Installing multiple hard drives. How to connect a second hard drive. Connection to a PC
They are the main store of information. In most cases, user data is stored there. And every day the volume of this data increases. Therefore, it is not surprising that sooner or later all users are faced with the fact that free place ends. There is only one way out of this situation, you need to buy and connect second hard disk to computer. In this article we will try to help solve this problem.
Step #1: Disconnect power from the computer.
Before doing anything to the computer, it must be completely de-energized. Disconnect all cables from system unit. Simply turning off the button on the power supply is not enough; all cables must be disconnected.
Step No. 2. Remove the side covers of the system unit.
One of the compartments will already have one installed HDD. This is your first hard drive, it contains your operating system and all data. The second one needs to be placed nearby. If the bay is designed for more than two drives, then it is advisable to place the second drive not adjacent to the first. This will significantly improve its cooling.
Carefully insert the hard drive into one of the installation locations. Please note that the drive should rest on small ledges and be secured with four screws. If there is not enough space inside the system unit, you may have to remove the video card or other components before installation. But, as a rule, this is not required.
After you have installed the hard drive in your computer, you need to secure it with four screws. Two screws are tightened on one side and two on the other. You should not skimp on screws, as this can cause unnecessary vibration and noise when the computer is operating.
Step #4: Connect the second drive to the motherboard and power supply.
Once the second drive is installed and securely fixed inside the computer, you can begin connecting it. Two cables are used, one goes to the motherboard, and the second to the power supply.
To connect to the motherboard, use this one (picture below). It is usually red in color, making it difficult to confuse. One cable connector needs to be plugged into the hard drive, and the other into the connector on the motherboard.
To connect to the power supply, a similar cable with a wider connector is used (picture below).
If your power supply is not equipped with a cable with such a connector, then you will need an adapter (picture below) from the old connector to the new one.
Step No. 5. Close the system unit.
After you have connected the second hard drive to the computer, you can close the system unit. Install the side covers and secure them with screws. Once the covers are installed, you can turn on the computer. If you did everything correctly, then after the computer boots, a new drive will appear in the system.
Sooner or later, any user is faced with the fact that his data no longer fits on his existing hard drive. A second hard drive can be a solution to this problem. In this article we will tell you how to install a second hard drive on your computer.
Step #1: Prepare your computer for installation second hard disk.
First, you need to prepare your computer. First, you need to turn off the power and disconnect all cables from it. Simply turning off using the button on the power supply is not enough; the computer must be completely disconnected from the power supply.
Secondly, you need to open access to the internals of the system unit. To do this, you need to remove both side covers. Typically, the side covers are fixed to the back of the system unit with four screws. Remove these screws and carefully remove both side covers.
Step No. 2. Installing the second hard drive and fixing it.
Once the computer is completely unplugged and the side covers are removed, you can begin installing the second hard drive. Hard drives are installed in a special compartment of the system unit. Identifying this compartment is quite simple. It's at the bottom right side system unit, and its width is exactly suitable for 3.5 inch hard drives.
In inexpensive computer cases, this compartment is usually turned with the hole towards the motherboard (as in the photo below). In more expensive models of computer cases, the hard drive compartment is turned towards the side cover.
When installing the hard drive, it is better to keep the system unit in a vertical position. Insert the hard drive into the hard drive bay (as shown in the photo below). In some cases, in order for the hard drive to fit into the bay without problems, you will need to remove the video card or RAM. You can read about how this is done in our articles: and. If your system unit has a lot of space for hard disks, then try to install the second hard drive away from the first. This way they will cool better.
Once the second hard drive is installed in the hard drive bay, it must be secured using four screws, two on each side of the hard drive (see photo below). You should not save screws and fix the hard drive with only two or three. In this case, it will vibrate and create a lot of noise.
Step No. 3. Connecting a second hard drive to the computer.
Once the second hard drive is installed in the computer and securely secured, you can begin to install it. Hard drives are connected using two cables: one cable goes to the motherboard (data is transferred through this cable), and the other to the power supply (it is used for power supply).
A cable is used to connect the hard drive to the motherboard (see photo below). This cable usually comes with motherboard. If you do not have such a cable, you can purchase it separately.
To connect the hard drive to power, use a cable with a similar connector. (photo below).
If there are difficulties connecting the second hard drive to the computer, then look at how the first hard drive was connected and proceed in the same way.
