Merging Hard Drives?

[Skyve]

So I have x2 250GB Hard Drives and my first one(C) is full. I find it annoying to always change the destination of things I download(Default being /C) to /D. Is there some kind of software that would merge both drives "visually" so that I can just keep on directing things I download to /C?

Thanks in advance.

[Squirt]

Is it really that much of a hassle? And wouldn't it be safer to keep them separate?

[Gaigemasta]

u need them both to be sata, just raid 0 bios typically

[.curve]

There's an obvious answer to this.

Use a magnet and duct tape to hold the two physical hard drives together. Connect them to your computer.

Done. Windows will see how genius you are and the hard drives will be merged.

[iSinnnn]

confirmed. magnets and hard drives are a good idea.

[Skyve]

Is it really that much of a hassle? And wouldn't it be safer to keep them separate?

Technically they would still be separate. At least that's what I'd like it to be.

[Stress]

Use Raid 0.

[Skyve]

That's not helpful I need to know how. I just know it has something to do with BIOS, which is always scary to me What else will change if I go Raid 0?

[[SD]Master_Wong]

if i remember right in raid if 1 drive fails you lose data on both but i think raid 0 its safe from that you get more speed and more space for the most part its win win

[dom]

Get a drobo. I'd give a kidney for one.

[EvGa]

Raid 0, capacity will be 500GB, OS will see it as 1 hard drive. You would have to format (erase) your drives to stripe them (raid 0 them). In 0, if one fails you lose all your data. Raid 0 will basically double the transfer rate of a single drive.

How hard is it to set your browser, download manager, w/e, to a Download folder on the second drive and forget about it??? Make a shortcut to it on your desktop.

BTW - a completely full HD won't perform very well. You might consider moving all your downloads, music, etc to the secondary to free up some space. Or, uninstall some programs from the 1st drive and move them to the second drive.

[Skyve]

Raid 0, capacity will be 500GB, OS will see it as 1 hard drive. You would have to format (erase) your drives to stripe them (raid 0 them). In 0, if one fails you lose all your data. Raid 0 will basically double the transfer rate of a single drive.

How hard is it to set your browser, download manager, w/e, to a Download folder on the second drive and forget about it??? Make a shortcut to it on your desktop.

BTW - a completely full HD won't perform very well. You might consider moving all your downloads, music, etc to the secondary to free up some space. Or, uninstall some programs from the 1st drive and move them to the second drive.

Thanks, I won't "Raid 0" them I guess then. Don't want to go through the hassle of backing up everything.

As for "setting" it so it goes to /D, I'm not sure how. Think I didn't formulate my sentence well though, I don't care where my downloads go but everytime I run the setup to something it redirects me to /C. How can I change that?

[EvGa]

Thanks, I won't "Raid 0" them I guess then. Don't want to go through the hassle of backing up everything.

As for "setting" it so it goes to /D, I'm not sure how. Think I didn't formulate my sentence well though, I don't care where my downloads go but everytime I run the setup to something it redirects me to /C. How can I change that?

You can't. Just setup a "Programs" folder on your D drive and direct them there when you install stuff. It takes all of 4 secs.

[Skyve]

Thanks, I won't "Raid 0" them I guess then. Don't want to go through the hassle of backing up everything.

As for "setting" it so it goes to /D, I'm not sure how. Think I didn't formulate my sentence well though, I don't care where my downloads go but everytime I run the setup to something it redirects me to /C. How can I change that?

You can't. Just setup a "Programs" folder on your D drive and direct them there when you install stuff. It takes all of 4 secs.

I've been doing that, it's 4 secs too much

Questions answered, thanks everyone.

[[SD]Master_Wong]

you can change the settings in windows to install to different locations and download to certain places i have 3 seperate hard drives 1 ssd and 2 hdd iv got some weird system going for where things go but it does it all automatically

[Skyve]

you can change the settings in windows to install to different locations and download to certain places i have 3 seperate hard drives 1 ssd and 2 hdd iv got some weird system going for where things go but it does it all automatically

How?

[dom]

you can change the settings in windows to install to different locations and download to certain places i have 3 seperate hard drives 1 ssd and 2 hdd iv got some weird system going for where things go but it does it all automatically

How?

When installing it asks you where you want to install (e.g. c:\program files\blizzard), you just need to select your other harddrive.

I used to do this but noticed a performance decrease.

I would suggest keeping your games and programs on your boot drive, and keep multimedia, installers, etc. on a secondary drive.

Installed software doesn't take up that much space, 500gb to 1tb is a ton of room. It's the install files and HD movies that eat hard drive space.

I do the above, keeping programs and OS on a WD Caviar Black, all my multimedia on a WD Caviar Green.

The computer i'm writing came with a 320GB 2.5 SATA drive and I installed a 1TB 2.5 SATA drive. I'm tempted to get an SSD for the performance boost.

Although this video is on a mac, the SSD benefits apply to all computers:

48 applications are launched simultaneously, with the SSD all the apps launch in an amazing 18 seconds. The stock spinning drive? A laggard 198 seconds to launch the exact same app.

