How to join two ssd to make one ?
Hello !
On my Asus Eee-Pc where I've installed Vista Ultimate,I have two solid state disks. The first is 8 gb and the second one is 4 gb. I want to join them to make one. Can I do it ?
Thanks.
On my Asus Eee-Pc where I've installed Vista Ultimate,I have two solid state disks. The first is 8 gb and the second one is 4 gb. I want to join them to make one. Can I do it ?
Thanks.
rjt82
with difficulty and more than likely require a reinstall
Vista supports Disk Spanning. I do not have a Vista box handy to check out the process of doing it. But a reinstall is probably what you'll have to do. You do have a major problem to worry about if you do this. Since the drives will be joined and treated as 1, file fragments could span the disks aswell. So if one drive dies it can take out data on the other drive.
Personally, I do not think it is worth the risk just to eliminate having a 2nd drive icon in explorer.
Personally, I do not think it is worth the risk just to eliminate having a 2nd drive icon in explorer.
ASKER
The problem I need to fix is that I haven't so much space left to install SP1. Vista Ultimate takes 3 gb of space. I have 3 gb of disk space left on the first disk. Today I've bought another ssd of 4 gb. SP1 requires 7 gb of disk space to install itself. Only by joining the two disks I can have the right space,or do you have another solution ?
Spanning the OS across two physical drives that arent mirrored is not recommended. You're just asking for trouble as when what MKDesktop says happens, you're up the creek because your OS will not be recoverable.
ASKER
and then ? which kind of solutions i have ?
ASKER
surfing with google I've found this solution :
There is an alternative nobody has mentioned yet. If the computer is running Windows 2000 or XP with the C: drive running the NTFS file system - then you could put the additional hard disk in the computer and connect it up, then go into System Manager > Disk Management and mount the drive in an empty folder in the C: drive.
So for example create a new folder c:\newdisk, then mount the new drive into that folder in disk manager. That way the total amount of disk space available to "C:" is the size of the two disks combined.
can someone explain to me how to do this ? Thanks.
There is an alternative nobody has mentioned yet. If the computer is running Windows 2000 or XP with the C: drive running the NTFS file system - then you could put the additional hard disk in the computer and connect it up, then go into System Manager > Disk Management and mount the drive in an empty folder in the C: drive.
So for example create a new folder c:\newdisk, then mount the new drive into that folder in disk manager. That way the total amount of disk space available to "C:" is the size of the two disks combined.
can someone explain to me how to do this ? Thanks.
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/434766b0-c23b-44de-8bed-611e736b61531033.mspx
This link will walk you through what you are trying.
This link will walk you through what you are trying.
ASKER
I've tried this solution,but the total amount of disk space available to "C:" is NOT the size of the two disks combined.
A few comments:
=> Mounting a drive as a folder does NOT (as marietto2008 discovered) add the space to the drive ... it is only available within that specific folder. It can be organizationally convenient; but it is NOT the same as disk spanning.
=> The comment r.e. the potential reliability issue when joining two physically distinct drives is MUCH less of an issue here -- since both drives are SSDs, the MTBF is FAR above that of traditional spinning platter drives. I wouldn't be concerned about that at all.
=> Vista is indeed a BIG user of disk space (much more than it actually needs, unfortunately). To span your drives conveniently, they would both have to be the same size (and even then it's tricky to do this with the limited resources on the Eee PC). I would do this instead:
(1) Relocate all of your documents to the 2nd (4GB) drive. First, just create a folder on the new drive (say "Marietto's Stuff"); then right-click on Documents; select Properties; click on the Location tab; and click the Move button. Highlight the folder you just created ... and let it move all of your documents to that folder. This will free up all of the space on C: that you were using for your documents.
(2) Right-click on Computer; select Properties. Click on Advanced system settings; click on the Advanced tab; click on Settings at the top (the Performance area); click the Advanced tab; click on Change under Virtual memory. If the "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" box is checked; uncheck it. For C: select No paging file and click the Set button. For the other drive (whatever letter it is assigned), select System managed size ... then check the Set button. Note: Vista may not allow "No paging file" for C: --> if that's an issue, select Custom Size and make it 16MB.