Step No. 4. Assembling the system unit.
After the hard drive has been installed, securely fixed and connected, the system unit can be closed. Replace the side covers and secure them with screws. After installing the side covers, the computer can be connected to power and started. If everything was done correctly, then after the computer starts, a second hard drive will appear in the system.
When you purchase a new HDD, the question arises of how to connect a second hard drive to your computer. This is not difficult to do, but before you get started, you need to make sure that your system unit is not under warranty. The fact is that in order to install a second hard drive, you need to remove the side cover of the computer. This will break the seal and therefore void the warranty. To avoid such a situation, you should contact a service center.
If the warranty has expired or is missing, feel free to remove the side wall. It is secured with two screws on the back of the PC. Be sure to turn off your computer and unplug it. An additional hard drive can only be installed when the system unit is turned off. This is not a flash drive, and the HDD may simply fail.
You need to inspect motherboard and the place where the hard drive already stands. Majority modern computers has SATA connections. Trace where the cable of the existing HDD is connected to the motherboard. There should be at least one more similar one next to this connector. This will depend on the type of motherboard you have. Large ones have up to 5-6 connectors, small ones can only have 2.
If you have a standard type of motherboard, then you just need to select a socket for connection. If you have a combo (that is, a small one), then slight difficulties may arise. The fact is that the first hard drive and optical drive may already be connected to the slots. And it may turn out that there is no other place to connect extra hard There is simply no disk. These are budget motherboards, and sometimes they do not provide the ability to connect multiple hard drives. How to install two hard drives in this case? You'll just have to unplug the DVD-ROM to free up the port.
If you have old computer with an IDE connection type and only one slot left, you have the opportunity to install two equipment on one cable. This can be either 2 HDDs or a hard drive with an optical drive. When connecting on one cable, it is advisable to follow the sequence in which the system disk will be connected to the master connector, and an additional one to the slave. Master is the outermost connector on the cable, slave is in the middle. The instructions for the HDD should indicate in what position the jumpers should be set for a particular mode.
After we have figured out where to connect the second hard drive to the computer so that it recognizes it, we move on to the next point. This powers the device with electricity. Take a close look at the wires that come from the power supply. In older system units the connection type is IDE, in new ones it is SATA. Some PCs have both types at the same time. If the hard drive has a SATA port, and only IDE is left free in the power supply, do not worry. You need to purchase an adapter from one connection type to another.
We found out which connectors the second hard drive is connected to. Now it needs to be installed and secured. Find where the first hard drive is located. Depending on the size of your case, there may be one to three drive slots nearby. If there is a lot of space, it is advisable to connect two HDDs so that they are located further away from each other. Hard drives can get very hot during operation and require ventilation. The more free space around them, the better ventilation will occur.
IN small body installing a second hard drive will mean that both hard drives will get very hot. Especially in the hot season. Therefore, it is advisable to purchase a cooling system for them. When connecting a second drive, do not forget that it must be screwed to the case. Unlike solid-state drives, HDDs have mechanical parts that can be easily damaged. During transportation, the hard drive may fall out of the slot, and this will damage not only it, but also, possibly, the motherboard.
Second hard drive on a laptop
Winchesters on laptop computers do not have the same large capacity as stationary ones. And sometimes users want to increase space, but the laptop does not have a slot for an additional hard drive. in this case? This can be done by installing HDD instead optical drive.
There are special adapters for this. Without them, you won’t be able to connect another hard drive, since the DVD-ROM and HDD connectors are different. The first thing you need to do is figure out the thickness of your drive. On different laptops it may differ. The most common are 12.7 mm and 9.5 mm. You can find out this way:
Use a program to diagnose equipment like Everest or AIDA. View the optical drive model and find the specifications on the Internet. The exact dimensions must be indicated on the manufacturer's website. Unscrew the drive and take measurements manually.
After purchasing the adapter, you can begin installing the hard drive. Unplug your computer and turn it off. It can only be untwisted when not in use. Pull out the optical drive. In most cases, it is secured with 2-4 screws.
Take the adapter and remove the stop, which is located on the opposite edge from the connectors. Some people try to turn on the second drive by connecting it to the adapter at an acute angle. This can break the contacts. The support is removable and is needed to fix the hard drive. Then press the hard drive firmly against the contacts. Sometimes this requires effort.