Code: Select all

[[SD]Master_Wong]

At first i was a it unsure about the ssd but once you get it installed and a os on it i was taken away, dom sadly i would have all games on my ssd if i could but due to its size i cant i mean wow is like 25gb i could only afford a 64gb (i paid for a higher quality one aswell)

best investment iv made on my computer mainly due to the fact its one of those bits of hardware i can put into a new system should i make a new computer or rather when i make a new system



keep in mind that video is old its possible now to break sata 2's 3Gb/s unsure if you can reach 6Gb/s if anyone has any money and wants to try get the most up to date ssd and find out

[dom]

, dom sadly i would have all games on my ssd if i could but due to its size i cant i mean wow is like 25gb i could only afford a 64gb (i paid for a higher quality one aswell)

I mentioned 500GB to 1TB. I was definitely not talking about SSDs as they go for 3,000 to 3,700 CAD

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductLis ... 1&name=1TB

I do think, however, that it's a waste to get an SSD with a gaming PC with your games on a second SATA drive. It's cool that you have a really snappy drive for running microsoft word, but if you're doing mostly gaming, the only real differences you'll notice are things like start up time.

If I got an SSD, I would get something like a 120-160GB drive. But for the price, I might just get a Macbook Air instead. I've just been hesitant since I spent $1400 on this MBP less than a year ago.

*When I write SATA, I mean a traditional 3.5 drive.

[Skyve]

you can change the settings in windows to install to different locations and download to certain places i have 3 seperate hard drives 1 ssd and 2 hdd iv got some weird system going for where things go but it does it all automatically

How?

When installing it asks you where you want to install (e.g. c:\program files\blizzard), you just need to select your other harddrive.

That's what I've been doing, but was wondering how master_wong managed to make it automatic? I'm guessing somewhere in the Control Panel.

And while on the topic of hard drives, what's an SSD? New Technology? What does it stand for?

[dom]

And while on the topic of hard drives, what's an SSD? New Technology? What does it stand for?

Solid state drive, it has no moving parts.

I guess a good analogy would be comparing a record on a pick up and a usb stick.

[Stress]

And while on the topic of hard drives, what's an SSD? New Technology? What does it stand for?

Solid state drive, it has no moving parts.

I guess a good analogy would be comparing a record on a pick up and a usb stick.

Not THAT much of a difference, I guess. Two 7200 RPM Drives in Raid 0 are decently fast.

SSD's are very good nevertheless. They're #2 in my queue, after the HP zr30w, which I'm getting ASAP.

[EvGa]

Not THAT much of a difference, I guess. Two 7200 RPM Drives in Raid 0 are decently fast.

SSD's are very good nevertheless. They're #2 in my queue, after the HP zr30w, which I'm getting ASAP.

Transfer speeds, sure. Latency, not even in the same ballparks.

I just got two new Samsung F4's (320GB each) and put them in raid-0. I also installed a 64GB A-Data SSD drive for my boot disk.

The Samsungs get 250MBs average transfer rate in HD tune with 12ms latency.
The SSD gets 250MBs average transfer rate (single drive remember) with 0.1ms latency.

The latency is where you'll notice the biggest speed increase, or snappiness.

I can open every single MS office app as quickly as I can click them. Thing is smoking fast.

[Stress]

Not THAT much of a difference, I guess. Two 7200 RPM Drives in Raid 0 are decently fast.

SSD's are very good nevertheless. They're #2 in my queue, after the HP zr30w, which I'm getting ASAP.

Transfer speeds, sure. Latency, not even in the same ballparks.

I just got two new Samsung F4's (320GB each) and put them in raid-0. I also installed a 64GB A-Data SSD drive for my boot disk.

The Samsungs get 250MBs average transfer rate in HD tune with 12ms latency.
The SSD gets 250MBs average transfer rate (single drive remember) with 0.1ms latency.

The latency is where you'll notice the biggest speed increase, or snappiness.

I can open every single MS office app as quickly as I can click them. Thing is smoking fast.

That's right. Somehow, I only thought of very read-heavy operations (like Windows and Mac OS boot-up) and missed latency altogether.

[[SD]Master_Wong]

, dom sadly i would have all games on my ssd if i could but due to its size i cant i mean wow is like 25gb i could only afford a 64gb (i paid for a higher quality one aswell)

I mentioned 500GB to 1TB. I was definitely not talking about SSDs as they go for 3,000 to 3,700 CAD

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductLis ... 1&name=1TB

I do think, however, that it's a waste to get an SSD with a gaming PC with your games on a second SATA drive. It's cool that you have a really snappy drive for running microsoft word, but if you're doing mostly gaming, the only real differences you'll notice are things like start up time.

If I got an SSD, I would get something like a 120-160GB drive. But for the price, I might just get a Macbook Air instead. I've just been hesitant since I spent $1400 on this MBP less than a year ago.

*When I write SATA, I mean a traditional 3.5 drive.

i do have some games on it but once im finished with them i move them or if im not that interested in them i will just put right to my program drive, but i cant put all my games on it as i said wow for instance takes up way too much

That's what I've been doing, but was wondering how master_wong managed to make it automatic? I'm guessing somewhere in the Control Panel.

And while on the topic of hard drives, what's an SSD? New Technology? What does it stand for?

i made download, music and other suck folders automatic i didnt make the default install location automatic as tbh it asks me anyways for my the location is the same insted of C://program files (x84) i just change the first letter to P, sorry i wasnt clear enough. what i was trying to say everything has its place when i download when i look for music or pictures non of that is found on my c drive windows automatically opens a my documents folder on my M (media) drive. but im fairly sure i could have windows use a 2nd drive for the program files without too much hassle il go take a gander though the settings and let you know