add a drive bay?

[not-2-teky]

I have a micron millennia to which i have added a cd-rw. Now my 8 gig hard drive is down to less than a gig and I want to add another hard drive. Problem: No more drive bays. With my limited technical knowledge, I'd rather just add an additional hard drive rather than attempt to replace and move all of my data to the new one. Any suggestions? There is plenty of space inside my mini tower -- just no more bays.

[randy48]

A fairly easy and cheap solution is go to Radio Shack and buy a cheap CB Radio mount and a universal drive mounting kit. Fit them together with the new drive. find a spot where they'll fit. Mark and drill the holes, attach the rig and you're in business.

[daverme]

Hmmmmm. If you feel competent to install a second hard drive, then I think you are competent for other solutions, as well. You must first recognize, as Randy48's solution suggests, that installing a DRIVE BAY is way more compex than some other possibilities. Having said that, here are my suggestions: (1) Get that larger drive you feel will be a hassle (I don't think it will be) and get a copy of Drive Image from Power Quest (cost about $70 I think) then clone your 8 Gig onto the larger drive then install the larger drive in place of the 8 Gig. One caveat: make sure your BIOS will handle the larger drive. (2) Buy a larger case and transfer all the works into the larger case. My main gripe against "off the shelf" systems is their generally limited expansion capability.

Dave

[Roy]

Drives don't have to reside in bays. I've left them hanging by the ribbon cable or just lying on a piece of paper (insulator) on the floor of the case. It really doesn't matter what position they're in.

If you get a Western Digital drive, I think you can use WD's free Data LifeGuard utilities to clone your existing drive. That's what I do regularly to make sure I have a completely independent place to go if I get into trouble. DLG also has a utility to "work around" size limitations in older systems.

[voogru]

I've left them hanging by the ribbon cable

do you mean Literally Hanging or just laying on something? Thats not a good idea to "hang" your expensive Hard-drive with all your priceless data.

-voogru

[Fingers]

Absolutly nothing could be easier than installing a Western Digital hdd with Data Lifegaurd tools. Just connect the drive to an IDE cable and set the jumpers properly. Boot up and go into the bios and detect the drive then reboot with the Data Lifegaurd disk in the floppy. Select the options to copy the content of you old hdd to the new one. When it's finished remove your old hdd, reset the jumpers, enter the bios and redetect your new drive, reboot and your DONE.
The drive can remain unattached from the case but on a stable surface while you complete the cloning process. Western Digital drives are not supposed to be operated in a vertical position, but apparently upside-down doesn't matter.

[Roy]

By "hanging by the ribbon cable" I meant that because the ribbon was not long enough to let the drive rest on the case floor, it was suspended at an angle with one end touching the bottom. Drives aren't that expensive, and the data is not that precious. Nonetheless, I use two drives and back up everything regularly. That way I don't have to think about what might happen. I've had reason to be glad I did. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

We've come a long way from the days of physical "crash" in hard disk drives. Believe it or not, the read/write head comes into momentary contact with the platter "all the time"!

[This message has been edited by Roy (edited 02-05-2001).]

[not-2-teky]

Thanks for the suggestions! Are there any good programs that will clone my hard drive that are a little easier on the pocket book? Someone else (besides Roy) had told me that I could just set the new drive on the bottom of the case (paper under for insulation?) -- any thoughts here? It just makes me a little nervous.......

[Fingers]

Data Lifegaurd is included with every retail WD hard drive, or you can download it for free from the Western Digital Software Library (http://www.wdc.com/service/ftp/drives.html) . EZ-Install is DOS based program from the Data Lifegard Tools Suite, and it's all you need to check your BIOS for compatibility, partition, format, and clone your new drive.

As permanent solution in your current case, the universal drive mounting kit sounds like an excellent ideal, you might also just be able to attach the mount directly to the bottom of your current hard or floppy drive bay. If you have an empty 5 1/4 bay, the kit will allow you to mount the drive there also.
Personally, I wouldn't leave my drive lying loose in my case for any longer than what it takes me to go to Radio Shack and buy a proper mount.

[This message has been edited by Fingers (edited 02-05-2001).]