After installation and fixation with the stop, tighten the bolts for a more rigid connection of the adapter to the disk. So as not to spoil appearance laptop, you need to remove the front panel from the optical drive and attach it to the hard drive adapter. Carefully insert the device into the laptop and put all the covers back. If everything was done correctly, the BIOS will display the new hard drive.
Disk system settings
You learned how to install a second hard drive in a PC. But this is not enough to fully work with it. Now you need to configure it so that the system recognizes it. After all, if the disk is new, it does not have marked areas and will not be displayed by the operating system. If you have Windows installed, you can do this by going to Disk Management. You can get to this menu by clicking right click mouse over the “My Computer” icon and selecting “Manage”.
All connected drives and their capacity will be displayed in the lower central part. The new disk will be labeled "Unallocated". You need to right-click on this area and click “Create simple volume”. The “Setup Wizard” will appear, following the instructions of which you will determine the space of the future disk, file system and assign a letter to it. Remember that two partitions cannot be assigned the same letters. To avoid having to deal with OS freezes and process crashes, close all unnecessary programs. At the end of the procedure, the new hard drive will be displayed in the system.
We looked in detail at how to connect an additional hard drive to a computer. By watching the video below or above in the text, you will be able to understand and consider in more detail incomprehensible points.
Good day.
For many users, one disk is often not enough for everyday work on a laptop. There are, of course, different options for solving the issue: buy an external hard drive, flash drive, etc. media (we will not consider this option in the article).
Or you can install a second hard drive (or SSD (solid state)) instead of the optical drive. For example, I use it very rarely (I’ve used it a couple of times over the last year, and if I didn’t have it, I probably wouldn’t remember about it).
In this article I want to look at the main questions that may arise when connecting a second drive to a laptop. So…
1. Selecting the required “adapter” (which is installed instead of the drive)
This is the first question and the most important! The fact is that many people do not suspect that thickness The disk drives in different laptops may be different! The most common thicknesses are 12.7 mm and 9.5 mm.
To find out the thickness of your drive, there are 2 ways:
1. Open some utility, such as AIDA ( free utilities:), then find out the exact model of the drive, and then find its characteristics on the manufacturer’s website and look at the dimensions there.
2. Measure the thickness of the drive by removing it from the laptop (this is a 100% option, I recommend it so as not to make a mistake). This option is discussed further down in the article.
By the way, please note that this “adapter” is correctly called a little differently: “Caddy for Laptop Notebook” (see Fig. 1).
Rice. 1. Adapter for a laptop for installing a second disk. 12.7mm SATA to SATA 2nd Aluminum Hard Disk Drive HDD Caddy for Laptop Notebook)
2. How to remove the drive from a laptop
This is done quite simply. Important! If your laptop is under warranty, such an operation may result in denial of warranty service. Whatever you do next, do it at your own peril and risk.
1) Turn off the laptop, disconnect all wires from it (power, mice, headphones, etc.).
2) Turn it over and remove the battery. Usually its fastening is a simple latch (sometimes there can be 2 of them).
3) To remove the drive, as a rule, it is enough to unscrew 1 screw that holds it. In a typical laptop design, this screw is located approximately in the center. When you unscrew it, it will be enough to lightly pull the drive housing (see Fig. 2) and it should easily “move out” of the laptop.
I emphasize that proceed carefully; as a rule, the drive comes out of the case very easily (without any effort).
Rice. 2. Laptop: disk drive mount.
4) It is advisable to measure the thickness using a caliper rod. If it is not there, you can use a ruler (as in Fig. 3). In principle, to distinguish 9.5 mm from 12.7, a ruler is more than enough.
Rice. 3. Measuring the thickness of the drive: it is clearly visible that the drive is about 9 mm thick.
Connecting a second drive to a laptop (step by step)
To begin with, I want to draw attention to 2 nuances:
Many users complain that the laptop loses its appearance somewhat after installing such an adapter. But in most cases, the old drive socket can be carefully removed (sometimes small screws can hold it in place) and installed on the adapter (red arrow in Fig. 4);
Before installing the disk, remove the stop (green arrow in Fig. 4). Some people push the disk “from above” at an angle without removing the stop. This often leads to damage to the contacts of the disk or adapter.
As a rule, the disk fits into the adapter slot quite easily and there are no problems with installing the disk into the adapter itself (see Fig. 5).
