Dual HDs - hardware idiot

[Build One]

And so....I finally have my first build all happy and playing well together...

This is what I want to do....

I have two HD's....both new...One is already installed with XP and in the case doing its thang...it is a 80GB Western Digital 7200RPM 8MBl.....my second HD I want to use as a bulk storage device for my home movies while I edit them and what not...it is a Seagate 200GB / 7200 / 8MB. Once my home movies are burned to DVD I want clear this second HD off and start all over again with another round of home movies.....

Can I just install this second HD as a slave and call it a day or ...?.....Do I need to do something with the RAID stuff?....I think I'll back up my C: on to this second drive but other than that it will be just a large storage cabinet for video editing.

I know I'm a hardware idiot and if there is a thread out here that I missed that will give me the 'how to' then direct me there....I hate dual threads on the same thing....

Thanks!

[Redfallon]

You don't want to use RAID or JBOD, as both basically combine two (or more) HDD's into 1 larger volume. Each of course has different advantages/disadvantages (RAID O, RAID 1, JBOD, etc) I would say for what you want to do, you are on the correct track. Just hook it up as a slave drive, or hook it to the second IDE channel. Either way will work for what you want. You can write/erase all the data you want without bothering your primary HDD with OS and program files on it.

[Build One]

My Mother Board has two IDE connectors.....I have them both filled..(no room to add my second HD)....I already 4 devices on those....there are two connectors for RAID devices...should/can I run through those for my HDs?...they look just like the IDE conenctions...

My paranoia lies in the fact I've been mucking with this same computer for over a month now....I just don't want to mess up my FINALLY working system...*silly grin*

[glc]

Yes, you can connect it to one of the RAID connectors, just make sure that you have the RAID function disabled in the bios and it can be used as a standard IDE controller.

[Build One]

It works!....

Thanks again for all the input...on this thread and several others... :)