Need to combine two computers' hard drives

[jphelmstadter]

I've got 2 Dell computers running XP that I need to turn into 1. My
strategy is to take the hard drive out of the slower computer and
install it into the faster one. My girlfriend's hard drive has her and
her daughter's data on it and mine obviously has my data on it.

What I'd like to do is to install both into one computer and have it so
that at logon when I sign in I access my hard drive and when my
girlfriend or her daughter sign in they access their hard drive. My
question is whether this is possible. I feel like it should be but I
don't know how to make it happen.

I've got some knowledge of computers and have built my own before so I
know that having 2 hard drives usually requires one to be the 'master'
and the other to be the 'slave'. Will this setup allow us to access
our respective drives without having to go through one to get to the
other?

My concern behind this is not privacy (I don't have anything to hide)
but iTunes/iPods. My girlfriend and I each have one and I know the
deal with how it's set up to not allow multipule iPods to connect with
a single instance of iTunes. Plus we want to keep our music librarys
seperate for now.

I appreciate any help anyone can give me. Thank you for your time in
advance!!

 

[Guest]

I've got 2 Dell computers running XP that I need to turn into 1. My
strategy is to take the hard drive out of the slower computer and
install it into the faster one. My girlfriend's hard drive has her and
her daughter's data on it and mine obviously has my data on it.

LFR>>>>
You can add the other hard drive if is compatible with the first computer.
Now before taking the drive of you need to save the important data to a
disk...Why?? because when you set as a slave you need to partition and format
this hard drive to be able to use it, and the data is going to be lost in
this process

What I'd like to do is to install both into one computer and have it so
that at logon when I sign in I access my hard drive and when my
girlfriend or her daughter sign in they access their hard drive. My
question is whether this is possible. I feel like it should be but I
don't know how to make it happen.

LFR>>> the only way the two hard drive can be use according the user is with
dual boot(one operating system installed in one hard drive and the other os
in the second) very complicated procedure if you dont know about
computers.....Now you can save all your data (yours and the other user) and
with the hard drive installed as slave do a clean install of the os and
format both hard drives to work as one, download again the drivers to you
computer an created 3 differentes accounts as private, and download the info
according each user....

I've got some knowledge of computers and have built my own before so I
know that having 2 hard drives usually requires one to be the 'master'
and the other to be the 'slave'.

LFR>>> that is true; but even though windows reconized the dirve, you can't
use it yet, getting the drive physically installed in the computer is only
one step. You need to partition and format the drive true the Disk Managment
(Start - run - compmgmt.msn)

Will this setup allow us to access

our respective drives without having to go through one to get to the
other?

LFR>>>You need to make the 2 hard drive work as one partition

My concern behind this is not privacy (I don't have anything to hide)
but iTunes/iPods. My girlfriend and I each have one and I know the
deal with how it's set up to not allow multipule iPods to connect with
a single instance of iTunes. Plus we want to keep our music librarys
seperate for now.

LFR>>>Now if privacy is not problem you can use the second hard drive as
storage; but you still need to format this drive to be use.........doing as
one partition you can created accounts and set each one as private.

I appreciate any help anyone can give me. Thank you for your time in
advance!!

LFR >>> keep in mind that you need to back up all important files, have your instalation cd with you and the info aboput your drivers, if you feel that you don't have the experience to do this procedure, ask a friend to help you. Here is some info:

http://www.helpwithpcs.com/upgrading/install-hard-drive.htm#finishing-installation

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/tulloch_partition.mspx

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

This is the worst reply to a request I have seen for a long
time. Most of your statements are either totally wrong or
grossly misleading. What are you up to?

See the marked replies below.

LFR>>>>
You can add the other hard drive if is compatible with the first computer.

*** There are no compatibility issues with hard disks. They are
*** all compatible with each other, provided they were used on
*** a Windows PC.

