Can I do this? (HDD Question)

[Megan]

So I'm not sure if this is the right place if not then please move it mods!

 

But basically I have the following

 

1 x 1TB HDD - Not in use - Alpha

1 x 1TB HDD - Currently in use to install Games and Software on to it - Beta

1 x 300GB HDD - Not in use. - Charlie

 

I wish to move the contents of Beta to Charlie

Then I want to format Beta

I want to then Span Alpha and Beta together to create a 2TB disk.

 

OPTIONAL: I then want to move the contents from Charlie back to the new 2TB Drive.

 

Any advice on if this is possible? Currently using Windows 8.1 if that's any help.

[Godlygamer23]

Thread moved to Storage Solutions.

[Godlygamer23]

How are your games stored on the drive? Did you download them through a service such as Steam? I think you can move everything over to Charlie - you will just need to change the drive letters so that the programs and Windows know where to go.

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

 

Hey there Megan

 

It wouldn't be safe to move those programs to a smaller HDD by cloning them as this involves a huge risk of missing out data during the process. I would check if some of the applications can be reallocated or their save files and profiles moved after re-installation. 

Regarding the 2TB volume, would you like to have just a huge 2TB volume with no redundancy or speed gains (basically a JBOD Span) or are you planning on doing a striped 2TB volume for speed increase (RAID0)?  

 

Captain_WD.

[Megan]

 

Hey there Megan

 

It wouldn't be safe to move those programs to a smaller HDD by cloning them as this involves a huge risk of missing out data during the process. I would check if some of the applications can be reallocated or their save files and profiles moved after re-installation. 

Regarding the 2TB volume, would you like to have just a huge 2TB volume with no redundancy or speed gains (basically a JBOD Span) or are you planning on doing a striped 2TB volume for speed increase (RAID0)?  

 

Captain_WD.

 

 

I was thinking of spanning with no redundancy or speed gains, I basically just want to add the unused 1TB into the other 1TB so it can be seen as one drive rather than two.

 

How are your games stored on the drive? Did you download them through a service such as Steam? I think you can move everything over to Charlie - you will just need to change the drive letters so that the programs and Windows know where to go.

Some are downloaded via steam others are just direct installs.

[Godlygamer23]

I was thinking of spanning with no redundancy or speed gains, I basically just want to add the unused 1TB into the other 1TB so it can be seen as one drive rather than two.

 

Some are downloaded via steam others are just direct installs.

Steam games can simply just move over to the new drive. Once that's done, you can go into Steam and add a new library, pointing it to the new partition. It should detect the games, though you may want to restart Steam just to be sure.

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

 

I would rather use the two drives independently as simple JBOD drives than form a Spanned volume because if one of the drives goes "good night mommy" you would probably lose the data on both drives or would have to use data recovery tools or services to get it back (which can be quite costly). I would do that instead of a Spanned volume.

 

Captain_WD.

[Godlygamer23]

I would rather use the two drives independently as simple JBOD drives than form a Spanned volume because if one of the drives goes "good night mommy" you would probably lose the data on both drives or would have to use data recovery tools or services to get it back (which can be quite costly). I would do that instead of a Spanned volume.

 

Captain_WD.

How do you feel about the idea that I stated in my first post? Do you think it's possible? I think I might consider it experimental.

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

 

Hey Godly  

 

Many people do that with such gaming platforms and services and since it's officially supported I see nothing wrong with this. If OP does use such platform it would be the recommended thing to do. It's not only possible but recommended by many people including the oficial support of those platforms and I think it's a great and an elegant way of moving your games around. 

Sadly this isn't always possible, especially with separate installations. Luckily most games either keep track of your progress and settings with online accounts or have a "Save/Profile" folder/s that can be moved when the game is reinstalled, preserving your settings and progress.

 

Captain_WD.