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I just got a slave hard drive.

mack

Turbo Monkey
Feb 26, 2003
3,674
0
Colorado
So I just went out and picked up a 512 RAM card and a second internal hardrive (80 gig). My question is...

Can I choose wich files are sent to the slave hard drive? I want to transfer all the stuff on my old (master) hardrive onto the new (slave) hard drive. Then I want to throw the old one (30 gig) out and get another 80 gig drive. Can this be done? Or does windows randomly select where data is stored?

I also wanted to let in on this kick ass deal. Comp USA 80 gig hitachi hardrive... 30 bucks with mail in rebate. :thumb:
 

Dartman

Old Bastard Mike
Feb 26, 2003
3,911
0
Richmond, VA
Installed as slave it will get assigned the next available drive letter like D: (It may bump your CD drive to E:, if you have one) and you will be able to direct which files to copy to it. Getting it to be your main boot drive will be tricky. If it was my computer I'd backup all my stuff to cd's and then install the 80g drive as primary and reinstall windows for a fresh start. There are some drive utilities to move your operating system to a new drive but they cost more than the drive did. Either way backup the stuff you want to keep.

Mike
 
The base drill would be something like this:
1) Do a full backup of your C: drive (master) to the medium of your choice.
2) Remove the old drive and install the new one configured as master.
3) Install the operating system. The new drive will now show up as C:.
4) Install your backup software.
5) Restore from the full backup you performed in step 1).
6) (optional) Install the old drive, configured as slave, format it, use it as D:.

J
 

Wumpus

makes avatars better
Dec 25, 2003
8,161
153
Six Shooter Junction
Personally, I would set up the new drive as a data drive and copy anything important from the old one to it and then keep using the old one for the boot drive. That way if the operating system craps out on you, you don't have to worry about it corrupting all your stuff. If you get another new drive, then set that one up as the boot and retire your 30gb drive.
 

mack

Turbo Monkey
Feb 26, 2003
3,674
0
Colorado
Wumpus said:
Personally, I would set up the new drive as a data drive and copy anything important from the old one to it and then keep using the old one for the boot drive. That way if the operating system craps out on you, you don't have to worry about it corrupting all your stuff. If you get another new drive, then set that one up as the boot and retire your 30gb drive.
This is what I have done. I put all my music, videos and other important crap on the new hardrive and am just going to use the old one as my boot drive. Thanks.
 

McGRP01

beer and bikes
Feb 6, 2003
7,793
0
Portland, OR
Forgive my computer ignorance, but I have a question. Would it be possible for me to purchase a external hard drive and put only iTunes on it? Essentially a seperate hard disk with just all my music on it.
 

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
McGRP01 said:
Forgive my computer ignorance, but I have a question. Would it be possible for me to purchase a external hard drive and put only iTunes on it? Essentially a seperate hard disk with just all my music on it.
yeah you can do that. not sure if you need to install the iTunes program on the C: drive or that external drive, but i don't think it really matters. just drag and drop the music folders into yr iTunes library and it should add everything.
 

partsbara

Turbo Monkey
Nov 16, 2001
3,996
0
getting Xtreme !
McGRP01 said:
Forgive my computer ignorance, but I have a question. Would it be possible for me to purchase a external hard drive and put only iTunes on it? Essentially a seperate hard disk with just all my music on it.
thats more or less what i did... picked up a maxtor 200G external drive and burned my CD collection (that i have here - approx 300) to it via rio music manager...
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
65,375
12,529
In a van.... down by the river
mack said:
This is what I have done. I put all my music, videos and other important crap on the new hardrive and am just going to use the old one as my boot drive. Thanks.
Hopefully your "important stuff" is also on a CD somewhere? Don't trust a single hard drive for your important stuff. Make backup copies.
 

mack

Turbo Monkey
Feb 26, 2003
3,674
0
Colorado
SkaredShtles said:
Hopefully your "important stuff" is also on a CD somewhere? Don't trust a single hard drive for your important stuff. Make backup copies.

By important stuff you mean porn and music, then yes. :D
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
Put in the new drive on the end of the IDE ribbon cable. Make sure the jumpers are set to "cable select". This will make the new drive the "master"



Install windows onto the master.

Now all your old files are on your old drive, the "slave".

Grab all the files you want to keep off of it and put them somewhere on the new drive.

Format the old drive after a few weeks and you know you have everything off of it.

Done.
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
H8R said:
Put in the new drive on the end of the IDE ribbon cable. Make sure the jumpers are set to "cable select". This will make the new drive the "master"



Install windows onto the master.

Now all your old files are on your old drive, the "slave".

Grab all the files you want to keep off of it and put them somewhere on the new drive.

Format the old drive after a few weeks and you know you have everything off of it.

