffling of programs. Is that right?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Unfortunately, Windows will not transparently treat the two drives as one large drive. You will have to move files from C: to D:, or just configure your programs to save data on the D: drive. As for moving programs, that's a little tricker. You'll probably run into problems because the registry will be pointing to files on the C: drive that no longer exist. It's better to remove and re-install on the D: drive.

I recently had to replace my main hard drive due to a malfunction. I was able to go into my old hard drive and get all the data off of it that I wanted. I have a second much larger hard drive with lots of data that I tried connecting but have been unable to access it. It recognizes that the drive is there but asks me if I want to format it, which I clearly do not want to do. I vaguely remember going through this process once before and, after a few days and restarts, it eventually just allowed me in. Surely there is a way to circumvent this whole magically appearing drive situation and make it work now, right?

EDITOR'S NOTE: I can't imagine there's a waiting period... Try viewing it with Disk Management -- Start / Run / DISKMGMT.MSC

hi i have added a another internal hard drive as the one i have is full now how can i get them to work together i have made them dynamic and the new one i have tryed to make a spanned volume but it says only 7 mb and the rest as a seprate drive plsssss help

EDITOR'S NOTE: With Windows XP Professional (not the Home Edition) you can create dynamic disks. But this is not easy for the average user. See http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/314343

Hi i have the same problem as some of the other people i put my 2nd harddrive in its reconized by my computers update system but when i go into "my computer" it do not show up in there, any idea why that would be? i put the jumpers and cables in the correct places but for some reason i cant see it or use it. please help me.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Is the disk formatted? Do you need SATA drivers?