Mixing Hard Drives?


  1. Sean1082
    Posts : 49
    Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
       New #1

    Mixing Hard Drives?


    I have a fairly new PC with two hard drives in it. 1 that came with it (1 TB), and another I took from an older PC (250 GB). I noticed that sometimes the 250 GB one will make a whine sound, as if starting up and the PC will have a brief freeze up period for about 3 - 5 seconds. However, this is when the PC has been running for a while now. Is it trying to access something on it? Should I not be mixing hard drives like this?

    Any information would be appreciated, thanks.
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  3. Darician
    Posts : 1,018
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1
       New #2

    That sounds like it spun down and is starting to spin back up after a period of inactivity. If this is a secondary drive, that's normal and there's nothing wrong with using it like that. As far as the freeze, it depends if you're using IDE or SATA. IDE will usually freeze, especially if both drives are on the same IDE channel. SATA shouldn't have this issue.
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  4. DocBrown
    Posts : 9,606
    Win7 Enterprise, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz)
       New #3

    Is the 250gb SATA or IDE ? Are the Data & power cables seated properly & firmly ?
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  6. Sean1082
    Posts : 49
    Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
    Thread Starter
       New #4

    Thanks, i'll look into it. The freeze doesn't bother me too much if it is normal for that to be happening. Thanks for letting me know

    I'll look into seeing if it is using IDE or SATA. I can't remember.


    EDIT: Both of the hard drives are SATA. Cables appear to be in place correctly. I'll check it further when I shut down my PC, I don't want to mess with it too much while it's on.
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  7. DocBrown
    Posts : 9,606
    Win7 Enterprise, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz)
       New #5

    SATA Data Cable
    Mixing Hard Drives?-sata_data_cable.jpg


    IDE Flat Ribbon cable
    Mixing Hard Drives?-ide_cable.jpg
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