Setting up 2 harddrives with one OS.

[Hu$tlah]

Hi guys,

I just need some quick help or suggestion please. I have 1tb hitachi TB and 120gb WD. Currrently running is the 120GB WD but I would also like to to run the 1TB hitachi harddrive running together with the 120gb WD. The WD hdd is IDE and the hitachi is sata II, however I was wondering if its possible to run both drives on one operating system such as windows xp SP2 so I can have access to both hdd at the same time in order to utilize the 120gb as well as 1TB.

IS that possible to do so? I did try attaching both drives but in the bios the hitachi is not recognized, unless I did not connect the cables properly but should in bios I be able to see Hitachi once connected? I really want to be able to have access to both hdd if I can using one operating system.

Thank you.

[ipxxx]

1. Does your motherboard support SATA II? - maybe post your motherboard make/model here
2. If the answer to 1 is no, check your HD make sure there is a jumper in there to drop your drive to regular SATA

In short, yes it is possible to have X number of hard drives (that your motherboard can support) and a single OS on one of those hard drives while the others are 'slaves' (quotes because there is no concept of master/slave in the SATA world)

[Hu$tlah]

My mobo is gigabyte GA-P35DS3L, i just re-read the specs online and it does indicate it does support it. Pretty much you have guessed it right what i am trying to do is run the current OS i have now and just being able to have access to the 1TB harddrive right away. I have been trying to do this for a while just not sure what i am doing wrong.

[ipxxx]

My mobo is gigabyte GA-P35DS3L

FYI for anyone else reading this thread - not sure why I found it so hard to get the official spec's for this motherboard but here it is: http://www.giga-byte.ca/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2629&ProductName=GA-P35-DS3L

Let's assume that the drive is fully functional...your BIOS may not display SATA drives (or you're looking in the wrong spot) - unfortunately I am not familiar with Gigabyte boards/their BIOS to know for sure...

Anyways, have you tried hooking up the SATA drive and verifying whether or not Windows picks it up? Right click My Computer > Manage > Under Storage - Disk Management...what do you see?

[7jaii]

Hi Hu$tlah! Looks like you grabbed Sunny_x's fantastic deal. As ipxxx mentioned, I agree there are 3 settings you need to confirm:

1. BIOS - enter BIOS and check your HDD settings. Check that SATA is activated for your Secondary HDD. Your Primary remains IDE (Master/Slave) for your OS, while Secondary should be SATA Auto Detect.

2. SATA Port - on your mobo make sure you're using SATA 2, 3, 4 (for instance SATA 1 is your first SATA for Primary HDD. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? Your mobo may read a conflict if IDE HDD & SATA HDD are jostling for Boot ini.

3. HDD Setting - I don't believe Hitachi HDD offer a SATA1/SATA2 jumper like Seagate HDDs. When Hitachi released their 500GB, a couple RFDers complained that it was not compatible with their P4 Desktop because their mobo only read SATA1. No solution was available at the time so they exchanged for another HDD manufacturer.

my basic opinion --> generally, SATA HDDs are easiest to add/detect. If you run into problems it's usually your BIOS or Jumper as ipxxx posted... However, you can also Right-Click "My Computer", and select "Manage", select Disk Management. Is your Hitachi partition visible?

[Hu$tlah]

Thank you so far for your help guys. 7jaii, yes I did grab the hdd from Sunny_X. In the bios I do not see the hdd being detected I just see the WD120 gb hadd as master and I did try the Click "My Computer", and select "Manage", select Disk Management and my hitachi is not visible. I am sure it is something obviosuly I am doing wrong but I have a sata dvd rom which is connected and i have connected sata drives before too. I will fiddle around with settings a little more and hopefully i wil be able to detect it.

[kleptodathief]

^ ur saying ONLY the primary HD goes on the sata port 1??? say i have 3 sata HDs


port1= seagate
port2=maxtor
port3=samsung

will ONLY the seagate will have the o/s on it?

im pretty sure i can make ANY of the sata ports the primary HD pending bios options in my mobo

[7jaii]

Sunny_x is a good seller and I have purchased HDDs from him - very dependable and he wouldn't sell you a bum drive.

0. power off & remove your HDD cables except Primary IDE Master, and SATA2 Secondary plugged into 2, 3, 4 (if your SATA ports starts at 1). For the moment don't run your SATA DVDRW

1. enter BIOS and don't touch Primary HDD port because that's your 120GB OS partition

2. enable your Secondary HDD port and set to Auto detect. Save & Exit...now after reboot, re-enter BIOS --> is your Hitachi detected?


im pretty sure i can make ANY of the sata ports the primary HD pending bios options in my mobo

True, with newer mobos you can plug in all your SATAs and it will boot off your OS partition. However, a few P4 mobos, like the Dell Dimensions, will struggle with IDE/SATA dual ports & PC3200 Dimms. For that example, Dell recommends SATA1 and Matched Pairs Dimms or HDD & Ram capacity will go unnoticed.

[mr_raider]

Make sure your SATA port is set to native IDE mode in BIOS. AHCI mode can cause problems on some systems.