I have a new Western Digital 80GIG 8mb 7200rpm hardrive and an old 10GIG 5200rpm which im using right now. I havent done anything with my new Harddrive yet because I'm not sure on what to do.

1) How do I transfer things from my 10GIG onto my 80GIG, Do i just hook up my new Harddrive and transfer files through XP onto it or do I have to format my new HD and install XP to be able to put files on it? The main Idea is how do I set up 2 HDs? The 80GIG will have everything on it, while the 10 GIG will store backups and Non - important stuff.

2) I plan to make Partitions on the 80GIG

Partition 1 - Operating system (size?)
Partition 2 - Swap File (size?)
Partition 3 - Games/Videos/Music/Apps (What ever space is left over)

Is that a good way to do it, What are some good sizes for these partitions?

any other good uses for the 10GIG HD? Mabye put big stuff I wont use for a while on there (Download packages and stuff) Because its only 5200rpm or slower and it would be no use for games.

Thanks [^]

First i'll adress the partitions

Partition 1: Should contain both Windows and the swapfile or a GNU/Linux OS. The size depends on the OS, eg. I suggest you use something about 5 gigs of space here if you have WinME, but since you seem to have XP, well, duh.

Partition 2: Ok, ok...

You could use eg. Partition Magic to do the partitionoing (or just the basic FDisk)

Then the basics:

I dun know if you can transfre the OS to another harddrive just like that, i would just install it on the 80Gb harddrive and format the 10Gb one. Remember that you must set the Harddrives in the correct Master/Slave positions so they know how to communicate (i trust you know this stuff), and my head just emptied so i'll just write "end of post" here, ok.

Lmao...well thanks besserwisser.

Partition 1 - Operating system (5GIGs)
Partition 2 - Swap File (600MB)

Ill just use the XP setup to create the partitions.

I dont want to transfer the OS I want to transfer files from my old hard drive to my new one, then I will format my old one and just have one partition of space.

partition 1 should be bigger. most programs you install add components into the windows directories, mainly ddl files. i'd go for a minimum of 15 - 20 gigs just to be on the safe side.

partition 2, for your swap file; microsoft recommends the size be set to a minimum of 3 times your physical memory. so if you've got, say, 256 megs, set it to 768, with virtual memory settings set at custom and both max and min set at 768 for best performance and then defrag this partition at least weekly, or add a command into you autoexec.bat or system.ini to delete the file all together each time you reboot.

To copy the files over, you just need to partition and format the 80GB. But, copying the OS straight over is unlikely to work - you'll need to install it on the 80GB anyway if you aren't planning on keeping the 10 for that.

I'd recommend reformatting anyways. A reformat is almost always a good thing to do and will improve your system performance. Back up all your essential files onto CD's or something, reformat, and re-install.

As to putting in a new HD... if you don't know already, just open the case, stick it in, hook up up, and voila. Everything else should take care of itself.

lol, partitions are crap :P

But at most have one as a data store, a dump for anything big :)

problem is, if u need to re-install windows, then all ur registry entries are gonna go, and you'll often have to back up your save games anyway...

Same with programs, most have needed reg entries.

But lots of people do it anyway... :P