Need help on computer stuff

[serbiansnaga 9]

heres the deal, i have an 80 gig hard drive that im using atm, ive had it since january of this year and was only using it as a temporary one until i could switch over to a bigger hard drive, ive put it off and now its my main hard drive with all my files and games and stuff on it.

 

what im gonna do is reformat my 500 gig that i had before it fucked up and stopped working for some reason, turns out the data was all raw data and there was no organizational system in it, meaning instead of folders and stuff, it was all in the open with no way of doing anything, imagine 350 gigs of files in one folder and thats pretty much how it was, it was so bad that i couldnt even open the hard drive destination cause it would freeze my computer and i had to use task manager to close it. hard drive had a lot of hours on it though, around 22 thousand which is a lot.

 

what im asking is if i reformat my hard drive and hook it up to my computer, btw ill still be using the 80 gig for my OS and games and stuff, will i be able to download steam games and save them onto the 500 gig instead of the 80 gig or will i have to install steam on the 500 gig and download them onto the 500 one?

 

i intend to keep the two hard drives seperated as much as i can cause i dont want my 80 gig fucking up and getting corrupted if my 500 gig suddenly dies out for whatever reason.

[McNeo 3]

You've actually got a lot of options.

 

Before we continue let me just say that if you format you're 500 gb HDD then everything on it's going to be gone. I know you know that, but I want to say it anyway so you can't blame me if something goes wrong.

 

Short answer to your question is: Yes. If you plug in a second HDD it will take the next available letter and you can install programs to that second (or third or fourth, etc) HDD. Sometimes you need to choose an "advanced" or "custom" install to specify a different folder/drive.

 

Any programs that are already installed on your system probably can't be moved unless you uninstall and re-install, including Steam. Simply copy-and-pasting from your existing drive to the new drive will cause registry errors, association errors, file system errors, and headaches.

 

You other option is to ghost or image your 80 gb HDD to the 500 gb HDD. This takes every last drop of data bit-fot-bit and copies it to the other drive. You would then be able to run the 500 gb HDD as your primary and remove the 80 gb HDD. That gets a little more involved so let me know if you want to know how to do that.

 

I've been working on computers for damn near 20 years and have worked a few help desk and technician jobs so I know what I'm talking about and I know what I'm doing. If you want I'd be willing to Skype and do some remote administration to help you through everything.

 

---------- Post added at 06:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:28 PM ----------

 

turns out the data was all raw data and there was no organizational system in it

 

This could actually be a file system failure. The file system could potentially be restored and restore some or all of the folder structure you originally had on the drive.

[serbiansnaga 9]

Short answer to your question is: Yes. If you plug in a second HDD it will take the next available letter and you can install programs to that second (or third or fourth, etc) HDD. Sometimes you need to choose an "advanced" or "custom" install to specify a different folder/drive.

i have the 500 gig pluged in and formatted, my 80 gig is my main and also has steam on it, would i have to install steam onto the 500 gig in order to save games on it and play them or can i just do something with the custom install thing and have the files installed on the 500 gig while running it from the steam on the 80 gig?

 

also i knew u would reply to the thread lol, and my brother is taking computer engineering so he'll be able to help with the stuff, i just needed some clarification and also to find out what my options were

[McNeo 3]

You'll have to uninstall Steam and use the custom options during Steam install to specify the different folder (or in this case, drive). Steam can and will only install games to it's folder.

 

Pro-tip:

1. Copy the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\[username] to a safe place.
   
2. Uninstall Steam.
   
3. Reinstall Steam to new location.
   
4. Run and log in to Steam.
   
5. DO NOT install any games. Exit Steam.
   
6. Copy the backed up folder from step 1 to the new install location.
   
7. ????
   
8. Profit.
   

[themick07 1]

Tip:

 

1. Buy a gun

2. Shoot the hard drive

3. ?????????

4. Buy a new one

 

 

I win!

[Rhododendron 994]

When you install steam, it lets you choose where you want to set the main folder. Just make it on your second hard-drive and you are good to go!