2 hard drives at once?

[romeodakins]

I have a 160gb western digital 7200rpm hard drive right now, can I add a new 500gb seagate hard drive and combine the capacity to 660gb? Would it be exactly like if I had a single 660gb hard drive? Or would it be different? Also, could I transfer everything even my os from my 160gb hard drive to the new 500gb one?

 

[nukemaster]

The 2 drives will run as separate drives(so something like c: and d.

Seagate offers a utility to clone one drive to the other.

http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/discwizard/

The new 500 gig will be much faster then an old 160 gig as well.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

No you should not combine them as in RAID 0 for several reasons:

1. Your new capacity would be 2 x the smaller drive or 320 GB.
2. That old 160 is dreadfully slow by today's standards
3. That 160 GB is old.....if it dies in RAID 0, all data lost
4. What interface is that old 160 Gigger ...I'll bet IDE ... today's drives are SATA

You could use a disk imaging utility to transfer the stuff on the old drive to the new drive.

 

[romeodakins]

First of all, my 160gb isn't old, it's 7200rpm and it's sata, I bought it on amazon used.

This is what I got http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00348TXZ8/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

So why is it bad to use 2 drives? I don't understand what you guys are saying. How come people use a hard drive and ssd though? Isn't it the same as using harddrive and harddrive?

 

[dextermat]

Hi,

+1 no raid

Use 160 gb for os and 500 gb for data storage

Install hard disk sentinel trial so that you know if a drive will fail soon

BTW, it's not bad to use 2 or more HD, its more that a raid with the drive you have is a bad idea

Is you seagate 7200 rpm ?

 

[romeodakins]

Hi,

+1 no raid

Use 160 gb for os and 500 gb for data storage

Install hard disk sentinel trial so that you know if a drive will fail soon

BTW, it's not bad to use 2 or more HD, its more that a raid with the drive you have is a bad idea

Is you seagate 7200 rpm ?

Yeah I'm getting a new 7200rpm, why would the hard drives fail if I add 2? This is really complicated, I think I'm just gonna get a new 500gb and sell the 160gb, how would I transfer all my data from 160gb to the new 500gb? Can I just insert both drives in my computer, and then use some software to transfer? I got my 160gb for 25 bucks but I saw some good 500gbones on ebay for like 35 bucks.

 

[romeodakins]

Both drives will work on the same system, as other suggested you shouldn't RAID them. If you really prefer having one large capacity drive then buy one unless you don't mind a couple of drives with different capacities.

So "raiding" them is combining them? What are the dangers or raiding them?

 

[MidnightDistort]

Both drives will work on the same system, as other suggested you shouldn't RAID them. If you really prefer having one large capacity drive then buy one unless you don't mind a couple of drives with different capacities.

 

[MidnightDistort]

Here's a little bit about RAID: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID some raid setups could cause all hard drives in the raid to fail. There is one that if you hook up 2 to the raid if one fails some data might be safe while other data might be lost. It's somewhat over my head as well but from reading about it, it's mostly useful for servers and extremely heavy data transferring. Imo it's cheaper and easier to just back up your info regularly.

 

[romeodakins]

Here's a little bit about RAID: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID some raid setups could cause all hard drives in the raid to fail. There is one that if you hook up 2 to the raid if one fails some data might be safe while other data might be lost. It's somewhat over my head as well but from reading about it, it's mostly useful for servers and extremely heavy data transferring. Imo it's cheaper and easier to just back up your info regularly.

So what if I don't combine the hard drives, so if I have drive c and drive d, drive c would be full of my os and stuff right? Then my drive d(500gb) would be completely empty and I can use the 500gb to store whatever I want?

 

[MidnightDistort]

Yes. Your 500gb drive might be under a diff letter depending on your setup.

 

[photonboy]

When you add your 500GB drive, you have two choices:
1) use as the Operating System drive (CLONE 160GB drive to it), or
2) add as STORAGE

If you really need the space we can discuss how to CLONE your 160GB over to the 500GB drive (which you would PARTITION into two drive letters).

Assuming you add as STORAGE:
1) physically add the drive and BOOT to Windows
2) if the 500GB drive is not seen, go here: "Computer Management" -> "Disk Management"
3) You'll see a drive slightly smaller than 500GB. You may need to right-click and "CREATE VOLUME" (forget the exact term)
4) once that is done it should be viewable in normal Windows Explorer
5) before using you should do a FULL FORMAT (right-click drive in Windows Explorer, choose format and uncheck "quick"). FULL FORMAT takes hours so do overnight.

*A full format builds a bad-sector table so it won't write to defective locations. If you do NOT build this bad-sector table the first time you can get corrupted data.

BACKING UP:
You should occasionally create a backup IMAGE of your Windows Drive. If you have a Seagate or Western Digital tool, go to their site (WD for WD drives) and find the Acronis True Image software in the hard drive section (Seagate has a different name for it).

You can then create a compressed backup IMAGE of your C-drive (Windows) that you can RESTORE easily in the event of physical failure of your Windows drive or software corruption (virus).

