What is the Best Way to Configure Multiple Hard Drives? 2

[TripleGMan]

Hello!
I just installed a new motherboard (Intel D865PERL) on an older computer that was running WinME. I formatted the original harddrive (Western Digital WD300AB) to now run WinXP Home and have downloaded and installed all current updates. Upon doing that and then installing all of my software, I have realized that I would like a larger hard drive and so have purchased a Seagate 120GB Drive (ST3120026A-RK).

My question is: What would be the best way to set up the new drive? Should I reinstall XP on that and use it as the main boot drive?; should I just install it and use it a supplimental storage?; or should I reformat the original drive and load only XP on that and all other software and files on the larger drive?

My thinking is that the new drive is faster and should use that as the boot. I use this computer for both work and play. Work (Quickbooks/Chief Architech CAD/Corel Draw/etc.) Play (Nikon Photography/Gaming/Internet/etc.)

System Specs:
Intel Celeron 2.6 GHz, 478 Pin 128KB Cache, 400 FSB, up only
1028 Memory
Radeon 9550 w 256 mb DDR mem

I would appreciate any thoughts on configuration ideas to help me.

I think that this board can handle 'cable select' and i see that the jumper settings on the original drive are set on pins 1&2 for a 10 pin config. The existing cable has a slave interface on it. Please also include what would be the best way to cable these two drives.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[cdogg]

I would agree that the newer drive may give your OS a slight boost in performance. So definitely consider moving all of your system partition over to the new drive.

In addition, you'll have the option to move XP's pagefile over to the secondary drive (your old one). If you decide to do this, you can further increase performance by having both hard drives on separate IDE controllers. Of course, this depends on what else you have in your system. Pairing a hard drive with an optical device (CDROMs for example) usually doesn't hurt performance at all.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind";
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[paparazi]

TripleGMan
I agree with cdoggs comments but would just point out that the differances would be only slight due to other bottlenecks, namely, the old type Celeron 2.6 which has poor performance, similar to that of a Duron1400.

Martin




We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.