Swapping out Internal Hard Drives at DVinfo.net

Ezra Hiller · December 27th, 2005, 09:26 AM

I have 2 - 75 gig hard drives that I believe are RAIDed together. These drives are not my system drives, but just for media. I have replacement drives of the "same" make and model as whats in the computer already. I am assuming this should be a simple "open up, swap, and format the drive" type of job....Or is this something that can screw up my system. Any advice would be appreciated.

Ezra

(PC WIN2000 dual PIII

Matt Brabender · December 27th, 2005, 05:10 PM

I can't see any problem - I swap media drives all the time - as long as you configure them properly, you shouldn't have any issues.

Jim Ioannidis · December 27th, 2005, 06:07 PM

What is RAIDing the drives together, Windows or a RAID card and how are the drives RIADed together Raid 0 or Raid 1.

As long as you don't care about the data on the old drives there shouldn't be much problem adding the new drives since you have no data you're worried about losing.

Ezra Hiller · December 27th, 2005, 07:16 PM

I'm not sure of the technology terms - "Raid" Just that the 2 - 75 gig hard drives were in the computer when I purchased the system - and they are named as 1 150gig HD.
I don't care about the data on the drives.
I am just not sure if it as easy as swapping out a DVD drive -
do I have to do something like "dismount" the drives in Windows before I remove them?
If something goes wrong, will it effect the rest of my system i.e. the system drive or the 4 external hard drives (via firewire) that I am presently using?

Ezra

Jim Ioannidis · December 27th, 2005, 08:36 PM

No, you don't need to dismouunnt the old drives or anything like that.

I don't want to say that removing those drives won't affect your system in any way because i don't know your system and how it is set up BUT as long as nothing system related is on those drives then you should be fine....AGAIN, i don't know your system.

also, just so you'll know, it sounds like your 75 gb drives are in a RAID 0 configuration which is not redundant so if you lose 1 drive you lose all the data on those drives.

Ezra Hiller · December 27th, 2005, 10:30 PM

Thanks. I had a feeling. I will have some down time in a few weeks, and I'll try the swap then. This way if anything goes wrong, I won't back log myself. Ever since I had a warning about my internal drives, I have been using external drives. They have been working well. I figure that I have these exact replacement drives, I might as well use them. Thanks again.

Ezra

December 27th, 2005, 09:26 AM	#1
Ezra Hiller New Boot Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: New Jersey Posts: 23	Swapping out Internal Hard Drives I have 2 - 75 gig hard drives that I believe are RAIDed together. These drives are not my system drives, but just for media. I have replacement drives of the "same" make and model as whats in the computer already. I am assuming this should be a simple "open up, swap, and format the drive" type of job....Or is this something that can screw up my system. Any advice would be appreciated. Ezra (PC WIN2000 dual PIII

December 27th, 2005, 06:07 PM	#3
Jim Ioannidis Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 60	What is RAIDing the drives together, Windows or a RAID card and how are the drives RIADed together Raid 0 or Raid 1. As long as you don't care about the data on the old drives there shouldn't be much problem adding the new drives since you have no data you're worried about losing. __________________ www.downfallproductions.com

December 27th, 2005, 08:36 PM	#5
Jim Ioannidis Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 60	No, you don't need to dismouunnt the old drives or anything like that. I don't want to say that removing those drives won't affect your system in any way because i don't know your system and how it is set up BUT as long as nothing system related is on those drives then you should be fine....AGAIN, i don't know your system. also, just so you'll know, it sounds like your 75 gb drives are in a RAID 0 configuration which is not redundant so if you lose 1 drive you lose all the data on those drives. __________________ www.downfallproductions.com

December 27th, 2005, 05:10 PM	#2
Matt Brabender Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 230	I can't see any problem - I swap media drives all the time - as long as you configure them properly, you shouldn't have any issues.

December 27th, 2005, 07:16 PM	#4
Ezra Hiller New Boot Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: New Jersey Posts: 23	I'm not sure of the technology terms - "Raid" Just that the 2 - 75 gig hard drives were in the computer when I purchased the system - and they are named as 1 150gig HD. I don't care about the data on the drives. I am just not sure if it as easy as swapping out a DVD drive - do I have to do something like "dismount" the drives in Windows before I remove them? If something goes wrong, will it effect the rest of my system i.e. the system drive or the 4 external hard drives (via firewire) that I am presently using? Ezra

December 27th, 2005, 10:30 PM	#6
Ezra Hiller New Boot Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: New Jersey Posts: 23	Thanks. I had a feeling. I will have some down time in a few weeks, and I'll try the swap then. This way if anything goes wrong, I won't back log myself. Ever since I had a warning about my internal drives, I have been using external drives. They have been working well. I figure that I have these exact replacement drives, I might as well use them. Thanks again. Ezra