Rice. 5. Installed SSD drive into the adapter
Problems often arise when users try to install an adapter in place of the optical drive in a laptop. Most often the problems are as follows:
The adapter was chosen incorrectly; for example, it turned out to be thicker than needed. Forcing the adapter into the laptop can cause damage! In general, the adapter itself should “ride” into the laptop as if on rails, without the slightest effort;
On such adapters you can often find compensator screws. In my opinion, there is no benefit from them, I recommend removing them immediately. By the way, it often happens that it is they that rest against the laptop body, preventing the adapter from being installed in the laptop (see Fig. 6).
If everything is done carefully, the laptop will have its original appearance after installing the second disk. Everyone will “believe” that the laptop has a disk drive for optical discs, but in fact there is another HDD or SSD (see Fig. 7) ...
Rice. 7. The adapter along with the disk is installed in the laptop
I recommend that after installing the second disk, go to Laptop BIOS and check if the disk is detected there. In most cases (if the installed disk is working and there were no previous problems with the drive), the BIOS correctly detects the disk.
How to enter BIOS (keys to to different manufacturers devices):
To summarize, I want to say that the installation itself is a simple matter, anyone can do it. The main thing is to take your time and act carefully. Often problems arise due to haste: first they didn’t measure the drive, then they bought the wrong adapter, then they started installing it “by force” - as a result, they took the laptop for repair...
That's all for me, I tried to sort out all the pitfalls that may exist when installing a second disk.
Every year the amount of information stored on a computer increases. As a result, the computer takes a long time to boot and freezes periodically. And this is natural, because all data is stored on a hard drive, the memory of which is limited.
Users solve this problem in different ways. Someone transfers information to various media, someone turns to the specialist and asks to increase the computer's memory, and someone decides to connect a second hard drive to the computer. Therefore, let’s figure out how to connect a second hard drive to a computer without the help of a specialist – on your own.
To begin with, you need to completely de-energize the system unit: Disconnect all cables and power cable. Now it is necessary unscrew the side covers system specialist We turn its back towards you and unscrew the four screws on the sides. Lightly pressing on the side parts, move them in the direction of the arrow and remove.
Hard drives in the system unit are installed in special compartments or cells. Such compartments may be located in the rear of the system unit, at the bottom or in the middle; some hard drives are installed turned on their side. If your system unit has several bays for hard drives, install the second one not adjacent to the first one - this will improve its cooling.
Depending on the method of connection to the motherboard, internal hard drives are divided into two types: with IDE and SATA interface. IDE is an older standard; now all system units are designed to connect hard drives with a SATA interface. It is not difficult to distinguish them: IDE has wide ports for connecting a hard drive and power supply and a wide cable, while SATA has both ports and cable much narrower.
Connecting a hard drive via SATA interface
If your system unit has a hard drive with a SATA interface, then connecting a second one will not be difficult.
We insert the second hard drive into the free slot and attach it to the case with screws.
Now we take the SATA cable through which data will be transferred, and connect it to the hard drive on either side. We connect the second plug of the cable to the SATA connector on the motherboard.
All system units have at least two SATA connectors; they look as shown in the picture below.
To connect to the power supply, a cable is used, the plug of which is slightly wider than that of a SATA cable. If there is only one plug coming from the power supply, you need to buy a splitter. If the power supply does not have a narrow plug, you will need to buy an adapter.
Connect the power cable to the hard drive.
A second hard drive is installed on the computer. Place the side covers of the system unit in place and secure them with screws.
Connecting a hard drive via the IDE interface
Although the IDE standard is outdated, hard drives with an IDE interface are still available. Therefore, next we will look at how to connect a second hard drive via the IDE interface.
First you need install jumper on the hard drive contacts to the desired position. This will allow you to determine in which mode the hard drive will operate: Master or Slave. Typically, a hard drive that is already installed on the computer operates in Master mode. It is the main one and the operating system is loaded from it. For the second hard drive that we are going to install, we need to select Slave mode. The contacts on the hard drive case are usually labeled, so just place the jumper in the desired position.
The IDE cable through which data is transmitted has three plugs. One is located at the end of a long piece, blue, connected to the motherboard. Another one is in the middle, white, connected to the driven disk (Slave). The third, at the end of a short segment, black, is connected to the master disk.
Insert the hard drive into an empty slot. Then secure it with screws.
Choose free plug from the power supply and insert it into the appropriate port on the hard drive.