Done.
BTW windows will boot only from the master - your old drive will only be storage. Just make sure the jumpers are correct.
 

mack

Turbo Monkey
Feb 26, 2003
3,674
0
Colorado
So when i load windows onto the new drive, then grab all the files off of the old one, how do i delete the old windows off of the secondary drive? Is there a way to completely clean a drive?

Also, what format is 'cable select' for the jumpers? Cant i just set the jumpers to master drive, or do i need to do cable select. Im asuming that cable select just means that the drive can be pluged in as either a salve or master drive, and automaticly knows by wich cable its pluged into? (gray or black)
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,559
24,181
media blackout
SkaredShtles said:
Hopefully your "important stuff" is also on a CD somewhere? Don't trust a single hard drive for your important stuff. Make backup copies.
RAID1. don't waste your time with hard drives other than WD or seagate. i've never had anything else last more than a year. my primary drive is currently a 80gig WD that is 3.5 years old, no problems.
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
mack said:
So when i load windows onto the new drive, then grab all the files off of the old one, how do i delete the old windows off of the secondary drive? Is there a way to completely clean a drive?
After you have all your files moved over to your new drive (which Windows has been flawlessly installed on I assume) just right click the old drive in "My Computer" and choose "Format". It'll wipe it clean.

mack said:
Also, what format is 'cable select' for the jumpers? Cant i just set the jumpers to master drive, or do i need to do cable select. Im asuming that cable select just means that the drive can be pluged in as either a salve or master drive, and automaticly knows by wich cable its pluged into? (gray or black)
If they are standard IDE drives there will be a little diagram on the back to show where the jumpers go.

If you aren't sure about the cable thing set the new drive to "MASTER" and the old drive to "SLAVE".
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
jonKranked said:
RAID1. don't waste your time with hard drives other than WD or seagate. i've never had anything else last more than a year. my primary drive is currently a 80gig WD that is 3.5 years old, no problems.
I have two IBM (Hitachi) Deskstar drives that are going very strong at 4 years plus now.
 

Ciaran

Fear my banana
Apr 5, 2004
9,839
15
So Cal
maxyedor said:
do the rite thing and back up your porn and music to cd then throw your computer away and geta mac g5 with the 1000gb of internal hard-drive, problem solved
Why get a toy? He needs a computer. :evil:

Mack, just make sure you back up all the porn and mp3's. Use the 80 giger as your primary drive (C drive... OS and apps only) then get two 300+ gig drives and run a RAID 1 (mirrored) setup for all your data. Automatically backed up and tons of space for boobies. :thumb:

And remember, as you get into really big drives it is easier in the long run to use a RAID system for back ups then to try and periodically back up to CD or DVD.
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
Ciaran said:
I have 2 IBM deskstars that are going on 4 years now... both doing fine.
I will say the new SATA ones are a tad noisy, I threw one in a new comp I built for my sister.

BTW - the new Nvidia 6100 mother boards are cool.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
Transcend said:
Oh I do, that's why i posted. When you have to ask if you can control where data goes...you shoudn't be playing with it.
I would agree wholeheartedly with that... No offense meant, but asking if Windows just randomly throws data on different drives (or, for that matter, saying you bought a "slave hard drive" which is technically wrong, there's no such thing as a "slave hard drive" or a "master hard drive", they're just drives that you choose to run in one mode or the other), means you really don't understand some underlying concepts.

If you don't understand the underlying concepts, you shouldn't be pulling your computer apart without a step by step walkthrough or something.
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
binary visions said:
If you don't understand the underlying concepts, you shouldn't be pulling your computer apart without a step by step walkthrough or something.
Maybe he should just do it by trial and error. Like his spelling.

:)
 

mack

Turbo Monkey
Feb 26, 2003
3,674
0
Colorado
binary visions said:
I would agree wholeheartedly with that... No offense meant, but asking if Windows just randomly throws data on different drives (or, for that matter, saying you bought a "slave hard drive" which is technically wrong, there's no such thing as a "slave hard drive" or a "master hard drive", they're just drives that you choose to run in one mode or the other), means you really don't understand some underlying concepts.

I bought it to be used as a secondary hardrive. And you guys are right, I dont really know allot about PC hardware or windows. I just needed more disk space and needed a few questions answered, and I knew there had to be a few :monkey:'s out there who knew what they were doing.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
mack said:
I bought it to be used as a secondary hardrive. And you guys are right, I dont really know allot about PC hardware or windows. I just needed more disk space and needed a few questions answered, and I knew there had to be a few :monkey:'s out there who knew what they were doing.
I'm not trying to dig on you, here, just prevent you from giving yourself a lot of headache. Do you have a buddy who knows about this stuff?

If you've got a friend who knows his stuff, you'll be a lot better off. If you don't, PM me and I'll try to write you a walkthrough sometime today to avoid most of the headaches you could face doing this.