Now before taking the drive of you need to save the important data to a
disk...Why?? because when you set as a slave you need to partition and format
this hard drive to be able to use it, and the data is going to be lost in
this process

*** No, there is absolutely no need to partition and format the disk.

LFR>>> the only way the two hard drive can be use according the user is with
dual boot(one operating system installed in one hard drive and the other os
in the second) very complicated procedure if you dont know about
computers

*** The OP does not want a multi-booting installation. He wants
*** to be able to access data on either disk, depending on who
*** logs on.

.....Now you can save all your data (yours and the other user) and
with the hard drive installed as slave do a clean install of the os and
format both hard drives to work as one . . .

*** No, no, no. Formatting both disk would totally destroy
*** everything the OP has. And no, you can't format two hard
*** disks as "one".

, download again the drivers to you
computer an created 3 differentes accounts as private, and download the info
according each user....

*** Download the info from where?

LFR>>> that is true; but even though windows reconized the dirve, you can't
use it yet, getting the drive physically installed in the computer is only
one step. You need to partition and format the drive true the Disk Managment
(Start - run - compmgmt.msn)

*** No, this is totally wrong. When a disk is installed as a slave disk
*** and recognised by the BIOS as a slave disk then Windows will
*** recognise it too, without repartitioning and formatting.

LFR>>>You need to make the 2 hard drive work as one partition

*** How?

LFR>>>Now if privacy is not problem you can use the second hard drive as
storage; but you still need to format this drive to be use.........doing as
one partition you can created accounts and set each one as private.

*** Repeating an incorrect statement numerous times does not
*** make it corect.
your instalation cd with you and the info aboput your drivers, if you feel
that you don't have the experience to do this procedure, ask a friend to
help you. Here is some info:

http://www.helpwithpcs.com/upgrading/install-hard-drive.htm#finishing-installation

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/tulloch_partition.mspx

 

[Guest]

tell please what i write wrong

This is the worst reply to a request I have seen for a long
time. Most of your statements are either totally wrong or
grossly misleading. What are you up to?

See the marked replies below.


*** There are no compatibility issues with hard disks. They are
*** all compatible with each other, provided they were used on
*** a Windows PC.

*** No, there is absolutely no need to partition and format the disk.

*** The OP does not want a multi-booting installation. He wants
*** to be able to access data on either disk, depending on who
*** logs on.

*** No, no, no. Formatting both disk would totally destroy
*** everything the OP has. And no, you can't format two hard
*** disks as "one".

*** Download the info from where?

*** No, this is totally wrong. When a disk is installed as a slave disk
*** and recognised by the BIOS as a slave disk then Windows will
*** recognise it too, without repartitioning and formatting.

*** How?

*** Repeating an incorrect statement numerous times does not
*** make it corect.

your instalation cd with you and the info aboput your drivers, if you feel
that you don't have the experience to do this procedure, ask a friend to
help you. Here is some info:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/tulloch_partition.mspx

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

tell please what i write wrong

Just about everything you wrote is wrong. See the
marked text in my first reply.

 

[Guest]

LFR>>>
Pegasus: I didn't try to mislead the person how ask the question.
This is the way I learn about two hard drive:

1-find if the computer has room for aditional hard drive
2-Check your computer manual to see if it can handle a moster drive before
you install
3-I asume that is a sata drive, the process is much easier. simply plug the
power connector into the drive, and connect the drive to the motherboard sata
controller using sata cable, and there is no need to change jumper settings,
though you may need to update your BIOS if it can't see the drive otherwise
the jumpers has to be set.
4-Before doing any work in your computer important data should be save.
5-When you're adding a second hard drive to a system, probably the smartesr
thing to do is just treat the whole disk as one primary partition and one
drive

About dual boot You right I should 'nt mencioned because confuse more

If my reply was wrong please disregard and thanks pegasus...

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

More wrong answers - see below.