Now insert the plug that is located in the middle of the train, to the hard drive port for data transfer. In this case, one end of the cable is already connected to the motherboard, the other to the previously installed hard drive.
Connecting the second hard drive via the IDE interface is now complete.
As you can see, we didn’t do anything complicated. Just be careful, and then you will definitely succeed connect a second hard drive to your computer.
We also watch the video
How to install a hard drive?
The hard drive or hard drive is the computer part that most often requires replacement. This does not happen because it fails, it’s just that the space on the hard drive runs out faster than the rest of the parts become obsolete. In this article we will look at how to replace a hard drive, install a new or second hard drive, without resorting to the expensive services of paid specialists. Moreover, this procedure is absolutely not complicated.
Hard drive formats
Let's get down to business.
We will leave our first hard drive for the operating system, and we will connect the second to store movies, games, music and other information. This configuration is not only convenient, but also improves the performance of the computer itself.
Let's consider point by point how to “get” to the installation location of our hard drive.
1. It is necessary to disconnect the computer from the power supply.
2. Remove the cover of the system unit (if the cover is separate, then it must be removed from both sides).
3. Find your first hard drive (most often it is located closer to the end part).
SATA power cable
This is what the SATA connector on the motherboard looks like for connecting a data cable.
For information:
If you have a SATA output on your motherboard, then it would be wiser to install this type of hard drive. SATA has greater bandwidth compared to IDE. IDE is more difficult to find in stores due to the fact that this interface is already going out of active use, and it has been replaced by SATA, SATA-II, SATA-III (the larger the number, the higher the data exchange speed).
5. If your choice falls on an IDE hard drive, then on the rear panel you need to move the jumper to the Slave position. You also need to check how the jumper is set on the first hard drive (it should be set to the Master position).
6. Now install your additional hard drive in place and connect it to the motherboard and supply power to it.
7. Secure the hard drives on both sides with the screws included in the kit.
8. Replace the system unit cover.
9. Connect the wires that were previously disconnected and apply power to it.
10. Turn on the computer, wait until it boots completely, then check whether a new hard drive has appeared (to check, go to “My Computer”)
11. If everything went well and the disk appears in the computer, then before starting work you should format it.
Well, this completes the installation of the second hard drive.
Hello! Please, help the average computer user understand hard drives and the possibility of their autonomous operation...
The point is this. It is now possible to install a second hard drive on your PC, so that the first one is exclusively for the OS + necessary programs + frequently used files (documents, technical diagrams, etc.), and the second one is for the home archive (videos, photos, films, rarely files used.
I successfully installed the second hard drive myself (the OS sees and maintains it well)... But one problem arises here. This hard drive should be used from time to time, but it turns out that every time you turn on and off the computer, the OS still starts it - and this affects the resource!
How to make sure that this, let’s call it “archive” hard drive, does not start up unnecessarily? Is this possible?
Nikolay | April 29, 2015, 08:40
" YUM wrote: for the sake of discussion: shouldn't we go the mechanical route? Well, for example, lengthen the power cable. Take the father/mother outside and, if unnecessary, simply open the pads. The cable, however, will still stick out in the “mother”, but , I think, beyond the display: “unknown device”, OSKA will not work...”
As a matter of fact, this is the option I considered first and here’s why. Now my system unit stands (with its wide side) close behind the monitor and the back (free) side (for certain reasons) without a cover (i.e. there is free access to the hardware). The cables of both HDDs have easy access. In general, everything is predisposed to removing/inserting connectors. But realizing that everything would quickly become unusable, so I asked myself the question of turning the HDD on and off not mechanically, but programmatically. Well, it turned out that this, unfortunately, is impossible.
So, YUM, I'll have to go down the already discussed path...
YUM | 19 April 2015, 15:32
By way of discussion: why not go the mechanical route? Well, for example, lengthen the power cord. Take mom/dad outside and if not needed, just open the blocks. The train, however, will still stick out in the “mother”, but, I think, beyond the show: " unknown device", the OS will not work. I remember plugging fans into the free pads on the power supply. For external use. One to blow on me, the other into the case. Because it happened that both the computer and I overheated... :-)
Nikolay | 8 April 2015, 13:58
Nick Nick, thanks for the answer. From the answers, I understood that the second hard drive integrated into the PC will still be polled by the OS for any of its actions. And therefore, to eliminate “unproductive” inclusions and shutdowns, it is necessary to exclude it from the directory of one OS. That is, it is either a PC with two motherboards (and different OS), or a second PC, or an external hard drive, or a NAS...
