Added a second hard drive

[hlratliff]

I added a second hard drive to increase capacity. I have not begun saving to it because i am not quite sure how, or if, i need to set it up.

My C drive has all the folders, etc. but my new G drive is just blank.

Any help would be greatly appreciate.

 

[Benny26]

If the drive appears in My Computer you should be ready to go...You could format it first, just to make fully sure it's ready

 

[CamaroMullet]

Typically a new drive will be blank. Adding a second drive will not increase your "drive c's" capacity. In your case, you could move all your pics, videos, music to the second drive. Just use your first drive for your OS/Programs.

 

[hlratliff]

so if my c drive is only for the operating system, would i then download any new programs to my g drive?

 

[CamaroMullet]

I would put Windows AND installed programs on drive 1 ( the faster drive , if possible ) and all your data ( pics, music, etc ... ) on drive 2.

 

[hlratliff]

unfortunately the bigger drive is "G". So, if I have to put programs on the G drive at some point, how do I need to set that up?

 

[CamaroMullet]

That's easy enough. Just install windows on the new drive. Once installed, you can use the old drive for your data.

 

[hlratliff]

do i install windows on the new drive first and then uninstall it on the old drive?

 

[CamaroMullet]

Install Windows on the new drive 1st.

 

[WinXPert]

launch regedit and navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

Find the key called ProgramFilesDir change it to "g:\program files"

Dont add a '\' on the end of the location, i.e. g:\program files as opposed to g:\program files\

 

[hlratliff]

To WinXPert.
made it all the way to current version but could not find the key called programfilesdir. I am using Vista. Could it be called something else?

 

[LookinAround]

1) This is an old MS KB (2007) but i don't think has ever changed and still applies
Microsoft does not support changing the location of the Program Files folder by modifying the ProgramFilesDir registry value

2) Personally, i keep Windows and all programs on one drive. My own gut feel is that's best way to avoid later problems. That said, IMO the only method i'd recommend from my own opinion, is if and only if the program's installer actually prompts you for where to put it. Then it allows you to select your own location so it should "ideally" be able handle the drive/directory you select

 

[hlratliff]

Well, i'm still not sure which way to go after reading replies. I obtained this computer as part of a class I was taking. The original drive was only 60G. I didn't want to have to transfer, etc. etc. so I added a bigger second drive. I just really wanted to know how to make the second drive the main drive and how I would set that up.

 

[LookinAround]

How large each is each drive? (You said the new one is larger, right?)

maybe easiest to do this...

1. Use Disk Copy to create a disk image copy ("clone") of your current disk onto the new one

2. Then just swap the two drives. When you reboot Windows will boot from the copy now on your larger drive

3. then you'd just need to resize the partition on your new boot drive to take advantage of the extra space

e.g. if old drive was 40GB and new was 60GB, disk copy would recreate the 40GB on the new drive (leaving the extra 20GB unallocated/unused). When you boot from the new disk use a partition manager to resize it to use all the space on the new drive.

 

[hlratliff]

Old drive is 70G and new one is 250G. Not quite sure how to do the rest of your instructions but if you will walk me through it I can figure it out.

 

[LookinAround]

any progress? you can just do the first 2 steps then let us know once you've booted from the new drive and can explain using partition manager

Look at that Disk Copy tool in my last post. It'll create an exact sector-by-sector copy of your 70GB drive onto your 250GB drive (including an image of your bootable Windows). Then just swap the drives (or do it in BIOS if you can) object being you want your machine to look on the new drive for bootable Windows

 

[hlratliff]

Looked at the Disk Copy tool. When you say "swap the drives" what exactly do you mean? Am I to physically swap the drives. I've never messed with this stuff on my computer before but want to learn how to do things myself. Thank you for your patience.