 

[romeodakins]

When you add your 500GB drive, you have two choices:
1) use as the Operating System drive (CLONE 160GB drive to it), or
2) add as STORAGE

If you really need the space we can discuss how to CLONE your 160GB over to the 500GB drive (which you would PARTITION into two drive letters).

Assuming you add as STORAGE:
1) physically add the drive and BOOT to Windows
2) if the 500GB drive is not seen, go here: "Computer Management" -> "Disk Management"
3) You'll see a drive slightly smaller than 500GB. You may need to right-click and "CREATE VOLUME" (forget the exact term)
4) once that is done it should be viewable in normal Windows Explorer
5) before using you should do a FULL FORMAT (right-click drive in Windows Explorer, choose format and uncheck "quick"). FULL FORMAT takes hours so do overnight.

*A full format builds a bad-sector table so it won't write to defective locations. If you do NOT build this bad-sector table the first time you can get corrupted data.

BACKING UP:
You should occasionally create a backup IMAGE of your Windows Drive. If you have a Seagate or Western Digital tool, go to their site (WD for WD drives) and find the Acronis True Image software in the hard drive section (Seagate has a different name for it).

You can then create a compressed backup IMAGE of your C-drive (Windows) that you can RESTORE easily in the event of physical failure of your Windows drive or software corruption (virus).

Ok so is what I want to do "add as storage" Like I just insert it to my pc and my 160gb drive would be drive c and my new 500gb would be like drive d? Then it would be kind of like a usb drive? Like I can drag any files I want into the 500gb?

 

[nukemaster]

Ok so is what I want to do "add as storage" Like I just insert it to my pc and my 160gb drive would be drive c and my new 500gb would be like drive d? Then it would be kind of like a usb drive? Like I can drag any files I want into the 500gb?

Yes. That us just how it works.

This is an idea of what you can do with multiple drives or even multiple partitions on one drive.

In this case c: is windows d: is files f: is some games: h: is windows 8. The missing letters are optical drives.

I am not calling your 160 slow because it is old or new. It is slow because platters now hold more data per square inch. So the 500 should be faster.

Just to give you an idea of how far drives have come.

Think back to 60gig drives. then 120,

At the time, that 120 was fast and 2 in raid0 was even faster.

Fast forward....
Next thing you know. 2TB drives with even more speed.

 

[romeodakins]

Yes. That us just how it works.

This is an idea of what you can do with multiple drives or even multiple partitions on one drive.

In this case c: is windows d: is files f: is some games: h: is windows 8. The missing letters are optical drives.
http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/1227/drives.png

I am not calling your 160 slow because it is old or new. It is slow because platters now hold more data per square inch. So the 500 should be faster.

Just to give you an idea of how far drives have come.

Think back to 60gig drives. then 120,

At the time, that 120 was fast and 2 in raid0 was even faster.
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/1078/laptopvsdesktop.png

Fast forward....
Next thing you know. 2TB drives with even more speed.
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/6504/wdblack2000.png
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/7661/cheapseagatehdtune.png

Thanks! The pictures really helped, so my 160gb is slower because it has less storage? What if I drag everything from the 160gb to my new 500gb? Like if I insert both in my pc, is there some kind of software to transfer everything from one drive to another?

 

[nukemaster]

Yes, it is called cloning or migration in some cases.

Some have been listed above(Seagate Discwizard).

You can also get some free alternatives like TODO Backup(it has cloning as well), but if seagates tools works(and it does), I would just go that route.

knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/201991en

You can just install the new disk and run some benchmarks to see how fast it ends up being before deciding what you want to do. PRM is what made drives faster and larger.

I know its cheesy, but gets the point across. All new drives use PMR and if you luck out and get a drive that has a lets say 1Gigabyte platter set to only 160gigabyte, it will FLY, but its not that common.

https://www1.hgst.com/hdd/research/recording_head/pr/PerpendicularAnimation.html

 

[romeodakins]

Best answer selected by romeodakins.

 

[romeodakins]

Ok I have one more question that needs immediate answer. Can I use a Sata and IDE drive together? Also how slow is the IDE compared to the Sata, I was trying to win this auction on ebay for an 250gb IDE and I could've won it for like 17 bucks but I read it was IDE so I played it safe and I just let it go.

 

[nukemaster]

If your board has both sata and ide ports, then you can use drives of both. mix and match is not much of an issue.

My old media center had a 120gig IDE for windows and a 320gig SATA for media recording.

 

[romeodakins]

If your board has both sata and ide ports, then you can use drives of both. mix and match is not much of an issue.

My old media center had a 120gig IDE for windows and a 320gig SATA for media recording.

What is the speed compared to sata? Also, is this drive good?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Seagate-Hard-Drive-7200-RPM-500GB-Sata-Connection-/261080254492?pt=US_Internal_Hard_Disk_Drives&hash=item3cc998881c#ht_500wt_1361

 

[nukemaster]

IDE has a max speed of 133(33/66/100 before) megabytes/sec

SATA had 150 then 300 and now 600.

