Extend Partition vs Adding Hard Drive

[parasbuy]

Hi folks... I have a MP 5,1 with 3 drives... 1TB primary, 1TB Backup, and WIN7. The primary and backup are almost full and I want to add an additional 500GB drive to the system. Is there a way I can "extend" the size of the primary and backup partitions by 250GB each on this new drive? If so, is this the best way to do this?

I should add, that I'm using CCC and the b/u drive is really an archived bootable drive of the primary. I've looked at RAID Mirroring, but I don't think that's for me. I feel most comfortable with the archiving method I am deploying now.

Thanks for this input.

 

[parasbuy]

any thoughts form the community?

thanks.

 

[pigoo3]

any thoughts form the community?

1. install larger hard drives.
2. Off-load less important information from the internal drives onto external drives.

This idea to "extend" the drives by 250gig is only a temporary/short-term solution…eventually that "extra" 250gig will be used up as well. Data needs to be managed…and a good long term data management strategy needs to be formulated.

- Nick

 

[parasbuy]

true... it is a temporary solution until I find work again and can afford larger drives. is it possible to extend the drives, per above or is the only option to offload onto the 500GB drive. the concern with off-loading is just that there would be no backup.

thanks.
- Paras.

 

[harryb2448]

Think you are in the market for say a 2TB hard drive. Really 250/500GB drives are just too small.

 

[parasbuy]

Yes, you are correct... I am definitely in the market for a 2TB drive and understand that the 500GB drive I already have is too small. However, this is what I have right now and I'm trying to make use of it as best as I can until I can afford a more permanent solution.

Is there a way I can "extend" the size of the primary and backup partitions by 250GB each on this new drive? If so, is this the best way to do this? The concern with off-loading is just that there would be no backup, so I am reluctant to do so.

Thanks.
Paras.

 

[Slydude]

Here's a kind of kludge which should work if you are just using the drives for general storage. It's not a good idea for system files.

1. Make sure the new drives are properly formatted (Mac OS extended journaled in most cases.
2. Make an alias of the new drive and place it somewhere convenient.
3. When you drop files onto the alias the files are placed on the new drive. If you need to open one of those files either go to the original drive or the alias and open it.