Joining two or more hard drives

[ZOMBIE00600]

I'm still learning about pc's, and there is much more to be learned I think. My current question is: Can I join a 40 gig and a 20 gig hard drive and use them as one? No slave drive! If this can be done, I would be incredibly grateful to the person who told me how!

[Hopester Doofus]

Can I join a 40 gig and a 20 gig hard drive and use them as one?

No. Separate hard drives can not be recognized as a single unit; one is always master, the other always slave.

[ZOMBIE00600]

Ppl keep talking about "raid". They say it involves joining two hard drives as one. You ever hear of this term?

[Hopester Doofus]

Yes, RAID will recognize two hard drives as a single entity, but they need to be identical drives. There are a number of things you need to consider before going this route. Start here:

http://www.techworthy.com/PCUpgrade/JulyAug2004/Setting-Up-An-ATA-RAID-Array.htm?Page=1

... and get some additional advice from other users here who have more experience than I do in this area.  

[Gustaaf]

You may consider not usin the 20GB at all as this could/would slow your system down.

the specs on 40gb is faster and better then the 20gb.
If you have master / slave setup on the same flat cable, then I garuantee you a slower performance.
Try setting up Two masters devices on two seperate cables. Place your DVD/CD devices  as secondaries.

To join them. NO, NOT possible. I would not even look at a software mirror solution either. Must be identical drives.