The problem is that the interface speed does not make the drive faster(but does have the advantage on not sharing a cable to 2 drives.). When SATA came out IDE drive had not even broken the 100megabytes/sec. So much so that Western Digital stuck with ATA100 right to the end if I remember right.

Fastest drives I have seem are in the 150-190 range(as you see above, they do not HOLD that speed, neither do any hard drives without being short stroked)

You are looking at about 90megabytes/sec average(It is SATA) with a peak of about 100-110. If i trust old benchmarks. I think Seagate may have had some issues with the 7200.11's and had to tune down the speed a bit. It has been a while. I may have some kicking around to check. stand by.

EDIT. my 2 Seagate 500's(I may have a small collection of drives stashed away.) are 7200.10. so no help for you with those.

Still the benchmarks above should be close.

 

[romeodakins]

IDE has a max speed of 133(33/66/100 before) megabytes/sec

SATA had 150 then 300 and now 600.

The problem is that the interface speed does not make the drive faster(but does have the advantage on not sharing a cable to 2 drives.). When SATA came out IDE drive had not even broken the 100megabytes/sec. So much so that Western Digital stuck with ATA100 right to the end if I remember right.

Fastest drives I have seem are in the 150-190 range(as you see above, they do not HOLD that speed, neither do any hard drives without being short stroked)

You are looking at about 90megabytes/sec average(It is SATA) with a peak of about 100-110. If i trust old benchmarks. I think Seagate may have had some issues with the 7200.11's and had to tune down the speed a bit. It has been a while. I may have some kicking around to check. stand by.

EDIT. my 2 Seagate 500's(I may have a small collection of drives stashed away.) are 7200.10. so no help for you with those.

Still the benchmarks above should be close.

So is this a good drive? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Seagate-Hard-Drive-7200-RPM-500GB-Sata-Connection-/261080254492?pt=US_Internal_Hard_Disk_Drives&hash=item3cc998881c#ht_500wt_1361 I'm a little skeptic because of the really cheap price but the ebay seller has some good ratings.

Also the drive says certified repaired drive.

 

[nukemaster]

I have never used repaired/refurb drives, so i have very little experience with them.

A 7200.12 500gig is about 75-80$ new. And drive prices are up because of a flood last year.

 

[photonboy]

You may wish to PRINT THIS is and anything else for future reference. It gets complicated:

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask them. Otherwise maybe close this thread.

If you definitely get the 500GB drive, it would be best to use it for your Window drive like this:

1) Hook up BOTH drives

2) Boot to Windows and start Acronis True Image, or a different cloning program (EASEUS has a free version at their site. You might have to create a CD/DVD and boot to it. You can look for that.)

3) CLONE by following the instructions, but choose a custom option and split your 500GB drive into two partitions.

4) the 160GB drive will be CLONED to the first partition of the 500GB drive and the second partition can be used for whatever you want

5) POWER OFF and remove the 160GB drive. Now boot up and make sure it boots to the 500GB drive

6) You should see a C: drive (Windows) and a D: drive (second partition of 500GB drive) and an E: drive (CD/DVD drive)

7) store the 160GB drive until satisfied things work, then FORMAT IT FULLY (not quick) overnight and use it to store one or two backup IMAGES of your C-drive (Windows) in case of data corruption.

*Acronis True Image:
Again, the FREE version can be found at Seagte or Western Digital in the hard drive software section (WD site for a WD drive). You must have one of their drives detected (even USB) to use it. Otherwise there is similar software that can be found.

Acronis True Image can make compressed backup IMAGES of your C-drive (Windows) to RESTOR in case of hard drive or software issues (virus etc) and can also CLONE.

 

[romeodakins]

You may wish to PRINT THIS is and anything else for future reference. It gets complicated:

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask them. Otherwise maybe close this thread.

If you definitely get the 500GB drive, it would be best to use it for your Window drive like this:

1) Hook up BOTH drives

2) Boot to Windows and start Acronis True Image, or a different cloning program (EASEUS has a free version at their site. You might have to create a CD/DVD and boot to it. You can look for that.)

3) CLONE by following the instructions, but choose a custom option and split your 500GB drive into two partitions.

4) the 160GB drive will be CLONED to the first partition of the 500GB drive and the second partition can be used for whatever you want

5) POWER OFF and remove the 160GB drive. Now boot up and make sure it boots to the 500GB drive

6) You should see a C: drive (Windows) and a D: drive (second partition of 500GB drive) and an E: drive (CD/DVD drive)

7) store the 160GB drive until satisfied things work, then FORMAT IT FULLY (not quick) overnight and use it to store one or two backup IMAGES of your C-drive (Windows) in case of data corruption.

*Acronis True Image:
Again, the FREE version can be found at Seagte or Western Digital in the hard drive software section (WD site for a WD drive). You must have one of their drives detected (even USB) to use it. Otherwise there is similar software that can be found.

Acronis True Image can make compressed backup IMAGES of your C-drive (Windows) to RESTOR in case of hard drive or software issues (virus etc) and can also CLONE.

How would it be better if I kept my os in the 500gb one? I might just get a 250gb one instead because it's cheaper because I'm running out of storage for games right now, I only got 60gb left.