Expert: Mike Dacre - 7/3/2009

Question
How do I install a second and third hard drive on my Windows XP operating system? I have XP on one drive and when I connect the othe two hard drives, my computer fails to  load the boot log from the first drive. if I connect the hard drives after XP boots up and is running, XP cannot find these disks. how do i install them as a storage device?

Answer
Hello Mat,

First of all you should NEVER be plugging a hard drive in once windows is up and running, you very well may be screwing the drive and/or your existing system.

Depending on the type of hard drive(s) you are adding to your system (IDE) you would have to make sure the jumper settings are set correctly as slave drives. If they are SATA drives, then this is not a problem, however where you plug them in to the mainboard will be important. Next is the bios settings which you will need to confirm that the computer is actually detecting these devices. To get to your system setup/bios you should probably be pressing F2 or DEL or whatever it states a few seconds after you first turn on your system. Typically you will only have a second or two to press the correct key and if you see the windows splash screen you waited too long and should restart your computer (ctrl-alt-del).  Once you have the correct boot order set from the system settings your system should boot and detect the other drives, that is, if they have been formatted but if they are fresh from the factory they will most likely not be formatted either, in which case you will need a hard drive partition manager program such as Paragon Partition Manager or Partition Magic for example.

After you do get things going, I suggest visiting my website at http://tpsconsulting.com and read the TIPS page on OPTIMIZING your computer. Then go to the SOFTWARE/SUPPORT page and install all the programs from the PINK section as they will help with the cleaning/removal and ongoing maintenance from the spyware/malware issues that cause so many problems and slowdowns.

Note, if anything I have written you do not understand or feel it is over your head, you should be taking your system to a technician that can get things right for you.

sincerely

Mike Dacre
http://tpsconsulting.com