Nick Nick | 7 April 2015, 14:47
I have done this, in the system unit there is a 500 GB disk divided into two partitions on one partition the system on the other with downloaded movies, etc. In a beautiful plastic case called an external HDD box there is a second (right on the table) hard drive, also rated at 500. Moreover, it has an autonomous power supply switch on the case. There are photos and archives on it and it is connected with a switch when needed, but when not needed it is turned off with a switch on the case. It is connected to a computer via USB (comes with the box included). The system sees the disk as a large flash drive. I took this box and watch photos and videos on DVD or wherever there is a USB.
Nikolay | 7 April 2015, 08:19
Nick, perhaps you are right in some ways. But again, I don’t need a backup disk (did I name it correctly?) that will be stored in a closet.
There were 2 HDDs available (500 GB and 2 TB). On the first one I placed the OS with accompanying programs (not all the necessary ones have been installed yet). By the way, as Dima Svinkin mentioned, the system disk was divided into two logical ones - for the OS itself and for various files needed in everyday work. And the second HDD (2 TB) is gradually filled with “household stuff” (photos, videos, films, music, rarely used documents, drawings, etc.).
As a result, the “two-terabyte” after turning on the PC, after a while (as you mentioned, Nick) “falls asleep”, I don’t even know when this happens. On the one hand, this is good - the HDD is not used, but on the other hand, the problem I describe arises.
Nick, I can’t buy an external drive yet (especially now it’s very expensive, and there’s already 2 TB in stock). I just have the opportunity to get a small system unit - I’ll probably have to “dance” from this option.
By the way, Nick, I’m certainly not an IT specialist, but it’s still said everywhere that you need to treat the HDD with care, because it’s better for it to “spin” all day than to start and stop.
So, in summary we can say the following:
1) separate control on one computer, with one OS, of two physical HDDs (without good system knowledge and access to BIOS) is almost impossible.
2) to solve the problem I am describing, it is proposed to either physically disconnect the second HDD (which is unrealistic), or use an external HDD, or you can use a second system unit of a small form factor.
Is everything correct?
Nick | April 6, 2015, 10:47 pm
For Nikolai: the “professor” on one of the IT sites advised you correctly. It is best to have 2 disks in the system. But they are used for something completely different. For example, there is only the system on one disk. And if the system crashes or you need to restore it from a backup image from six months ago, then your current documents will not be affected in any way, because they are on another drive. You won't lose anything. Or you need to check for errors or defragment the system disk - the operation will be carried out much faster in time on a small system disk (where there is only the system) than on a huge shared disk, where, in addition to the system, there are also a bunch of your documents, pictures, videos, etc. In short , 2 disks are used to distribute data - and this is necessary for ease of system maintenance.
I don’t know why you are afraid of turning disks on and off. There is nothing to worry about, modern disks are designed for this, they can even turn off and fall asleep if they are not accessed for a long time.
Well, if you want to disconnect the disk yourself, then buy external drive. For example, I use an external USB-3 drive. It works quickly; to turn it off, you just need to remove the connector with the cord from the computer socket (it is inserted into the USB flash drive connector).
Nikolay | 6 April 2015, 20:54
Thanks to everyone who answered my question. A special “curtsy” for Alek55sandr5 - it seems that you immediately “grabbed” the essence of the issue.
Now it becomes clear that if two (3.4) hard drives are connected to one OS (which the system “sees” as separate physical disks), then every time you turn on, turn off or reboot the system will always launch them all (which, naturally, reduces their resource, because for a hard drive one of the most difficult modes is start-up, when the spindle spins the “pancakes” Correct?)
It’s strange that at one time, some “professor” on one of the IT sites “advised” to have two separate hard drives in your PC (and not in some kind of ride-array, but precisely two separate physical ones - one for OS and related programs, and the other for home videos, photos, books, archived documents and other relatively rarely used files). So I “bought” this “call”.
That is, the right solution for me would be: a separate small-sized system unit, from which to make something like a NAS and connect it as needed? This is the only way I can protect the second hard drive from unnecessary startups. Right?
Dmitry | April 6, 2015, 10:59
Place a swap file and a folder for temporary files there. The disc will kick back.
