How to setup 2nd internal HD as backup for My Documents only?

[mdexter2]

I just reinstalled XP home on my main C: drive and I have a 2nd HD (that I left unplugged while reinstalling the OS) that has a clone copy of my old setup on it. How do I safely get rid of the clone on my 2nd drive and set it to where it can be used for just My Documents backups from my main drive? I don't want to use it for clone copies of the whole OS anymore. But I'm afraid that if I hook up my 2nd drive and boot back into my newly done (reinstalled OS) main drive, the system might become confused with what's on the 2nd drive since it has an old OS copy on it. Obviously, I'm a little ignorant as to how these types of things work. (A friend of mine had created/done the clone for me with Linux). TIA for any help.

:knock:

 

[pipeman]

If you start up the computer with the second drive installed, the computer will not be confused as long as the drive is set to slave. You can do that by changing the jumper settings on the drives. Usually there is a diagram on the drive itself but, you may have to go the the drives' website for jumper placement. After you do that then you erase/format the slave drive to erase the old OS install.

pipeman

 

[mdexter2]

@ pipeman

Both my drives are Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 SATA NCQ 160 GB HD's. From what I understand, there is no master/slave setup with these types of drives?

 

[pipeman]

Then it would be done through your BIOS. Set wich one to boot from in you BIOS when your computer starts. Just make sure you are booting from the new one before you reformat the old one.

pipeman

 

[just_a_nobody]

There is no jumper on a SATA drive, but your motherboard may have a master (drive0) and slave (drive1), and you may have to activate them in the BIOS (setup).

 

[just_a_nobody]

If you have the setup disk for the Seagate hard drives, then just use that to reformat the hard drive that you want to use as storage.

 

[mdexter2]

@ everybody

Okay, this is getting a little complicated for me. I know how to get into the BIOS and switch drives, etc., but that's about it. I don't know about flashing the BIOS, working with the CMOS or other stuff and what not. Anyhow, how about this and would it work?

I could unhook completely my main newly done drive and then hook up the 2nd old drive as if it's the main drive and boot into the BIOS to reformat it without involving using the Windows XP CD? Yes? No?

BTW, I got to go to the Post Office. Be back in a half hour or so. Thanks for the help. :bounce:

 

[just_a_nobody]

@ everybody

Okay, this is getting a little complicated for me. I know how to get into the BIOS and switch drives, etc., but that's about it. QUOTE]

CMOS=BIOS

In most cases, as long as the drive you want, as your boot (C drive, is connected, to the master (drive0) connector, then the second drive shouldn't have any affect, just reformat it.

Go to: Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Computer Management/Disk Management/then find the drive you want to use as storage, right click it, and select format.

 

[mdexter2]

@ everybody

Okay, this is getting a little complicated for me. I know how to get into the BIOS and switch drives, etc., but that's about it. QUOTE]

CMOS=BIOS

In most cases, as long as the drive you want, as your boot (C drive, is connected, to the master (drive0) connector, then the second drive shouldn't have any affect, just reformat it.

Go to: Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Computer Management/Disk Management/then find the drive you want to use as storage, right click it, and select format.

In most cases shouldn't have any affect? But what if my case isn't among most cases. What's the safest way to avoid possible problems/conflicts? See, the problem is this. The way my friend ended up cloning my original OS BEFORE my recent reinstall on my main drive was in such a way that while using the 2nd cloned drive, most every program was referencing the C: drive in order to function with just a few things (e.g., OE) running independently from and within the J: drive. (He had used Linux for the cloning, ran into some problems on the 1st attempt and then tried something else while still using Linux and the end result was a clone that was not entirely independent from my main OS.) Needless to say, this is not what I had wanted. I had wanted the clone to be an entirely independent backup that could run by itself in case the original became unstable and/or unusable for some reason. But nevertheless, I'm not going to be bothering with cloning/mirror imaging and what not anymore because it's too much of a bother for me.

Thanks!

 

[just_a_nobody]

Well, the easiest way, in my opinion, is to go to bootdisk.com, and get a Win ME disk setup disk, and make a floppy.

