Is it possible to have 2 hard disks installed internally on a desktop machine running XP?

And if so will it slow performance on the PC? I have Windows XP Pro.

Is it possible to have 2 hard disks installed internally on a desktop machine running XP?windows media player 11

Yes. Three types of hard disk are available.

a) SCSI - these are really for professional use only now. Try and avoid them if you're a novice.

b) IDE, EIDE or ATA. They are the most common at the moment but are being overtaken by the newer type called SATA. These plug two devices into one controller, one called master and one called a slave drive. You can also attach other types of storage devices on these controllers, e.g. CD or DVD drives.

b) SATA - the newest type of Hard disk controller. These plug in to the motherboard and are basically one drive to one controller. So if you drive is SATA, just plug it in and away you go!

There are a few simple rule to follow for IDE (or EIDE) Drives

1) If you can, put it on a seperate controller, if you have an unused one and make it the master drive (it's a jumper connection on the back of the hard drive).

2) If you don't have a spare unused controller, do not put the hard drive on the same cable as CD or DVD drives as they slow the hard disk down. In this case, try and put two hard disks on the same cable. They will generally run at their best speed then. One drive must be set to master (usually the one with Windows on) and the second drive must be set to slave.

You obviously need a spare power cable from the power supply or you can buy a power splitter to give you an extra by turning a single lead into two.

Windows should spot the drive automatically though you may need to format it (I recommend NTFS format rather than the old FAT32).

It should not slow performance and you may even gain a small amount if you put all your data files etc. on the new drive and leave the old drive for the windows operating system only.

Is it possible to have 2 hard disks installed internally on a desktop machine running XP?microsoft publisher internet explorer

yes you can have 4 IDE devices on a computer (devices that are IDE are mainly CD ROMs, DVD ROMs, and Hard drives), so you can have 2 Hard drives and 2 CD/DVD ROM drives

or 3 Hard drives and 1 CD/DVD ROM... and so on

and no it will not slow down your computer
You can have as many hard drives and your motherboard will support.

I have 3 in my windows xp pro pc. It will not affect system performance and indeed if you run a raid setup it can even improve performance considerably.
Yes usually up to 3 hard drives (Allows 1 space for CD/DVD drive) remember to have 1 master and 1 slave on primary and same on secondary.
It's depends on your motherboard. But most of the boards are support at least 2 IDE and many SATA devices. And it will not slow performance. For more details, check on your motherboard mannual.
Sure, it's possible, and the previous answerers are correct. I'd just like to also mention that you might want to consider getting an external hard drive...one advantage to that is that you can easily migrate it from one pc to another if you ever decide to switch pc's. Good luck!
yes it will not slow down ure computer
you can as long as you set one of the to slave setting
Yes it is very possible. as long as you set them up properly. Remember the slave master thing