You'll have to reboot --> then try installing SP1 ... those two actions should have freed up enough space for SP1 to install okay.
=> Mounting a drive as a folder does NOT (as marietto2008 discovered) add the space to the drive ... it is only available within that specific folder. It can be organizationally convenient; but it is NOT the same as disk spanning.
=> The comment r.e. the potential reliability issue when joining two physically distinct drives is MUCH less of an issue here -- since both drives are SSDs, the MTBF is FAR above that of traditional spinning platter drives. I wouldn't be concerned about that at all.
=> Vista is indeed a BIG user of disk space (much more than it actually needs, unfortunately). To span your drives conveniently, they would both have to be the same size (and even then it's tricky to do this with the limited resources on the Eee PC). I would do this instead:
(1) Relocate all of your documents to the 2nd (4GB) drive. First, just create a folder on the new drive (say "Marietto's Stuff"); then right-click on Documents; select Properties; click on the Location tab; and click the Move button. Highlight the folder you just created ... and let it move all of your documents to that folder. This will free up all of the space on C: that you were using for your documents.
(2) Right-click on Computer; select Properties. Click on Advanced system settings; click on the Advanced tab; click on Settings at the top (the Performance area); click the Advanced tab; click on Change under Virtual memory. If the "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" box is checked; uncheck it. For C: select No paging file and click the Set button. For the other drive (whatever letter it is assigned), select System managed size ... then check the Set button. Note: Vista may not allow "No paging file" for C: --> if that's an issue, select Custom Size and make it 16MB.
You'll have to reboot --> then try installing SP1 ... those two actions should have freed up enough space for SP1 to install okay.
... another thing you can do to free up more space (just in case the above still doesn't allow SP1 to install):
Right-click on Computer; select Properties; click on System protection; be sure the System Protection tab is selected; then click on the System Restore button ... and disable System Restore on all drives. This will automatically delete all of the space-consuming restore points that are on your drive.
Also, in case there are other un-committed deletions pending, be sure to empty the Recycle Bin before trying to install SP1.
Right-click on Computer; select Properties; click on System protection; be sure the System Protection tab is selected; then click on the System Restore button ... and disable System Restore on all drives. This will automatically delete all of the space-consuming restore points that are on your drive.
Also, in case there are other un-committed deletions pending, be sure to empty the Recycle Bin before trying to install SP1.
ASKER
The version of Vista I'm using doesn't support Custom Size and No paging file.
Vista Ultimate absolutely DOES support that ... both the x32 and the x64 versions.
The option will be "greeked out" (not available) UNTIL you uncheck the box at the top of the window that says "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives." (As I noted above, you have to uncheck that box)
If User Account Control is enabled, you'll have to click Continue after you click on Advanced System Settings ... i.e. #2 above would then read: "Right-click on Computer; select Properties. Click on Advanced system settings; click on Continue in the User Account Control box that pops up; then click on the Advanced tab; click on the first Settings button (the Performance area); click the Advanced tab; click on Change under Virtual memory. If the "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" box is checked; uncheck it. ... "
The option will be "greeked out" (not available) UNTIL you uncheck the box at the top of the window that says "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives." (As I noted above, you have to uncheck that box)
If User Account Control is enabled, you'll have to click Continue after you click on Advanced System Settings ... i.e. #2 above would then read: "Right-click on Computer; select Properties. Click on Advanced system settings; click on Continue in the User Account Control box that pops up; then click on the Advanced tab; click on the first Settings button (the Performance area); click the Advanced tab; click on Change under Virtual memory. If the "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" box is checked; uncheck it. ... "
ASKER
done. Now I have 3,54 GB available on 7,51 GB of disk c: it's not enough to install SP1. On the second disk I have 4 GB free. (3,54+4=7,54 GB--> it's enough to install SP1,so we have to add the space on the disk 2 on disk 1 in some way).
ASKER
On the disk c:\ I have a file called pagefile.sys of about 1.28 GB,should I delete it ? If i delete it,I will have (3,54+1,28=4,82 GB) and it's not enough to install SP1,anyway.
... the pagefile.sys should disappear on the next reboot IF you changed the virtual memory settings as I noted. If not, delete it.
