Using 2 hard drives

[drjsampson]

Hi. I am fairly new at this computer stuff but am catching on for an older fellow. I have a Pent III, with 1 20 GB hard drive that was in the system when I got it second handed. It it running Win XP pro sp2. The drive is formated to Fat32. I have since put in a 2nd hard drive (20 GB) that also has Win XP pro sp2 but is formatted to NTFS. It was used on another computer with some other applications put has a lot more free space. I am trying to use one system for storing big files or programs while using the other drive to access them. Is this possible and if so how would I go about doing it.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

This is what I would do.

1. I`d convert the Fat32 filesystem on your old hard drive to the NTFS file system. Instructions HERE.

2. Once that`s done, format the new hard drive, also using the NTFS file system. From windows, open my computer and click on the new hard drive, select format and make sure it`s set to format in the NTFS file system, click start.

You can now use the second hard drive for storage of whatever you want.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

 

[drjsampson]

Still need help

I do not want to lose the program files that are preloaded on the Fat32 20GB hard drive. However I would like to free up some program space by transferring some of the programs from this drive to the 2nd 20GB hard drive which is NTFS format. Can I do this.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Converting fat32 to ntfs shouldn`t cause you to lose any data. However, as with any major undertaking, it`s a good idea to backup any important data.

Regards Howard