Adding a second Hard Drive

This is the first time I've added a second hard drive to my PC and although
everything seems to be OK i.e. the BIOS has recognised it as the primary
slave with the primary master being the original hard drive, I find I'm
unsure what to do next.

Do I now re-run the XP CD software to format the new hard drive and install
the operating system on it, or do I use a start-up floppy to Fdisk this new
drive first and then install XP etc.

Alan

Alan

you need to run fdisk and create a partition. Then when you load windows it
should be in my computer. Right click it and format
"Alan" <> wrote in message
news:bq5nlv$jud$...
| This is the first time I've added a second hard drive to my PC and
although
| everything seems to be OK i.e. the BIOS has recognised it as the primary
| slave with the primary master being the original hard drive, I find I'm
| unsure what to do next.
|
| Do I now re-run the XP CD software to format the new hard drive and
install
| the operating system on it, or do I use a start-up floppy to Fdisk this
new
| drive first and then install XP etc.
|
| Alan
|
|

"joey jo jo" <> wrote in message
news:bq5osv$kag$...
> you need to run fdisk and create a partition. Then when you load windows
it
> should be in my computer. Right click it and format
> "Alan" <> wrote in message
> news:bq5nlv$jud$...
> | This is the first time I've added a second hard drive to my PC and
> although
> | everything seems to be OK i.e. the BIOS has recognised it as the primary
> | slave with the primary master being the original hard drive, I find I'm
> | unsure what to do next.
> |
> | Do I now re-run the XP CD software to format the new hard drive and
> install
> | the operating system on it, or do I use a start-up floppy to Fdisk this
> new
> | drive first and then install XP etc.
> |
> | Alan
> |
> |
>
>

My original hard drive is 40 gig and I'm installing a second 120 gig hard
drive for photograph storage only. I wish to keep the first hard drive "C"
as it is, with its XP operating system and software intack I have the
original 40 gig HD set-up as primary master and the second 120 gig HD as
primary slave. When I run Fdisk........ obviously "C" drive will be the
original HD but will there then be an option to Fdisk the new drive as well?
For example Fdisk....... "C" or "D"
Sorry if theses are basic, just trying to avoid wiping my "C" drive.

Alan

First of all, if you are using WIndowsXP, you don't need to use FDISK at
all. Just boot into windows, go to the system administration section of the
control panel, and then choose disk management. The new drive should be
listed there, and you should be able to partition and format the drive from
there. You can use FDISK if you like, but if you want to use NTFS file
system, you can't use FDISK. Conversely, if you want to use FAT32, your
partition size will be limited to 32GB if you use WinXP's partitioning tools
to set it up. (thanks Microsoft). Using FDISK, you will have a choice to
switch drives in the menu. It will be the last option I believe. FDISK
always starts out with the primary drive selected, so you'll definitely need
to use the menu option to switch drives. When you have switched to the new
drive, the capacity should be shown along with the fact that no partitions
exist on that drive yet. Then you can create a partition, etc. from there.



...
"Alan" <> wrote in message
news:bq61v2$if0$...
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "joey jo jo" <> wrote in message
> news:bq5osv$kag$...
> > you need to run fdisk and create a partition. Then when you load windows
> it
> > should be in my computer. Right click it and format
> > "Alan" <> wrote in message
> > news:bq5nlv$jud$...
> > | This is the first time I've added a second hard drive to my PC and
> > although
> > | everything seems to be OK i.e. the BIOS has recognised it as the
primary
> > | slave with the primary master being the original hard drive, I find
I'm
> > | unsure what to do next.
> > |
> > | Do I now re-run the XP CD software to format the new hard drive and
> > install
> > | the operating system on it, or do I use a start-up floppy to Fdisk
this
> > new
> > | drive first and then install XP etc.
> > |
> > | Alan
> > |
> > |
> >
> >
>
> My original hard drive is 40 gig and I'm installing a second 120 gig hard
> drive for photograph storage only. I wish to keep the first hard drive
"C"
> as it is, with its XP operating system and software intack I have the
> original 40 gig HD set-up as primary master and the second 120 gig HD as
> primary slave. When I run Fdisk........ obviously "C" drive will be the
> original HD but will there then be an option to Fdisk the new drive as
well?
> For example Fdisk....... "C" or "D"
> Sorry if theses are basic, just trying to avoid wiping my "C" drive.
>
> Alan
>
>