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SSD plus HDD question

Posted By: Smiley456

SSD plus HDD question - 12/12/12 09:04 PM

So, I recently bought an SSD and spent half the day installing it. But now the stationary HDD won't show up as installed.

Is this because the SATA mode is set to AHCI instead of RAID?
Posted By: InlandAZ

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/12/12 09:24 PM

I wouldn't think so - did you make sure that the BIOS recognized both hard drives?
Posted By: Smiley456

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/12/12 09:58 PM

Looks like the SATA configuration doesn't recognize the HDD, which is weird since both drives uses the SATA. But when I check the Boot tab, both the HDD and the SSD is recognized.

Edit: Tried to change the Boot order but that didn't work either.
Posted By: Jenny100

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/12/12 11:12 PM

Are you trying to set up a dual boot?
If you disconnect the new SSD drive, does the other drive become bootable again?
Posted By: Draclvr

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/12/12 11:38 PM

Explain what you mean by the HDD doesn't show up as "installed." Which drive are you booting from? Do you have an operating system on both drives? What kind of configuration are you trying to set up? Is the HDD formatted with an active partition? I have an SSD as my boot drive with the HDD used for data. On the last computer I built, I used the HDD as the boot drive and a small 60 GB SSD as a cache drive.

If you have an OS on the SSD and boot it up, can you "see" the HDD when you click on "My Computer?"
Posted By: Smiley456

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/13/12 12:32 PM

Originally Posted By: Jenny100
Are you trying to set up a dual boot?
If you disconnect the new SSD drive, does the other drive become bootable again?


The idea is to have the OS on the SSD while using the HDD for everything else. So to see if both drives shows up I have to go into Advanced Mode -> SATA Configuration once BIOS has loaded.

The problem was that only the SSD showed up, while the Boot Menu showed both drives as boot able. But since I moved the SATA cables to SATA ports 3 &4, both the SSD and HDD shows up. So far so god.

Even the installation of the OS asks which disk I want to install to. But the current problem (as of today) is that if I install the OS on the SSD, the HDD doesn't show up in Windows (will add pic later when I'm not on the laptop).
Posted By: Draclvr

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/13/12 03:47 PM

All the drives will show up in the BIOS whether they are bootable or not. So, you're saying the HDD is not showing up in My Computer? As I asked above, is the HDD formatted with an active partition?

One way you can see what is going on with your disks is to go into Disk Management. See if the HDD is listed there.

Disk Management
Posted By: Jenny100

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/13/12 04:29 PM

Also, have you formatted the HDD yet? It's not going to show up in My Computer unless it's formatted. However you'll be able to see it in Disk Management -- and format it if necessary -- if Windows is detecting it.
Posted By: Draclvr

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/13/12 05:03 PM

Obviously thinking alike, Jenny! I'm thinking if the physical drive shows up in the BIOS, but not in "My Computer," that it's not formatted. Hopefully Disk Management will sort it out. The direction I gave above are for Windows 7 - at least that's the OS I assumed he was using.
Posted By: Smiley456

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/13/12 06:09 PM

Originally Posted By: Draclvr
Obviously thinking alike, Jenny! I'm thinking if the physical drive shows up in the BIOS, but not in "My Computer," that it's not formatted. Hopefully Disk Management will sort it out. The direction I gave above are for Windows 7 - at least that's the OS I assumed he was using.


That's how far a friend and me got yesterday night. The HDD doesn't show at the top window in Disk Management, but under the lower half it's shown as unallocated. Right clicking doesn't give any format option either.
Posted By: Draclvr

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/13/12 07:23 PM

AHA! Herein lies your problem. Only Active partitions will be listed on the top half of the Disk Management screen. When you right click on the disk partition on the lower half of the screen, do you get an option to make the HDD an Active partition? If not, then you can select Create New Simple Volume and assign a drive letter.

This article should help...

Partition a Hard Drive in Windows 7
Posted By: Smiley456

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/13/12 07:41 PM

The options I get when right clicking where it says "Disk 1" is Convert to Dynamic Disk, Convert to MBR Disk, Offline, Properties and Help.
Posted By: Draclvr

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/13/12 07:44 PM

I edited my post to include a link that might help... You haven't said, but are you using Windows 7?

I see another problem with what you are doing - do not click ON Disk 1... right click on the unallocated space over to the right.
Posted By: Smiley456

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/13/12 11:59 PM

Yep, been running with Windows 7 Professional since February 2011 (no plans on upgrading to Windows 8). Well... after following the link, the only thing I can do now is to wait for the formatting to finish. Kinda feels like the old Defrag for Windows 95, lol
Posted By: Draclvr

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/14/12 12:01 AM

Let us know how it works out!
Posted By: Smiley456

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/18/12 03:55 PM

Well... Everything is up and running, really love how fast windows loads smile12 Still kinda weird that I had to format the ordinary HDD though.
Posted By: Draclvr

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/18/12 04:07 PM

It was getting to where I was going to PM you! I was dying to know how it all worked out. Not weird at all - if you don't make it a primary partition and format it, it doesn't know what to do with itself! You only have to do it once unless you wipe it down to one and zeros.

Once you get all your stuff to point to the HDD to keep all your data there, it's still a battle to keep junk off your SSD. Windows still puts all kinds of temporary files in your App Data which is a hidden file until you uncheck that option. It also puts other stuff around. I use Slim Cleaner to try to keep the unnecessary stuff off my SSD.
Posted By: Jenny100

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/19/12 05:34 PM

It's possible to put your temporary file folder to a drive other than the C: drive
***Change location of TEMP files***
Posted By: Draclvr

Re: SSD plus HDD question - 12/19/12 09:55 PM

That's absolutely great, Jenny! I wasn't sure if moving the temp folder was a good idea or not, so just never attempted it. It's definitely a space hog if you don't keep up with it. Thanks!
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