Hardware·19,013 discussions

Add another hard drive

Locked

Can I change the drive letter of my present “C” Drive without destroying the data/programs on it? I want to add another drive (bigger) and have it as my primary drive (“C”). What would be the steps in doing this? Thanx

Topic

Add another hard drive

In reply to Add another hard drive

You can change the drive letter, but tchanging the drive letter wont cange what drive boots first, thats a littl emore complicated, but easy.

Lot of options:

IF you want to make the new drive C drive, you can copy all the date to the new andasign it as Primary Master.
-or-
If you just want to add the new drive and a make it D drive (or if partitioned, it can be D thru Z) just set the drive as Primary Slave)
-or-
You can partition your C drive as many time as you want and just add the new drive to be drive(s) d, e, f, etc. Your users won’t be able to tell whats drives are what, they will all look the same, for example, in My Computer if you had 2 hard drives each with two partitions, they would be:
-or-

You can use the software that came with your new hard drive to copy the old boot drive Currently (C) to the new one and set it as primary master.

Hard Drive 1 C and D Drive
Hard Drive 2 E and F Drive
CD-ROM 1 G Drive
zip Drive 1 H Drive

Not sure what your intentions? Reply back to sergeant@connix.com.

Add another hard drive

In reply to Add another hard drive

Poster rated this answer

Add another hard drive

In reply to Add another hard drive

The real easy answer to this is set your current drive from master to slave by changing the jumper on the drive. Add your new drive as a master. Fdisk and format the new drive, and make the partition active. The new one becomes c, and the old drive becomes d.

Yet I don’t think this is exactly what you want to do. Do you plan on doing a fresh reload of windows on the new drive? What types of data/programs do you plan on saving on the original drive. Programs can’t be moved, they would have to be reloaded. Data can be moved easily. Do you have a Cd=rom, DVD, or internal Zip drive? What are their current drive letters, and do you want to keep them the same after you add the new drive?

Add another hard drive

In reply to Add another hard drive

Thanx for the simple answer. Seem’s like just what I need and want to do.

Add another hard drive

In reply to Add another hard drive

You can change the drive letters,but it will not affect the addition of a new drive.
Install the new drive and if it will be used as the master or slave and partitioned will affect the drive letters if the larger drive is set as the boot drive and set active,when adding the new drive and during the formatting you set the bigger drive as the master by using the jumpers on the back of the drive and also setting the jumper on the old drive as a slave
Format the new drive using Fdisk
Insert startup disk and CDROM
Boot-up system and hit SHIFT+F4
Enable large drive support
Use Maximum dos partition
Create Primary dos partition and hit escape
Choose to set active
Now reboot system so changes can take effect
Format C:\-at the command prompt
The drive letters will change
To insure,take the cables a loose from the present drive and install the new drive
C

Add another hard drive

In reply to Add another hard drive

Thanx for outlining the steps for me

Add another hard drive

In reply to Add another hard drive

You have to first make your new drive “C” and then set it at Primary Master and install your operating system on that and then set your current drive at Primary Slave. I think this is an easy thing to do.

Add another hard drive

In reply to Add another hard drive

Poster rated this answer

Add another hard drive

In reply to Add another hard drive

This question was closed by the author

[Author]

Replies