Combine SSD and HD to create one large HD?

[Ducttape]

I've got a tech issue I was working on, and can't 'quiiit' get it to work right.

My Laptop (Lenovo Y560) has a 32GB SSD and a 500 GB hard drive. What makes it neat is: the system sees it as one 532GB hard drive. Lenovo's Rapid Drive driver makes sure the programs and files you use most are put on the SSD for faster access, and the rest are on the HD.

I've been trying to reproduce this on a desktop using a G.Skill SSD (Click here for details) and a 1TB HD.

To do it, you:
-Install Operating System on the SSD.
-Run Rapid Drive as administrator - it will combine the SSD and the unallocated space from your HD into one Disc.

Should go from this:

To this:

That's a pretty basic explanation. Full details are here: http://consumersupport.lenovo.com/us/en/HintsandTips/hints_show_12870415982811.html

And a link to Rapid Drive file:http://consumersupport.lenovo.com/us/en/DriversDownloads/drivers_show_3448.html#



So far, when I try this on my desktop, it does combine the two drives into one C drive, but it shows up as multiple partitions on one drive, and the space brought over from the 1TB HD is unallocated, and I can't even create usable space out of it

It seems like this could be a great way to have one, large Hard Drive instead of a cramped 60GB SSD holding your OS and main programs, and a 1TB HD holding everything else. Gets old having to redirect all installs to the D drive because I'm out of room on C


Also: If you do try this, be warned: if you install Rapid drive, it doesn't erase anything, but after it combines your two physical drives into one, the only way (that I know of) to undo it is a full reinstall of your OS.

 

[Naku_vamp]

well i didntt read it all but does it actually have two separate hard drives? because i know they make combo drives that have a small SDD and then a large normal HD all in one package

 

[Ducttape]

Yep it's two discrete drives - 1 SSD and 1 Hard Drive.

On my laptop, the SSD is one of those mini-pci-e things; not as fast as a 'true' SSD but still much much faster than a HD.

 

[thebluecoat]

I have almost the exact same setup. 40GB ssd + 500gb internal + 1tb external.

Right now I just choose manually when I install programs where I want them to go (takes 1 second to edit a drive letter on install path). No offense but it almost sounds like it's not worth the hassle.

However, if you have windows 7, after merging the drives, go into start> control panel > system and security > administrative tools > computer management > disk management on left pane (look around in there, you might have to right click on one of the partitions and make it active or format it to your filesystem standard to have it activate)

Just an idea anyway hope it helps

 

[Passerby]

ya if it's just a matter of wanting things to install to a different drive it is pretty easy to change the default install location in the registry.

just open regedit and browser to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion"

and change the value on "ProgramFilesDir"

besides i would feel like i have more control just telling stuff where to go and it is also why i think the whole windows way of having C D etc drives and defaulting to 1 for system stuff is stupid being able to mount a drive unix style anywhere on the directory tree is a lot more versatile.

 

[Ducttape]

ya if it's just a matter of wanting things to install to a different drive it is pretty easy to change the default install location in the registry.

just open regedit and browser to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersion"

and change the value on "ProgramFilesDir"

besides i would feel like i have more control just telling stuff where to go and it is also why i think the whole windows way of having C D etc drives and defaulting to 1 for system stuff is stupid being able to mount a drive unix style anywhere on the directory tree is a lot more versatile.

yep, that's probably what I'll end up doing. At this point, it was more just trying to get it to work just to solve it, like a puzzle. Lenovo might have some kind of proprietary block that only allows it to work on their stuff, cause it works every time on my laptop, and doing the same thing on my desktop doesn't.

Ah well, I can't be upset with my SSD - still easily the most amazing upgrade