Multiple Hard Drives and Windows XP

---

@blueskye wrote:

Hi. I think this is a very simple question that's come up, but I really don't know the answer. I'm replacing my original hard drive (dead) with two SATA drives. Do I have to install Windows XP on both drives? Or do I just install it on one drive? If it's only one drive, how does the operating system control the other drive? I'm using a SATA PCI controller. Thanks for your help.

 

blueskye

 

Just 1 drive.

 

Magic...  :smileyvery-happy:  You will need to use XP's Drive Management to partition and format the 2nd drive.

 

Since your system uses PATA drives, why are you putting in SATA drives and the SATA card beyond your desire to spend a lot more money?  You won't see any faster speeds.

---

@blueskye wrote:

Thanks Rick.

 

    I thought it was only one drive, but wasn't totally sure. Are you partitioning and formatting the drives at the same time or one after the other?

 

    I got SATA drives mostly because of the cabling and installation being easier. I thought I was going to get rid of some of the IDE cables, but it doesn't look like that's likely to happen. I still have a couple of IDE drives left.

 

You install Windows on the boot drive.  Then, when you have it all set up, you go into Disk Management and partition and format your secondary drive.