Multiple Hard Drives

  • Thread starter Thread starter The Shadow
  • Start date Start date
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The Shadow

I have a computer with three hard drives. The previous owner (with server
2003) had the computer set up to be able to have info and apps running from
any of the three discs from one os partition. I have been told about raid,
but he didn't use it. He just had it set up with two slave drives i am
guessing. I am somewhat computer illiterate, but I would just like to know
how to do this. A friend told me to just install XP on a patition on one
disk, and it should be able to read from all three. I did that, but it only
reads the one disc, and automatically names it "C" as usual.
 
I have a computer with three hard drives. . . .
A friend told me to just install XP on a patition on one
disk, and it should be able to read from all three. I did that, but it only
reads the one disc, and automatically names it "C" as usual.
Click to expand...

1. Your boot drive is always C:
2. Common causes of failure to read from a (new) drive are:
-- incorrect physical connection;
-- the drive has not been partitioned and formatted.
3. Your friend was right: a PC with WinXP installed can
run from, read and write to any HDD correctly connected.
 
Don Phillipson said:
1. Your boot drive is always C:
2. Common causes of failure to read from a (new) drive are:
-- incorrect physical connection;
-- the drive has not been partitioned and formatted.
3. Your friend was right: a PC with WinXP installed can
run from, read and write to any HDD correctly connected.
Click to expand...

Thank you Don Phillipsonfor you answer.
My 3 drives have not been disconnected or moved since I wiped the the discs
of Server 2003.
So, do I just make generic partitions on my other two hard drives? How do I
format my discs without installing three separate os's?
 
"Don Phillipson" wrote:
Click to expand...
Thank you Don Phillipsonfor you answer.
My 3 drives have not been disconnected or moved since I wiped the the discs
of Server 2003.
So, do I just make generic partitions on my other two hard drives? How do I
format my discs without installing three separate os's?
Click to expand...

1. Partition and formatting are different processes. If a
drive has been partitioned (if logical drives have been created)
the logical drives appear in DOS or WinXP as drives identified
by letters (in sequence from C: = boot drive.)
2. "Disk Management" is the way WindowsXP handles such
tasks, reached via
/ All Programs / Accessories / Computer Management / Storage / Disk
Management
/ Action (menu, top of window) / Al Tasks / Format
You select the appropriate logical drive (D, E, or F) and click on Format.
Then go back to My Computer, select the same drive, and inspect its
Properties. This ought to display its size, percentage in use (0 per cent
for any newly-formatted drive) etc.
 
The Shadow submitted this idea :
I have a computer with three hard drives. The previous owner (with server
2003) had the computer set up to be able to have info and apps running from
any of the three discs from one os partition. I have been told about raid,
but he didn't use it. He just had it set up with two slave drives i am
guessing. I am somewhat computer illiterate, but I would just like to know
how to do this. A friend told me to just install XP on a patition on one
disk, and it should be able to read from all three. I did that, but it only
reads the one disc, and automatically names it "C" as usual.
Click to expand...

How to map a drive to a folder:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307889
 
<snip>

Don said:
1. Your boot drive is always C:
2. Common causes of failure to read from a (new) drive are:
-- incorrect physical connection;
-- the drive has not been partitioned and formatted.
3. Your friend was right: a PC with WinXP installed can
run from, read and write to any HDD correctly connected.
Click to expand...

1) Not true. Might be how it ends up most of the time, but not necessarily
true.

3) Caveats: as long as they are formatted in a way Windows XP can read them
and/or if there are file/folder permissions - the user logged in is allowed
in some manner.
 
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