Install Second Hard drive

Arwin · 07-17-2009, 07:51 PM

I have two hard drives, one that my computer is running on now and the second which my computer used to run on. The second one has all of my saved files and music and stuff. I really want to have both of them running, but I am afraid that I will mess something up. I would like to install the second hard drive. I'm really lost in the world of computers.

linus72 · 07-17-2009, 07:58 PM

Hey dude
well, first you gotta give us alot more info

computer type, specs, ram, etc

what distros you have used
what distro(s)
you wanna install

you wanna dual boot windows and linux(s)?

it's all gravy bro

wabbalee · 07-17-2009, 08:27 PM

what kind of hard drive? SATA or IDE? don't know the difference? SATA has a small flat plug and an even narrower and flatter stiff cable. IDE has an approximately 50mm wide flat cable with 40 or 80 leads (40 connections on the plug)

so please give us more info and we'll be able to come up with a solution

jay73 · 07-17-2009, 08:38 PM

Heh, just plug it in when the computer is off. As long as you don't format it and you are cautious, nothing bad can happen. Oh yeah, just don't drop it while you are carrying it around (as I did recently); that would give you a problem.

Arwin · 07-19-2009, 05:57 PM

Yeah, it turns out that my brother already had it formated, so all that I really had to do was plug it in and change the boot order, Thanks. I still have a problem though, all of the stuff on it is in a different name and I don't really know how to change the permissions so that I can use it.

gankoji · 07-19-2009, 06:03 PM

log in as root and use chown and chmod

for example

Code:

root@yourBox:/# chown -R user:group /hardDrive/dataFolder
root@yourBox:/# chmod -R 755 /hardDrive/dataFolder

where 'user:group' can be just your username (say, joe), or your username and a particular group (joe:users). The second is recommended so that you don't run into permissions issues with that data for other normal users.

The chmod will change the actual permissions so that even globally users can read and execute the data/programs, but only the owner can modify (that's what the 755 means). For more info on both of these you can find them in the man pages, should you dare :-p.

(EDIT) I forgot to mention that you should change those commands so that they suit the top level folder of wherever your particular hard drive is located. for instance, if your extra hard drive gets mounted at '/hardDisk2', that would be what you put at the end of both commands. Just wanted to be extra clear :-D. (/EDIT)

Cheers.