Then remove the hard drive you want to keep, and put in the one you want to use for storage, and boot your computer with the bootdisk in the floppy.

Now, at the a:/ prompt type in FDISK, erase the partition, and then create a new partition, then format it FAT32. Once you put the disk back in as the second hard drive, then you can reformat it to NTFS if you want, but as a storage disk, FAT32 will work fine, if not better.

 

[mdexter2]

Well, the easiest way, in my opinion, is to go to bootdisk.com, and get a Win ME disk setup disk, and make a floppy.

Then remove the hard drive you want to keep, and put in the one you want to use for storage, and boot your computer with the bootdisk in the floppy.

Now, at the a:/ prompt type in FDISK, erase the partition, and then create a new partition, then format it FAT32. Once you put the disk back in as the second hard drive, then you can reformat it to NTFS if you want, but as a storage disk, FAT32 will work fine, if not better.

Per your signature, I'm trying to be cheerful but this seems to be only getting worse and ever so complicated but please bear with me a little longer if you would. Would you mind providing a link to exactly the .exe or whatever it is I need to create a bootable floppy for XP Home Edition? And this method won't affect my BIOS settings or anything, right? BTW, why is FAT32 better for storage than NTFS? (If it can be explained simply that is.) If not, no worries and no need to bother trying to school me on it. I know how to use search engines!

Thanks! :wave:

 

[just_a_nobody]

Here is the link you want, it is the actual download site, so you want to save it to your desktop so you can find it. http://spock.uccs.edu/pub/bootdisks/bootme.exe

Either Fat32, or NTFS is fine, XP can read both, but ME and below cannot read NTFS, which in your case doesn't matter. NTFS works great when the operating system, is on the same partition, but for just storage Fat32 will work great. NTFS will take up a little more disk space, for its filing system, but either way is just fine, either one will work, for what you want to use it for, so it's just your choice.

ADDED: This file that you are downloading, if you click on it, it should tell you to put a floppy disk in the floppy drive to copy to. It will not effect your BIOS or anything. However, you may have to make your floppy drive the first boot device in the BIOS, which is not a big deal.

 

[mdexter2]

Here is the link you want, it is the actual download site, so you want to save it to your desktop so you can find it. http://spock.uccs.edu/pub/bootdisks/bootme.exe

Either Fat32, or NTFS is fine, XP can read both, but ME and below cannot read NTFS, which in your case doesn't matter. NTFS works great when the operating system, is on the same partition, but for just storage Fat32 will work great. NTFS will take up a little more disk space, for its filing system, but either way is just fine, either one will work, for waht you want to use it for, so it's just your choice.

Okay, thanks again to you and everyone else for all the help. Much appreciated!

 

[just_a_nobody]

It was my pleasure to be of some help, or perhaps some confusion, maybe? I will keep an eye on this thread, so if you have any problems, don't hesitate to ask.

 

[mdexter2]

It was my pleasure to be of some help, or perhaps some confusion, maybe? I will keep an eye on this thread, so if you have any problems, don't hesitate to ask.

Just a little confusion but I wasn't blessed with a geek mentality when it comes to certain things. That's why I hire others to build my PC's for me and do the BIOS stuff, cloning and whatever else! Anyhow, nothing major so far confusion wise and I hope it stays that way! I'll plan to keep you all updated. I will try getting this done later today within the next 6 hours or so.

 

[mdexter2]

@ just_a_nobody:

Success! It worked. I now have an I: drive to store stuff on. Cool! (F, G and H are virtual drives and D and E are my CD-RW/DVD-RW drives). Anyhow, thanks again for all your help. I don't post here much but these are very nice forums and pretty much my #1 choice for serious technical advice and all. Take care!

Oh, here's a link you and others might like to check out for fun (totally legit and safe, just type in your first name and enjoy the show):

http://www.star28.net/snow.html

 

[just_a_nobody]

That's site is cute! I'm so happy you got it to go, and happy I could be of some help.