Spare hard drive.

I'm up and running after a problem that turned out to be a dead motherboard. Along the way, I bought a spare 80gb hard drive. So right now I am running the old hard drive with Windows 2000 Pro on it. The 2nd drive is physically installed, but not plugged, in and never has run from new. My question is, how can I make the 2nd drive work to my advantage? Can it be a "mirror ", acting as a backup in case the first one dies, or can it be used to speed up the system? Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Rob

 

Hi avt007,
There are many methods of backup. If you investigate the Windows method of backup, you will get an idea of the basic methods of backup (enter backup into Help and Support).

The method you mention (mirror) is run by a RAID controller. IF you have a RAID controller, you can set up the drives to be "mirrored ". (In your case, RAID 1)

My backup system is to burn to optical disk. If you want to back-up a "mega" gigabyte file, choose a HDD method.

If you have a mirror and need to restore to that mirror, you may just end with similar problems (OK if the main HDD fails and the second HDD can just "take over "...that is...when there are no problems in the system itself.)

Matt

 

It's not going to speed your system up, but you can use it as extra storage, and or a back up, etc.

 

It will speed up your system if you put your virtual memory (page file) onto the HD.
Albeit, a very minor performance boost.

Good Luck

 

I'm just a regular home user, but one that's had the hassle of a hard drive dying, so it'd be nice to use this as a backup (preferably without having to spend yet more money on hardware). Your suggestions are appreciated!