[vox-tech] Adding a 2nd HDD

[Alex Mandel]

On 11/12/2010 09:50 AM, Thomas Johnston wrote:
> My wife has a Dell Studio 1535 that is currently running only Windows
> Vista. I just picked up a new and larger HDD for it and was going to
> make a dual boot window-kubuntu machine to try and ease her into the
> world of linux. However, It has a an OPTIARC AD-7640S 12.7mm SATA Slot
> load 8X DVDRW that just started making more grinding noises than a
> first-time driver with a manual transmission. Driver updates, firm
> updates and even new system bios only made the problem worse. I was
> wondering if anyone has any experience with replacing the original
> optical drive in a laptop with a second HDD?
> 
> I found a caddy online that should make the physical swap possible (if
> anyone can recommend an alternative, I am all ears):
> http://    newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=281
> (notice how they mention that "This is a really sharp-looking
> well-engineered product.")
> 
> My question is, after the installation is complete, would this likely
> involve a complicated setup/configuration in order to "get it to
> work"? I suppose there are different ways in which the second drive
> could be utilized, and thus result in different levels of
> configuration complexity. My first thought would be to put the old HDD
> in the optical drive slot and leave the window installation as is and
> put Kubuntu on the new HDD, but would it be possible to boot to either
> drive?  Or, if that setup would be complicated what about having a
> dual boot on the new HDD and using the old HDD as extra storage space?
> Would that also be complicated to do?
> 
> Any advice or pointers to information/tutorials, etc would be greatly
> appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Thomas

Most likely depends on the BIOS and if detects the 2nd slot as a HD and
lets you change the boot order of the devices. If it detects the drive
but doesn't let you change the boot order, then the windows drive will
likely need to stay in the original slot.

A Dual boot on the new drive is also possible but slightly complicated
as you would have to move windows over by cloning the partition.
Clonzilla live CD is great for this.

Overall everything you mention should be doable.

Enjoy,
Alex