Did you move all of your documents to the 2nd disk as well? [It sounds like you didn't, since ALL of the space is still available :-) ] And did you turn off System Restore? I would also disable indexing -- that will save the space used by the index. [Right-click on each drive; select properties; and uncheck the "Allow indexing ..." box. Click any Continue boxes presented by UAC; and select "Ignore All" for any error messages ... there will be a few]
Did you move all of your documents to the 2nd disk as well? [It sounds like you didn't, since ALL of the space is still available :-) ] And did you turn off System Restore? I would also disable indexing -- that will save the space used by the index. [Right-click on each drive; select properties; and uncheck the "Allow indexing ..." box. Click any Continue boxes presented by UAC; and select "Ignore All" for any error messages ... there will be a few]
By the way, if you download the SP1 installation .EXE instead of doing it through Microsoft Update or the ISO file (or disc) ... and run that file from another location (e.g. your 2nd drive; a USB flash drive; etc.), then you only need 3GB of available space on C: to do the install ==> so you're in good shape :-)
To confirm this, I restored an image of a base Vista Ultimate install to an 8GB hard drive (with 2.51GB free) ... and then tried to run the SP1 .exe file. Here's the message it gives in that situation:
Vista-SP1-Rqmts.jpg
To confirm this, I restored an image of a base Vista Ultimate install to an 8GB hard drive (with 2.51GB free) ... and then tried to run the SP1 .exe file. Here's the message it gives in that situation:
Vista-SP1-Rqmts.jpg
Here's the standalone download package for SP1:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B0C7136D-5EBB-413B-89C9-CB3D06D12674&displaylang=en
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B0C7136D-5EBB-413B-89C9-CB3D06D12674&displaylang=en
ASKER
Done. Now I have 4,81 GB of free disk space left. I've tried to install your version of SP1,but it says : SP1 requires 7 gb of disk space to be installed. I'm following your directions,but my question is not how can I save space on the disk to install SP1,but how can I join my disks to make only one.
As for your specific question: "... I want to join them to make one. Can I do it ? " ==> NO.
Sorry, but that's the answer. Vista does support disk spanning ... but NOT with the system volume. If you had, for example, 3 disks, you could span the 2nd two ... or you could even span those with a 2nd partition on the first drive (if you converted it to dynamic -- but then it's tricky to get the system to boot from the dynamic drive). Bottom line: You can't do what you want here.
As for installing SP1:
Did you download the SP1 executable and store it somewhere besides the C: drive? Does your copy of Vista have System Restore turned off; indexing disabled; Documents relocated to the other drive; and the page file structured as I suggested? (I think the answer to all these is Yes ... just confirming)
... if so, it's not at all clear why it would say it needs 7GB of space => the screenshot I posted above clearly shows that it only needs 3GB on a very-similar system [To confirm just what it would need, I simply created a virtual machine with an 8GB drive; then installed Vista (pre-SP1 version); and then ran the SP1 update program]. Did you store the SP1 update on your other drive (or a USB flash device)?? Post the message that it shows when you try to run it. [Just for grins, I freed up some space so I had 3.25GB free and then ran the SP1 update --> it installed just fine]
Sorry, but that's the answer. Vista does support disk spanning ... but NOT with the system volume. If you had, for example, 3 disks, you could span the 2nd two ... or you could even span those with a 2nd partition on the first drive (if you converted it to dynamic -- but then it's tricky to get the system to boot from the dynamic drive). Bottom line: You can't do what you want here.
As for installing SP1:
Did you download the SP1 executable and store it somewhere besides the C: drive? Does your copy of Vista have System Restore turned off; indexing disabled; Documents relocated to the other drive; and the page file structured as I suggested? (I think the answer to all these is Yes ... just confirming)
... if so, it's not at all clear why it would say it needs 7GB of space => the screenshot I posted above clearly shows that it only needs 3GB on a very-similar system [To confirm just what it would need, I simply created a virtual machine with an 8GB drive; then installed Vista (pre-SP1 version); and then ran the SP1 update program]. Did you store the SP1 update on your other drive (or a USB flash device)?? Post the message that it shows when you try to run it. [Just for grins, I freed up some space so I had 3.25GB free and then ran the SP1 update --> it installed just fine]
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ASKER
thanks.