Adding the second drive is easy. I got mine from Newegg along with a SATA cable. I had it installed and up and running in about an hour (formatting took long time). The secnd drive fits into the spare holder next to the original one you got.
I suggest you get a 36 inch SATA cable so you can route it along side the original. Be sure to get cable with one 90 degree connection for connection at the HD or cover won't close.
Don't forget to turn on the SATA port in BIOS. Driver was automatic when I first turned on pc by VISTA. But youcan go to teh HD mfg site and get them too.
Now, if you are planning on using a RAID configuration( I didn't) it may be another story.
I am using my second drive (250 gig vs 320 gig primary disk) for music and photos and backingup files I want.
What I like to do, since the HD's are not expensive any more, is to copy the old HD to the new one with the complete OS, all drivers and applications just perfect; then I unplug the new drive. The idea is to hold that drive in reserve as a "Complete Restore Disk". It saves extreme valuable time and aggravation at those times when we have to reload, in particular the phone calls to Microsoft to reload MS Office and alike. The data is baked up in an Ethernet exterior disk working in my home network so is accessible from my laptop even if the desktop is turned off.
I used to do that with all my desk tops using the IDEE and setting the BIOS on wire detect. Now, I am confuse with terms like "rail" rail 0, rail 4. Also, there is talk about drivers, that was never needed before.
Is this idea viable on this newer computers running on Vista?
Is there a simple explanation on what a rail means? What they do?
They are talking about raid, not rail. It's a way you configure two or more hard drives to run as 1 (very fast), or two in a configuration to mirror thus creating a mirror image of the same data on two drives.
Thank you for the Information. I did some reading about “RAID” and now I understand.
However, is there a way to add a second drive, copy the primary into the fresh one and unplug the fresh one and hold it in reserve? A complete OS and everything else even MS office all configured including the Email account already set up. In other words, I like to hold the entire system ready to go in reserve.
The reason I like to have it unplugged is so it will be unaffected in case of viruses, mal-intentioned or uninformed users that potentially could destroy or corrupt the content of the disk.
Therefore, my question is: Can the RAID be turned off or… just don’t use it? If so, my idea of having a copy of the primary drive with all the things I need to get going in a jippy unplugged in reserve is viable?
Yes, there is. You need software to do it. Something like Casper XP, or I use acronis true image. Just decide which you want, and install your second drive, do a quick format on it, and ghost the image to your back up drive.
In the past, I used, for the most part, Western Digital drives. They come with software to copy the entire disk (ghost). However, this time I purchased one from Dell; I will see if the appropriate software is included with the hard drive. If not, I will follow your recommendation. Thank you again.
biznaga
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March 30th, 2007 21:00
Message Edited by biznaga on 03-30-2007 03:25 PM
mtabernig
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March 31st, 2007 02:00
gdwrnch3
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March 31st, 2007 04:00
mtabernig
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March 31st, 2007 16:00
Thank you for the Information. I did some reading about “RAID” and now I understand.
However, is there a way to add a second drive, copy the primary into the fresh one and unplug the fresh one and hold it in reserve? A complete OS and everything else even MS office all configured including the Email account already set up. In other words, I like to hold the entire system ready to go in reserve.
The reason I like to have it unplugged is so it will be unaffected in case of viruses, mal-intentioned or uninformed users that potentially could destroy or corrupt the content of the disk.
Therefore, my question is: Can the RAID be turned off or… just don’t use it? If so, my idea of having a copy of the primary drive with all the things I need to get going in a jippy unplugged in reserve is viable?
gdwrnch3
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March 31st, 2007 19:00
mtabernig
208 Posts
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March 31st, 2007 20:00
Thank you.
In the past, I used, for the most part, Western Digital drives. They come with software to copy the entire disk (ghost). However, this time I purchased one from Dell; I will see if the appropriate software is included with the hard drive. If not, I will follow your recommendation. Thank you again.