Adding Hard Drives
 

In the past, I just added additional hard drives to my computer and they seemed to work fine. I'm buying a new computer and want to add two additional hard drives to the 40 gig ATA system drive. After perusing my Western Digital installation manuals, they instruct me to properly place my jumper switches (which I do) and run the installation disk.

Now, I never ran the installation disk in the past. All that I did was install the hard drives and use them immediately. Should I run the installation disk? Apparently, I read somewhere where not using the installation disk prevents me from utilizing the entire drive. I sthis true or will Windows XP handle that for me? I will be adding these drives to Windows XP Professional 64 bit.

That's the problem with retail packaging, they scare you too much. OEM HDDs come without boxes and obviously without disks/manuals but still work.

Just use the drive. The only usefull thing on that installation CD, I assume, would be low-level formatting utility which you hopefully will not need.

WinXP without SP1 won't see over 137GB or something like that (I forget the exact figure). SP1 solved that.

SP2 and the 64bit version of winXP are newer and will see >137GB.

2- I don't think the installation floppy/CD is all that useful.

Thanks again!
 

You guys are so lightning quick it amazes me. Okay, so I'll just install my two, blank 250 gig WD hard drives (they say enhanced IDE on the case) and format them for NTFS.

Will there be any conflicts since I am installing them on my new Dell 670 Workstation with it's serial ATA (SATA) system drive?

OH... and I want to transfer my Sound Blaster Audigy 2 5.1 Surround Sound sound card from my Gateway to my Dell (my Gateway motherboard somehow got hosed). Should I use the Audigy drivers disk that came with my Gateway or should I just download the drivers from the Creative website? The reason I ask is that I'm not sure if the Gateway disk is proprietary. When I load the disk it actually allows me to choose which drivers to install, I just don't know if they'll be any conflicts. Sounds like a stupid question, I know. BUt I want to be careful because this new system set me back a ways. My pet hamsters can't eat for a year now.

Conflicts might occur depending on your mobo. On my ASUS P4C800 if you have 3 IDE devices 2 should be on primary IDE channel.

As for Audigy2, you have to install drivers from CD first. The go to Creative Web site, they have Driver Auto Update there.

Check that there's enough space in the case. I'm not familiar with your model to know how much hard drives it takes.

If not, you could just kludge something together... the drives will be fine *as long as they are cooled well*. They may be ok sitting at the bottom of the case... maybe use some gaffer tape to tape them in place nicely. Utilities like speedfan can check hard drive temperature.

2- Not sure if the newer drives fix anything. If they do, the newer drivers may be better.

One thing to watch out for with Creative is that their software is bloated. If you don't like that stuff, then try to install just the driver. One way may be through device manager and manually point windows towards the driver.

3- You should be good to go... just start editing already!

Chan The Man!
 

Okay guys, thanks. I bought the Dell 670 that has four internal hard drive bays. I could configure it with either 4 SATA drives or 2 SATA and 2 IDE. The thing comes with a 40 GIG SATA (to hold the 64 bit Windows XP PRO O/S) and I will be adding my two, 250 gig EIDE drives and one external 120 gig EIDE drive. All are Western Digital, by the way.

Pray for no conflicts!

This is the system that set me back...

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...67064min&s=bsd

The 64-bit version of winXP may not have drivers for your sound card? (Or rather, Creative may not have made 64-bit drivers for your sound card, or they may suck. In the past, drivers for the SB Live would cause your computer to BSOD every several hours. [I have a huge bias against Creative because of this; but their new drivers might be alright if you don't mind the bloatware, or figure out how to get rid of it.])

2- I don't want to fill you with buyer's regret, but you might be better off cancelling your order? Why:
A- 64-bit winXP may give you a lot of headaches. Not everything will work in it and the bugs may need to be ironed out.
B- Dell upgrades are very much overpriced, and even the base system can be a little pricey.
C- Depending on which editing platform you wish to use, there may be a better solution for you.
Premiere Pro: Probably get a Matrox RTX100 in a *compatible* system (this can be tricky! See what Matrox recommends and follow that, or ask people for working system recipes).
Vegas: Dual core system from Dell would likely be a better choice (right now only OEMs like Dell sell them). Dell's processor upgrades are so overpriced, but the slowest dual core system from them may be worth it. The slowest dual core system from them would definitely be faster and cheaper than a single processor system from Dell.
etc.

Creative has 64 bit drivers available for the Audigy and Audigy 2. I have no idea how well they work, but I can say the 32 bit Audigy 2 drivers have worked just fine for me with no problems. I only loaded the driver, none of the extra Creative software.

Chris:

Are you running a 64 bit system now?

No, I'm running the 32 bit Windows XP Pro version. Sorry I didn't make that clear.