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Question about running two harddrives

C

Corporate Thug

Lifer
i have a 100 gb WD SE and i want to add a maxtor 120 gb for more storage

if i'm using it for storage only, do i have to:

a. install an OS on it?
b. format it ?

i assume i have to format it. just use win XP install disk to format? NTFS or FAT32?

TIA
 
answer to a): no
answer to b): depends on the drive. sometimes you don't but often the drives that come straight outta the plastic bag do require a format.

no you do not need to use the XP CD. hopefully you can see them in windows as soon as you plug it in. if it doesn't show up however and you can't just right click it in My Computer, goto administrative tools > computer management > disk management. you can format it from there. alternatively you can use the good old Fdisk provided by in a Win98 startup disk.
 
temporary storage maybe but risky! i've lost 70gb just instantly because i didnt have anything convenient to back it up to or cdr is just a pain.
 
You should get a CD with the Maxtor HD that will enable you to clone your master drive to your new drive after you format (unless you bought your new HD bare, without any hardware or manuals). I've never tried this CD (I was looking at either buying a second Maxtor or a Western Digital, and I wnet with the WD).

This CD might also walk you through the installation and formatting of the new drive. If you get the CD with the drive, I'd look at its contents before doing anything inside your case. As long as your system is running, the CD might tell you everything you need to know step by step, and automatically be able to perform all the tasks needed to install your new drive. You can learn more about this at www.maxtor.com by navigating under Worldwide Support. I tried to give you a link, but when I previewed this message and checked the link the page didn't load properly. So you'll have to navigate to their support page yourself. It appears the software CD I was referring to is called Maxblast.

BTW, I installed my new WD HD yesterday - my OS is Win XP Pro, and even though my master drive is formatted in FAT32, Windows would only give me the option of formatting the new drive in NTFS. You should still be able to transfer files in either direction with FAT32 on one drive and NTFS on the other.
 
Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
NTFS of course. FAT32 isn't even being used anymore I dont think, except for like CF cards.
Click to expand...

Linux. Last I reinstalled Windows I formatted FAT32 so that my linux partition could write to it if needed. Unfortunately, Windows only supports FAT16, 32, and NTFS, so FAT32 was really my only choice.
 
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