Merging a hard drive, is it possible?

[bobthe2lol]

Ok, so i have 1 100 gb hard drive, and 1 250 gb hard drive. Can i trick my computer into thinking i have 1 350 GB hard drive? Post all methods, hacky or not :chef: I wana know if its possible...

[B-hazard]

Raid.

[conman420]

Glue.

[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Snipe." - lazyV))[/highlight]

[Zyx]

No you can't... Or I don't think you can

[Morkcheese]

Raid.

[Emtu]

You can merge them using a spanned array also known as a JBOD. This is not technically a RAID array but JBOD is usually associated with it. JBOD is an acronym for '[b]J[/b]ust a [b]B[/b]unch [b]O[/b]f [b]D[/b]isks' and it used to combine multiple hard drives that differ in capacity. It is not considered a real RAID array as most forms of RAID offer redundancy (RAID 0 being an exception). Windows can natively do JBOD arrays without special software or hardware, here's some instructions on how to do it. You cannot boot off sofware arrays so if one of those disks is your boot disk then forget it.
Give this a read.
[url]http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/dm_spanned_volume.mspx?mfr=true[/url]

[bobthe2lol]

Damn, one of them is my boot disk :D

edit:
Can you boot off raid? Can someone explain what i have to do to make a raid? Do i have to have a special type of hard drive? Mine have the really wide ribbon type, do i have to have the smaller type?

[Emtu]

[QUOTE=bobthe2lol;16039978]Damn, one of them is my boot disk :D

edit:
Can you boot off raid? Can someone explain what i have to do to make a raid? Do i have to have a special type of hard drive? Mine have the really wide ribbon type, do i have to have the smaller type?[/QUOTE]
You cannot boot off a software RAID, you need a RAID controller to be able to boot off it. Most modern motherboard support RAID and support booting off RAID arrays. The problem is from the sound of it you are using PATA (parallel ATA) drives and while there are RAID controllers for PATA I doubt your motherboard has support for RAID. Right now all you can really do is either get another drive and use Windows software RAID or you could purchase a RAID controller. I really don't think it would be worth it to put money on PATA hardware though, while some SATA drives and a proper RAID card will put a hole in your wallet you will not be disappointed with the performance.

[Goldfishmoo]

I believe RAID requires identical drives too.

[gparent]

"RAID arrays" is really redundant, fyi.

Why do you want to do this, bob? Do you have a 250+ GB file?

[bobthe2lol]

My motherboard has 4 plugs for... wait leme give you a link to the mobo.......

Here. [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131320[/url]

[gparent]

[QUOTE=bobthe2lol;16040568]My motherboard has 4 plugs for... wait leme give you a link to the mobo.......

Here. [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131320[/url][/QUOTE]

.... And?

EDIT: There's an IDE port there... Still doesn't answer my question though.

[Emtu]

Your motherboard supports SATA RAID no problem but you'll need SATA drives.

[Raging Wolf]

Raaaaaid!!!

[Fangus]

[QUOTE=Goldfishmoo;16040515]I believe RAID requires identical drives too.[/QUOTE]

Not for RAID0, though some space is lost (I.E with 1X320GB and 1X250GB drives you get ~500Gb not ~570GB)

[Emtu]

[QUOTE=Fangus;16041382]Not for RAID0, though some space is lost (I.E with 1X320GB and 1X250GB drives you get ~500Gb not ~570GB)[/QUOTE]
Technically you could have drives with different capacities for any RAID, each disk would only have as much space as the smallest one though.

[Trafficman V2]

[QUOTE=M2k3;16041509]Technically you could have drives with different capacities for any RAID, each disk would only have as much space as the smallest one though.[/QUOTE]

I think that's what he was saying you just explained it a little better.

[bobthe2lol]

I just dont wana have to coppy over onto my other hdd when one gets full... pretty much, me being lazy.

[InsanePyro]

[QUOTE=B-hazard;16039336]Raid.[/QUOTE]

No they have to be identical drives

[pentium]

stripe em'.

EDIT:
[quote]RAID 0:
Also known as "Disk Striping", this is technically not a RAID level since it provides no fault tolerance. Data is written in blocks across multiple drives, so one drive can be writing or reading a block while the next is seeking the next block.

The advantages of striping are the higher access rate, and full utilization of the array capacity. The disadvantage is there is no fault tolerance - if one drive fails, the entire contents of the array become inaccessible. [/quote]