Svinkin Dima | 5 April 2015, 16:43
I strongly disagree with you! A home archive must be created and stored on an external hard drive. What size is your system (physical disk)? For an OS + various programs, 100-150 GB is usually enough, and for many users the system (logical) is even several times smaller than these sizes. If your computer had one physical disk with a nominal size of 320 GB or more, then it is unreasonable to allocate this entire volume to the OS + programs. It needs to be divided into two partitions (two logical drives) C:\ and D:\. Drive C is the system drive, and on drive D:\ you should place folders for temporary files of all programs, folders for downloads from the Internet, folders for saving files created in different programs and a temporary archive of the most popular files. Any extra physical device in a computer can turn into a headache at any time - this is practice.
Alek55sandr5 | 5 April 2015, 15:50
As far as I know, unfortunately it is impossible to completely turn off the hard drive if it is connected to a PC. Every time you start the operating system, the hard drive will load along with it and its resource will slowly wear out. You can copy some files to this hard drive and remove the connected cables from its connector. This way it will be completely disabled and its resource will be greater. But of course, if this option suits you.
This is not entirely true. First you need to know what interfaces your devices have. If they are both SATA, then you just need to connect them; you may have to set in the BIOS the order in which the system accesses devices to boot from the disk on which you have the system installed, which is your boot drive. Otherwise, if the operating system was previously installed on the newly installed disk and it was active, then the boot will start from it and most likely it will not work normally. If the disk is clean and the system accesses this disk first, then there will be no booting at all, the system will display the message No system disk. To manage this parameter you need to enter the BIOS. depend on whose BIOS you have installed (AWARD, American Megatrends Inc (AMI), General Software Inc, Microid Research, Phoenix Technologies) You can find out what exactly you have installed when you turn on the computer, the BIOS manufacturer will be indicated on the screen. In general, find out who the manufacturer is, write, we’ll tell you in which section to look.
If your drives have IDE interfaces, then you need to figure out the device connections. If both drives are connected to one cable, then you need to figure out whether the jumpers on the drive are installed correctly; if they are not installed correctly, the system may not see your drives at all, despite the fact that everything was in order before connecting. (It’s worth mentioning right away that you shouldn’t hang the HDD and CD/DVD Rom on the same cable. With such a connection, the data transfer speed will be noticeably lower. The IDE channel itself will set the transfer speed for both channels not exceeding the transfer speed of the slowest device, i.e. CD/DVD Rom and your HDD will be slow.
Let's return to the train. There are 3 identical connectors on the cable. the furthest one from the other two is inserted into the motherboard is System. The middle one is the Slave connector, the third is the Master. Some cables have inscriptions near the connectors. There is a picture on the disks themselves that shows which connection the jumper position corresponds to. So, we insert the System connector into the motherboard, insert the Master connector into one of the drives and put the jumper in the Master position, connect the second drive to the Slave connector, for Slave the jumper is usually not placed at all, so in order not to lose it, we put it in the Cable select position. By the way, all connections should be made with the power off. There is a switch on the back wall of the system unit. Turn it off and press the POWER button (the one you turn on the computer), this will remove the residual voltage from the charged capacitors of the power supply. At the same time, the lights may even blink and the fans may start spinning. We connect the power connectors to your drives and turn on the computer's power. Now you need to enter the BIOS and see if your disks are visible. If everything is connected correctly and the drives are working properly and the drive detection parameter is set to AUTO, then you will see information about them on the main page. Both SATA interface channels and IDE channels are displayed. If it’s not visible, use the arrows to go to the channel that says None instead of a disk and press Enter. Next, press Enter again and the system will try to find and recognize your disk. If you don’t find it, press Esc and move on to the next channel, and so on until all your disks are found. When they are found, you will see it for yourself. If you can’t find them, check the connection and the reliability of the contact. If everything is determined, good. Save the settings (usually using the F10 key and pressing the Y key to confirm). Now let's try to boot the computer. If everything went as it should, great. If the disks are detected but the loading does not proceed, then the issue is again in the order in which the devices are accessed. To tell you exactly what you need to do next, you again need to know the manufacturer of your BIOS.
Now, the information is beyond the roof for someone who doesn’t know anything about it yet. It may be difficult to perceive everything at once, but do it once, then do it with your eyes closed, there is nothing difficult about it. The main criteria are accuracy and attentiveness.
If you have Skype, please contact me, maybe I can explain better in words.
PS
Damn, I screwed up Gee Gee.