Two Hard Drives Question.

[Heeter]

Hey guys,

I just installed a second HDD on my 'puter. (D:,secondary master). C: is a 40gig 7400rpm, D: is a 20gig5400rpm. For optimal gaming and program running and multitasking, I was informed that I should put my XPHome OS on my D: and cut and paste my "Program Files" folder onto C:. All my installed Games are in the Program Files Folder now. Right Now, my D: is being used for a compressed image of C:, but I would like to use them both to the fullest extent. All your professional opinions will be greatly appreciated......

My 'puter setup is as follows: PIII770Mhz, 1.37gigRam, AGP4X 32meg ATI RageFuryPro.

Heeter

 

[Shamus MacNoob]

cut and paste program files folder ?????? no sorry that dont work that way .... you could install your os on the smaller drive and reinstall your programs ..... but I think you should partition your drives and make C: like 10 gig and use it only for OS and lets say anti virus , firewall and maybe a few tweakers and then use the other partitions for all your games, programs and music/vids ....

 

[RogerPhillis]

Go with Kermits suggestion of partitioning.
As mentioned you cannot cut and paste progs, as C\Windows\ System 32, which contains the sys files for these progs, will get in a knot and not recognise their relocation.
After partitioning you can install them in "D" etc, but the corresponding sys files will go to C|Windows\ System 32.
A different scenario would only be with 2 different operating systems on different partitions, where you can have separate "Windows"folders for each.

 

[Heeter]

So It would look like this:

(20gig,5400) partition1: 10gig=>OS, firewall, Antivirus.
(20gig,5400) partition2: 10gig=>Backups, etc
(40gig,7200) partition1: 20gig=>Games
(40gig,7200) partition2: 20gig=>other programs

Does the OS have to be on the primary master partition or can it be in any partition? Right now, my 20g is sitting as secondary master, do I have to move it to primary master. Can all this partitioning and OS installs take place now, or do I burn everything onto cd and start over? This is fun.....

Thanks,

Heeter

 

[Shamus MacNoob]

The os will run fine on secondary master ......

and that looks to be a good way of setting it up this way if ever you want to reinstall your OS it can be done without harming all your other apps

 

[Heeter]

Thanks Kermit,

Never would of thought of partitioning myself. This was a huge help.


Heeter

 

[sailgreg]

cut and paste program files folder

lol, it will make your computer faster, but mabey one program at the most would even open

I would install programs on games on C: and use the new D: for files, music, movies and things like that, but it is up to you

 

[ElementalDragon]

no offense Sailgreg, but that post was a tad bit late.

 

[sailgreg]

Yeah, I know, but I was laughing because my friend actualy did that before so I just had to reply

 

[Zedric]

Well something that will make the computer faster is if you keep the OS and games on the 7200 RPM drive. The difference is quite big acctually. So:

(40gig,7200) partition1: 10gig=>OS, firewall, Antivirus.
(40gig,7200) partition2: 30gig=>Games, some heavy programs
(20gig,5400) partition1: 10gig=>Other programs
(20gig,5400) partition2: 10gig=>Backups

 

[Shamus MacNoob]

Originally posted by Heeter
Thanks Kermit,

Never would of thought of partitioning myself. This was a huge help.


Heeter

Anytime glad it all worked out

 

[Heeter]

Thanks, Zedric....That makes sense..

Now when I install any program, ie nero, I will install it in the smaller drive 1st partition, will Windows know it will be there? and run it from there. Will the Start=>all programs know it will be in a different partition? Sorry for the questions, but I am very new to the partition business.

Heeter

 

[zalood]

Read somewhere in this forum 2-3 weeks ago.
Someone did call MS tech support and advised that separating OS and program files, even on one hard disk but different partitons, will slow down programs performance.

I have all programs + OS in one partition. data other partition and media different disk.

 

[Zedric]

Originally posted by Heeter
Now when I install any program, ie nero, I will install it in the smaller drive 1st partition, will Windows know it will be there? and run it from there. Will the Start=>all programs know it will be in a different partition?

Yes, it will, no problems.

zalood: That sounds really strange. If you have OS and the application on different disk you get a lot better performance if the program is disk-heavy because it can read from one disk while the other is busy moving the read/write arm to access data.

 

[Grymblayd]

Not to nit-pick , just to clarify...the terminology on hard drives is Master and Slave.
However, the IDE controllers channels are primary and secondary.