2 physical HDs into 1 logical

[peroj]

Hello,
I have two physical hard disks.
HDD0 - The first has two partitions (C_60GB & D_100GB), both NTFS, on C: I have WinXPSP2.
HDD1 - The second has only one partition (E_160GB), NTFS.

Are there any way to join to partitions D & E in one logical drive of 260 GB?

Thx,

peroj

[Erik]

You could setup as Dynamic disks. But why? What is wrong with having the two different drives? You will also probably run into problems because your first drive is partitioned already.

You might want to just try setting up the E drive to show up as a folder in your D drive. It isn't really combining the space into a single partition, that can't be done. But it will have the same end result to users with the least possible problems.

[jlreich]

I agree with Erik, why?

You could use disk spanning to make it like one large disk, but it would require deleting the partitions and starting over. And your system must support it or you would need to get a PCI raid card.

You could also backup all the data on the second partition of the first disk and use a third party partition manager to resize the XP partition to take up the whole disk. But there is always some risk to existing data involved with such partition maneuvers.

But again why? Having different partitions is generally a good thing. Particularly having a smaller OS partition and storing data on other larger partitions. ;)

[peroj]

Thanks!

I want to make video capture. The VHS, I have, is 180 minutes and my capture device produce out of it about 240 GB.

So, in order to make VHS2DVD into one step I need about 260 GB, which I currently have on two physical hard disks (one has about 100 GB free and the second one has 160 GB free).

That's the need.

[aeorcr]

Us the dynamic disks as mentione above, i have done it and it works perfect (not as good as a hardware RAID, but it works, take in count it could slow down your pc a bit cause i think it uses more CPU to handle the mixed HDDs).

Anyway heres how to do it. (my OS is in Spanish so look for words that are similar as the ones i say to click, cause im translating them from my pc and can be not accurate but i think it will guide you)

Right click MY COMPUTER and go to "Management"

A program will open.
on the left panel of the program look for "Disk Management"
Click on it and you´ll see your disks.

In the lower part of the scren you´ll see your disks with blue bars.
Right click where it says:

Disc 0
Basic
--- GB NTFS
On screen

An click "Convert to dynamic disk".

Then it will ask you which of your disk you want to be converted into dynamic.
Select disk 0 and 1.

this will convert your disks to dynamic disks and will allow you to join the partitions.

[Paul Komski]

Be aware that you will need XP Pro not Home (or Win2K) to convert to Dynamic and that it is a one way process.

If you go that route backup any vital data before you begin and consider backing up your system partition into the bargain.

How To Convert to Basic and Dynamic Disks in Windows XP Professional (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309044)

I personally think it a messy way to go but that's up to you. Better would be to grab another 160 and a host-controller card and turn them into a single 320gig volume RAID-0 if you want the best performance for such operations or even get one large HDD since drive prices have tumbled down so much and leave your system partition untouched.

[jlreich]

I personally think it a messy way to go but that's up to you. Better would be to grab another 160 and a host-controller card and turn them into a single 320gig volume RAID-0 if you want the best performance for such operations or even get one large HDD since drive prices have tumbled down so much and leave your system partition untouched.
I have to agree with Paul. You can get a 500GB HDD for $130 on sale right now at Newegg. Or a 320GB for $80. Get one, make one large partition and use it exclusively for your video projects. That's the cleanest simplest way to go about it IMHO.

[aeorcr]

Or you can try this method is not so complicated,

if you like the way it work, OK, then you dont spend any money, (which i think is the reason why he asked if he can join the partitions so he wont spend cash on something he already have)

or if it dont suite you, then go on and buy a new HDD. Is not harmful to try it.

Anyway heres step by step on how to do it. .(Continuation of my previous post). Seems difficult and long but its really simple.
That Microsoft Page is indee really confusing, its everything but helpful.

By the Way Is true That you Need WIN XP PRO in order to do this.
----------------------Previous Post Continuation ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now windows will alert you about not being able to boot an OS from dynamic disks, i think this is for dual boot popurse so if you only have windows, which i assume, click OK and go on reading.

Now your PC will be restarted or if not restart it manually.

After the reboot, re-enter the management console (Right click my pc -> Management)

Now go to disk management again.

Now you´ll see that your disks now say dynamic instead of basic. (If you cant see this recheck all the steps until you seee it)

Disk management can join free space among various hdds and make them act as one hdd.
For fusing the partitions you´ll need to eliminate the partitions of your disks (Only the ones you want to fuse, dont eliminate your main partition from the C drive - disk 0).

So go on and eliminate your 100 GB on disk 0 and your 160 GB on disk 1. (BACKUP any important data that you have on this partitions as we are going to eliminate them, so we are going to erase the data on them). To do this right click the partition bar you want to erase and click ELIMINATE VOLUME. Repeat in partion 2 as well.

That done, now you should have:

DISK 0 | (C:) -- GB NTFS | 100 GB Unalocated or free space |

DISK 1 | 160 GB Unalocated or free space |

OK, lets continue.

Now right click the free space on DISK 0, and click new volume.

On the window that appear click next.

Then click the second option (should be something like distributed) and click next.

Now you should see the free space of disk 1 on the left side and disk 0 on the right one.
Click the free space of disk 1 and click add.

Then click Next.

Now next again or costumize the unit letter you want for the new partition, i suggest to keep it defalt.

Now is the formating part. for the filesystem choose NTFS. The second option leave it defalut. The third one is the label and can be anything you want.

Make sure to check the Quick format option.

Now click next. and then finish.

Wait a cuople minutes until you see both drive letters to appear correctly on the main window. and make sure the formating have finish (the program say formating done XX %).

After The format youre all set and you can enjoy your new 260 GB partition.

Hope that helps!!!

[peroj]

Thanks a lot to all of you!
The idea with "Convert to dynamic disk" seems to be an answer to my problem.

The other ideas with new hardware is not bad, but the hard disks are big enough, the system operates stable...

Right now I have to back-up my system and to try "Convert to dynamic disk". Thanks again.

Kind regards on all of you!

peroj
:)