Help! need some advice on the best way to install a second hard drive

[beb]

Hi,
I'm going to install a second twenty gig hard drive in my system. The first one is partitioned into four partitions. I'll also partition the second drive into four partitions.
My understanding of partitioning is this, please correct me if I'm wrong.
#1 hard drive partitioned into 4 parts C, D, E, &F.
Install second hard drive with four partitions.
drive #1 is now C, E, F, G, and drive #2 will be D, H, I, J.
The problem is: drive #1 has applications installed on drive D so when the system searchs for them it won't be able to find them. What is the best way to solve this problem?

 

[jeremy806]

Slow but willl work -- copy and paste everything back to the correct drive letter.

E-->D
F-->E

etc.

jeremy806

 

[beb]

Thanks Jeremy,
I'd thought of that but seems there's a better way....done a search of the web and came up with this solution.....fdisk the second drive and format it as an Extended Dos Partition, then you can partition it into logical partitions. This will keep the drive letters correct, ie:
disk #1 ABCD disk #2 EFGH
Can anyone tell me if this is correct....always a little nervous the first time I try something

 

[beb]

Thanks Jeremy,
I'd thought of that but seems there's a better way....done a search of the web and came up with this solution.....fdisk the second drive and format it as an Extended Dos Partition, then you can partition it into logical partitions. This will keep the drive letters correct, ie:
disk #1 ABCD disk #2 EFGH
Can anyone tell me if this is correct....always a little nervous the first time I try something

 

[obenton]

Correct.

 

[zetter]

Yes, that is correct, it'll assign drive letters to primary partitions before assigning to extended partitions, so if you only create extended partitions on your new drive you'll be fine.

You didn't mention which OS your using, but if you're using WinNT/2K/XP, you can use the Disk administrator to create the partitions and give them whatever drive letter you wish.

 

[agentK]

ive got a question..... if in case the first hard drive fails, will the second hard drive work if i install windows on it to replace the first without reformatting, it being an extended dos partition.