Gaming How to combine HDD's?

[gifi4]

I have 2 HDD's totalling up to about 140GB and I also have a 1TB external HDD and I want to know how to partion(is that the right word for putting them together?) my internal HDD's so that there will still be 2 internal HDD's but it will only read as one? In other words, I want the space combined into one instead of 2, any guides on how to do this or can someone explain what I need to do?

 

[Fudge]

I don't think you can combine 2 HDD's into the same storage device. Why would you want to anyway? The correct word is partition, and if you want to partition your 1TB HDD download EASEUS Partition Master. Great piece of software.

 

[gifi4]

I don't think you can combine 2 HDD's into the same storage device. Why would you want to anyway? The correct word is partition, and if you want to partition your 1TB HDD download EASEUS Partition Master. Great piece of software.

I want to do it because my HDD with my OS only has 15GB left, I don't want to partition the 1TB just my 2 internal HDD's because of the limited amount of space.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

It is called RAID. It is commonly found in servers, where combining multiple HDD to look and act like 1 drive. If your motherboard doesn't support RAID, you can get a RAID card.

It is normally done BEFORE you install an OS, not after running out of space. You should look up what type of RAID setup you need, then see what you need to get for it. Then determine if it is worth the effort of doing.

 

[Joe88]

theres not much you can do now as far as combing the drives

uninstall useless crap, which I assume you have done already
copy all your documents, music, videos, and photos to the other drive and place shortcuts to the folders on your main account

 

[Rydian]

They're different sizes so you can't RAID-0 them.

 

[Originality]

Actually certain RAID controllers can combine HDDs of different sizes into a "BIG" drive. It's not RAID-0 (striping), just putting one drive at the end of the other and reading it as one.

That's what I did with my Sumvision RAID enclosure.

 

[nutella]

I thought you could use different sized HDD's in a RAID array, it's just that you will only use the size of the smallest HDD times the number of HDDs, right? Sorry, I've never used a RAID controller but I'm just curious. I've never had the need for one personally.

BTW, partitioning is kind of like the opposite of a RAID array. It splits one HDD so that your computer will use it as multiple drives.

 

[Frederica Bernkastel]

You're best off using a JBOD setup (my personal favorite ;D)

 

[Originality]

JBOD was what I was thinking of - just couldn't remember the right term.

 

[twiztidsinz]

RAID0 should support different size drives, but if you combine them it only uses the smallest drive size.
Example: a 100GB and 120GB in RAID0 will give 200GB (100GB x 2), a 120GB + 120GB + 200GB will give 360GB (120GB x 3).

 

[gifi4]

RAID0 should support different size drives, but if you combine them it only uses the smallest drive size.
Example: a 100GB and 120GB in RAID0 will give 200GB (100GB x 2), a 120GB + 120GB + 200GB will give 360GB (120GB x 3).

That means the space would be lower, because one of the HDD's is only 40GB so instead of 120-140GB it will be 80GB 0.o

 

[Frederica Bernkastel]

RAID0 should support different size drives, but if you combine them it only uses the smallest drive size.
Example: a 100GB and 120GB in RAID0 will give 200GB (100GB x 2), a 120GB + 120GB + 200GB will give 360GB (120GB x 3).

That means the space would be lower, because one of the HDD's is only 40GB so instead of 120-140GB it will be 80GB 0.o

Yes that's exactly what it means.
There is a common misconception that simply adding a disk to an array will automatically increase the size - there is more to it than that.

In all honesty you're best off without "combining" anything.

 

[raulpica]

RAID0 should support different size drives, but if you combine them it only uses the smallest drive size.
Example: a 100GB and 120GB in RAID0 will give 200GB (100GB x 2), a 120GB + 120GB + 200GB will give 360GB (120GB x 3).

That means the space would be lower, because one of the HDD's is only 40GB so instead of 120-140GB it will be 80GB 0.o

Yes that's exactly what it means.
There is a common misconception that simply adding a disk to an array will automatically increase the size - there is more to it than that.

In all honesty you're best off without "combining" anything.

This. Also the risk of screwing up everything while doing an operation like this one is REALLY high.

Just back-up everything on your OS partition, and reinstall the OS on the 1TB drive, and just ditch the small drive.

EDIT: Read it wrong, the 1TB one is external. Well, then just transfer everything NON-ESSENTIAL to the external drive

 

[Berthenk]

RAID0 should support different size drives, but if you combine them it only uses the smallest drive size.
Example: a 100GB and 120GB in RAID0 will give 200GB (100GB x 2), a 120GB + 120GB + 200GB will give 360GB (120GB x 3).

You're messing up, RAID0 makes the two drives act and look like one, so that would be:
100GB+100GB=100GB at twice the speed (if you're really damn lucky, that is), 120GB+120GB+200GB=120GB at thrice the speed.
Do remember though, any error, even a minor HDD fail, will cause loss of data.