LFR>>>
Pegasus: I didn't try to mislead the person how ask the question.
This is the way I learn about two hard drive:

1-find if the computer has room for aditional hard drive

*** OK.

2-Check your computer manual to see if it can handle a moster drive before
you install

*** Every current PC can "handle" a MASTER disk. Most
*** can handle a SLAVE disk too.

3-I asume that is a sata drive, the process is much easier. simply plug the
power connector into the drive, and connect the drive to the motherboard sata
controller using sata cable, and there is no need to change jumper settings,
though you may need to update your BIOS if it can't see the drive otherwise
the jumpers has to be set.

*** OK, if the OP has a SATA disk - which I doubt.

4-Before doing any work in your computer important data should be save.

*** Good philosophy but not necessary in this case: The OP
*** has no need to do any work other than connecting a slave
*** disk. This is considered a very low-risk activity.

5-When you're adding a second hard drive to a system, probably the smartesr
thing to do is just treat the whole disk as one primary partition and one
drive *** Why?

About dual boot You right I should 'nt mencioned because confuse more

If my reply was wrong please disregard and thanks pegasus...

*** I recommend that you make yourself much more familiar
*** with disk manipulation techniques before advising other
*** posters on this subject. To state that the second disk must
*** be partitioned/formatted before it can be used in the main
*** PC is terrible advice. I hope the OP did not follow it.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I've got 2 Dell computers running XP that I need to turn into 1. My
strategy is to take the hard drive out of the slower computer and
install it into the faster one. My girlfriend's hard drive has her and
her daughter's data on it and mine obviously has my data on it.

What I'd like to do is to install both into one computer and have it so
that at logon when I sign in I access my hard drive and when my
girlfriend or her daughter sign in they access their hard drive. My
question is whether this is possible. I feel like it should be but I
don't know how to make it happen.

I've got some knowledge of computers and have built my own before so I
know that having 2 hard drives usually requires one to be the 'master'
and the other to be the 'slave'. Will this setup allow us to access
our respective drives without having to go through one to get to the
other?

My concern behind this is not privacy (I don't have anything to hide)
but iTunes/iPods. My girlfriend and I each have one and I know the
deal with how it's set up to not allow multipule iPods to connect with
a single instance of iTunes. Plus we want to keep our music librarys
seperate for now.

I appreciate any help anyone can give me. Thank you for your time in
advance!!

Now that the dust has settled caused the misinformation you
received from LFR, here is a recipe that will work, without
formatting and without loss of data.

1. Remove the disk from the slow PC.
2. Carefully read its label, then set its jumpers to the Slave position.
3. Connect it to the fast PC, using the second connector on the
ribbon cable that us used for the existing disk.
4. Reboot the machine and press whatever key is required to
get into the BIOS. If you don't know, read the Dell manual.
5. Make sure that the BIOS recognises both disks.
6. Boot into WinXP.
7. Click Start / run / diskmgmt.msc {OK}.
8. Find out what drive letter is used for the new disk.
9. Using "My Computer", navigate to X:\Documents and Settings\YYY
where X: is the drive letter from Step 8 and YYY is the account
your wife used to use on the slow PC.
10. Convince yourself that all her files and folders are there.
11. Get her to log on under her own account.
12. Right-click "My Documents" on the desktop, then Properties,
then change the location to X:\Documents and Settings\YYY\ZZZ.
ZZZ is the folder where your wife used to keep her documents.

This is the basic idea. You may have to iron out a few wrinkles -
post again if necessary.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

LFR wrote:

You can add the other hard drive if is compatible with the first
computer. Now before taking the drive of you need to save the
important data to a disk...Why?? because when you set as a slave you
need to partition and format this hard drive to be able to use it,
and the data is going to be lost in this process

This is completely false. There is absolutely no need to either partition or
format the drive.

 

[jphelmstadter]

I just wanted to thank all who responded to my post. LFR & Pegasus,
thank you both for the entertaining debate and especially to Pegasus
for the clarifications offered as to LFR's advice. I'm going to
install these drives today so if I've got any more questions I'll be
posting them once again!! Again, thanks to all for their help!!

JPH