I am in the process of upgrading to a 120GB HDD from a 40GB HDD [I have and 80GB HDD external]

I told the tech I wanted the new HDD [120GB] as my C:\Drive, and to use the 40GB as my scratch disk/backup Drive.

He said I would be better off the other way around. Keeping only 40GB for the C:\Drive, and using the 120GB HDD for backup and scratch disk [that's for photoshop scratchdisk]

Any reason he would suggest this?

I have no real idea why, but he said 120GB was a lot to look after:eyespop: . I cannot se the difference, and he said my PC can handle both drives.:roll:

What do all the brains here advise?

~Viktoria

Well done with questioning his decision - they've not always got your best interests at heart. In this case though I agree with the advice. It kind of makes sense and is what I would do in this situation. It's an opinion, so there'll be people that disagree, but here's my reasoning:
Have a 40Gb C drive - more than adequate for an OS
Have the 120Gb as a data drive - it's newer and should last longer. Install all your programs and data to this. That way, if/when the older drive fails all you lose is the OS, all your data is safe. Of course the older drive may outlive the newer one, which would negate some of these points - but hey, that's life. If you have only your OS on a smaller drive, you know that you can delete anything off the other one without breaking your PC totally. Similarly, if you ever wish to format the C drive or upgrade the OS, you can disconnect the 120 and do what you like to the 40 knowing that your data is safe. Additionally, adding extra drives/upgrading the 120 in the future should be easier. Oh and if your motherboard isn't too new, it should still have no probs recognising a 40, but may complain/not like the 120.

Another factor is going to be the relative speeds of these drives - this may sway your decision to one set-up or the other. In practice I've found that hard drives are rarely the performance bottleneck in my systems and so would discount it as a decision-making factor. Your needs may be different though.

And it goes without saying that any hardware reconfig like this should be done with patience, and only after a full backup has been done. Spot the man who's lost many PC's (including domain controllers!) to ill thought-out, ill-conducted upgrades. Make a plan of exactly what you're going to do before starting is my advice.

Originally Posted by hotphil

Well done with questioning his decision - they've not always got your best interests at heart. In this case though I agree with the advice. It kind of makes sense and is what I would do in this situation. It's an opinion, so there'll be people that disagree, but here's my reasoning:
Have a 40Gb C drive - more than adequate for an OS
Have the 120Gb as a data drive - it's newer and should last longer. Install all your programs and data to this. That way, if/when the older drive fails all you lose is the OS, all your data is safe. Of course the older drive may outlive the newer one, which would negate some of these points - but hey, that's life. If you have only your OS on a smaller drive, you know that you can delete anything off the other one without breaking your PC totally. Similarly, if you ever wish to format the C drive or upgrade the OS, you can disconnect the 120 and do what you like to the 40 knowing that your data is safe. Additionally, adding extra drives/upgrading the 120 in the future should be easier. Oh and if your motherboard isn't too new, it should still have no probs recognising a 40, but may complain/not like the 120.

Another factor is going to be the relative speeds of these drives - this may sway your decision to one set-up or the other. In practice I've found that hard drives are rarely the performance bottleneck in my systems and so would discount it as a decision-making factor. Your needs may be different though.

And it goes without saying that any hardware reconfig like this should be done with patience, and only after a full backup has been done. Spot the man who's lost many PC's (including domain controllers!) to ill thought-out, ill-conducted upgrades. Make a plan of exactly what you're going to do before starting is my advice.

Thank you HotPhil

Your answer was very well written. The one problem I question, is that many programs auto-load to the C:\Drive. Is there a way to stop this happening? I have many, many [too many:eyespop: ] graphics programs on my C:\Drive, and it really cuts down the space. Is it fine for me to alter the path so they will be used on the new 120GB drive?

Thank you for your answer. It has made me see why he has suggested what he has. This one has been the most trustworthy I have ever had, so I did figure there must be a reason.

Take Care,
~Viktoria

There are some programs out there that will only install on to C but I've not come across too many. With most there's an option whilst installing to change the destination (it may be hidden in an Advanced or Custom option, but it is usually there). At the end of the day, if your C drive is 40Gb and you really only use it for the OS, then one or two programs installed on it isn't going to be the end of the world, they'll be plenty of space left. I have this situation on one of my machines at the moment - a 20Gb system drive with a few apps that I forgot to/couldn't install to my main Apps drive. As long as you're aware of what's installed where and try to keep to a convention as much as is reasonable, then you should be fine.
I think the important thing with multiple drives is not what's regarded by others as best practice, but what works for you.
Doing this kind of thing is a good way of keeping functional, but no longer big enough hard drives in useful service. Whenever I buy a new drive I try to "cascade down" in this way.

While you've got the case off and are installing the new drive, give consideration to future plans and make a choice on how to connect it. Again this is a matter of differing opinions, but you need to decide which IDE (assuming IDE) channel to attach the new drive to. The choice may also need to bear in mind any CD/DVD drives you have. CD/DVD drives are often slower than hard drives and so attaching a fast hard drive (like your new one) to the same channel as a slow CD drive will hamper your hard drive's performance. Also, bear in mind that the channel can only do one thing at once i.e. if your burning a CD with data from a hard drive that's on the same IDE channel, the data flow stop/starts all the time as the channel reads (from hard drive) and then writes (to CD). Putting the CD burner on the other channel will allow maximum throughput. Typically, I would put the system drive and a CD burner on one IDE channel and the data drive and a DVD ROM on the other. Like I say, others may disagree. A further option (and one I use) is a separate IDE controller card. As you probably know, your motherboard most likely comes with two IDE channels. A separate PCI IDE card adds (typically) another 2. This allows for greater flexibility, expandability and can maximise data throughput. As an example, I have a machine with a system hard drive running off one motherboard IDE channel and a CD burner attached to the other motherboard channel. A data hard drive and a DVD rom are attached to each of the extra channels on a PCI IDE card. This means each of my devices has it's own channel that it can read/write from at the maximum speed available - essentially transferring my system's bottlenecks from the IDE bus and the devices attached to it over to other constraints. A PCI IDE card costs about £10, but one thing to watch for is that you may need a longer IDE cable(s) - I've been caught out with this! Something to consider perhaps.
Hang on a mo, I seemed to have typed a lot - I'm not going to read back through it (have to get back to work) - Shout up if it doesn't make sense (I tend to ramble sometimes!)

HotPhil, it all makes perfect sense. I can even see where getting a virus would not be such an awful option for me if only the OS was on one drive. Touch wood, I haven't had one for a verrrrrrrrrry long time.

I already have DVD Burner, and DVD Burner on seperate IDE channels, something this guy suggested when the DVD Burner was put in. I really could rid myself of the CD Burner as the DVD does both.

I am going to print out your reply, and give him the "I have good info here" look :eyespop: , and I know I will get a good job done.

I will post back in a couple of weeks as to how it all went. I can't wait to put Photoshop on another Drive, along with far too many graphic apps !! Thank you so much for all your time and effort. I can see it is good advice that makes logical sense.

Take Care,
~Viktoria

Thank you Phil for all the advice, but whilst I was away they did a change of mind and made the C:\Drive the 120GB and the other 40BG Drive, the slave drive.

All was fine except...........when I sent things to the slave drive they disappeared:eyespop: . They hadn't set the directory path:angry: . Everything went to C:\ even though I sent things to "G". :angry: I reset the directory, and all is well..........8-)

Thank you for the assistance, and as promised, here is the update.

~Viktoria