Really REALLY dumb questions about possible install - 2 HDs

[Steve Scrimpshire]

First of all, I didn't know whether this should go in Installation or Hardware, so I guessed.

I'm not a 'hardware' guy, so I'm clueless here.

 

I'm thinking about buying another, larger HD (80 Gig?). Right now, I have a Quantum Fireball 15 Gig. What I want to do is put Win2000 on this one and buying another HD. I have questions, though:

 

[*] How big of a HD can MDK (8.1) handle?

 

[*] Do I need extra hardware besides just a second HD...a controller of some kind?

 

[*] What jumper settings should there be for each HD?

 

[*] What are the best brands of HDs? (I see that WD drives are cheaper, but I don't want to 'get what I paid for' if you know what I mean)

 

[*] How do I go about the install so that my Windows drive shows up in the boot menu? (I'll be using Linux mostly)

[Guest anon]

1) 80 gig no problem, linux can handle several times that size.

 

2 ) no extra hardware needed.

 

3 ) main drive should be set to primary ( which yours is set to now) the second drive should be set to slave, windows likes to be drive c: but you can put it anywere. details of jumper settings will come with new drive.

 

4) Lots of debate over that question. do a search ( above)

 

5) Its easier to have windows installed first, then linux which will give you the default Lilo bootloader.

[bnc75ohm]

I've had 2 HDs on my PCs for about a year now and it's worked quite well. I recently built a new PC and installed win 98 and Mandrake 9.0 on seperate drives. The new machine has 2 - 40 GB Maxtor drives, one for Linux and one for windows. Both drives are on the first IDE channel, the windows drive is the master and appears as the C drive in windows and the Linux Drive is the slave. I use LILO to choose which OS to boot. My CD burner and IDE Zip drive are on the second IDE channel. I've had good luck with Maxtor drives and personally would stick with them. The retail Maxtor drives come with Maxblast, a handy utility to help troubleshoot and set up your drives. I think you can also download Maxblast from the web site. Good luck

[tyme]

Don't get a Western Digital hard drive. Although they are good hard drives, Western Digital specifically states that they do not support Linux on them. I have 2 WD's, and have had a variety of problems during installs. Eventually it worked, but, it was querky at first.

[Guest beeboy]

I've been running 2 hard drives for some time too. One Maxtor and one WD, different speeds. Put the faster one as Master. I have had no compatibility problems with linux with either drive. But I perfer the Maxtor(it is quiet).

[Yuyo]

Don't get a Western Digital hard drive.  Although they are good hard drives, Western Digital specifically states that they do not support Linux on them.  I have 2 WD's, and have had a variety of problems during installs.  Eventually it worked, but, it was querky at first.

 

I don't believe this to be accurate. Where does WD say that?

 

I have nothing but Western Digital drives for the past 3 years and they work great. Fastest drives right now, too.

 

Of course, they are not going to help you troubleshoot operating system questions, just like they will not help you if you don't know how to install a windows OS.

 

All of their diagnostic tools just need a dos floppy, which you can obtain from bootfloppy.com.