my office computer's 40 gig hard drive is running out of disk space. I
just purchased a 250 gig Hitachi HD from Fry's.

Question: which is best route to follow if I wish to retain both
drives in the computer.

1. Install new hard drive as the Primary drive & have
Windows XP boot up from the new drive.

OR

2. Install the new hard drive as the Secondary drive, & simply
transfer programs from the smaller hard drive over to the 250 gig
drive?

This may be a simplified question, but I'm wondering what the experts
adivse.

best, Aaron

<aaronep@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:1133074564.749459.184420@g43g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> my office computer's 40 gig hard drive is running out of disk space. I
> just purchased a 250 gig Hitachi HD from Fry's.
>
> Question: which is best route to follow if I wish to retain both
> drives in the computer.
>
> 1. Install new hard drive as the Primary drive & have
> Windows XP boot up from the new drive.
>
> OR
>
> 2. Install the new hard drive as the Secondary drive, & simply
> transfer programs from the smaller hard drive over to the 250 gig
> drive?
>
> This may be a simplified question, but I'm wondering what the experts
> adivse.
>
> best, Aaron
>

I suggest you do neither. I would prefer to leave drive 1
as it is and use the second drive to store your data. This
will free up lots of space on your old drive.

If it was me, I'd image the orginal hard drive to the new drive. Then, I'd
install that new drive as the primary and make the old one the secondary.
After, you are satified that the new drive is booting and working you could
delete the stuff. No matter what people tell you to do the most important
thing BEFORE you start is backup everything.

John

<aaronep@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:1133074564.749459.184420@g43g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> my office computer's 40 gig hard drive is running out of disk space. I
> just purchased a 250 gig Hitachi HD from Fry's.
>
> Question: which is best route to follow if I wish to retain both
> drives in the computer.
>
> 1. Install new hard drive as the Primary drive & have
> Windows XP boot up from the new drive.
>
> OR
>
> 2. Install the new hard drive as the Secondary drive, & simply
> transfer programs from the smaller hard drive over to the 250 gig
> drive?
>
> This may be a simplified question, but I'm wondering what the experts
> adivse.
>
> best, Aaron
>

I will always place the operating system on the fastest drive with the
largest drive cache.


--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

<aaronep@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:1133074564.749459.184420@g43g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> my office computer's 40 gig hard drive is running out of disk space. I
> just purchased a 250 gig Hitachi HD from Fry's.
>
> Question: which is best route to follow if I wish to retain both
> drives in the computer.
>
> 1. Install new hard drive as the Primary drive & have
> Windows XP boot up from the new drive.
>
> OR
>
> 2. Install the new hard drive as the Secondary drive, & simply
> transfer programs from the smaller hard drive over to the 250 gig
> drive?
>
> This may be a simplified question, but I'm wondering what the experts
> adivse.
>
> best, Aaron
>

to all who replied to my inquiry: thank you for your posts! very
helpful information! best, Caaron