I want to install a 2nd hard drive to use for backing up data

I have a huge honking 1TB of space on my C: hard drive and only use less than half of that, but every time I want to do a system backup and create a system image (to restore to in case everything else goes wrong, which has occurred 3 times this year) is to backup to a USB drive of only 300GB, which is about the size of a backup w/sys image. So, everytime I do that, I lose all my other backups (which shouldn't be a problem but is annoying).

I have a 700 HD I am currently not using - can anyone advise me on the steps to take? (I tried Lenovo support, and incredibly, they want $150 for such an "involved" help issue - and I am still under warranty. I asked what the $75 dollar option would give me, and they said (incredibly) that for $75 I would get three (3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) phone support sessions for "minor" problems. When asked what a "minor" problem was, they said as an example "installing software"!!!! WTF??

When asked, I was told the warranty only covered the HD, and only in certain cases. I didn't ask to define "certain" cases, but asked to speak to a floor manager (I've worked on help desks) I was then peppered with questions like: Why? Why do you need to speak to him? My name? Why do you need my name?"

It's service like this that has already made me decide to go to a different brand, any brand, just based on that. OK, Ihave finished my rant! :)

Any help would be appreciated (oh, the HD I will be using is not blank, it was taken out of another system, for reasons not related to performance.) I have 3 remaining SATA ports on my system, and 6GB of RAM, and am running Win 7 HP on a machine powered by Intel i3 processor, if that is relevant.

Thank You!!!

Mhmmmmmmmmmmmmm... mostly answered ;-) I'm not going to plug it into a USB port as I don't think it has the juice to run a full fledged drive; My PC (Lenovo (service stinks, editorial attitude!) actually supports "hot drives"; ie; when I install a new hard drive, I can pull one of the 3 remaining (PC will support up to 4) trays out, put drive in tray, slide tray directly into PC. (I hope)
(I did try using the USB drives, with the adapter provided by my "GoFlex" drive - nothing happened.

So, I just pop it in, go to "computer" on the start menu, select drive, then right click and "Format Drive" quick drive option? How large a partition on a single volume be? I am assuming I will have to format it to NTFS, then create and name a volume on the drive. Is that correct? And, how do I change my PC to continually update the 2nd HD? OR, if I want instantaneous backup, config it to a Raid 0 setup? Just to simplify things, I will simply manually back the C: drive up as needed, and use an empty SATA port on the motherboard to connect the cable from SATA port to SATA drive.

Is this 700 GB drive an internal drive or an external drive in an enclosure??

You don't say if this is a laptop or a desktop. If it is a desktop and you have an internal drive, I would mount it inside the PC in a normal manner.

In any case, I would format it as NTFS with a single partition.

I would avoid RAID.

I'm not sure what you mean by "instantaneous backup" or "continually update the 2nd HD".

I assume you want to backup an entire C partition that includes both Windows and personal data. In that case, you will need an imaging program such as Macrium, Acronis, or EaseUS.

You seem to be already doing this with a 300 GB drive. The new procedure would be the same, with the 700 GB drive replacing the 300 GB drive.

Here is an idea: split your original 1 TB C drive into 2 partitions C and D. One for Windows and applications, maybe 100 GB. The other for all data, maybe 900 GB. That way, you can make an image of C only and it would take up much less space on your backup drive. Use a file-by-file backup program such as SyncToy, Karen's Replicator, or Second Copy to backup your data without an image.