Fitting A New HDD

[Reefsmoka]

I wanna get another HDD because my 40 gig is filling up quick because of all these stupidly big games. So i was wondering if i bought an 80 gig drive, would i be able to just go ahead and fit it without having to install any programs? (cos im gonna keep my 40 gig one as it is, with XP and other apps on it).

 

[floppybootstomp]

Yes, you can. If it's an IDE drive, be sure to set the jumper to slave or master depending on which port you fit it to.

You can then move all mp3's, videos, word docs etc over to storage on the new drive or install new games to the new drive, making sure to choose the right installation path when installing.

Oh, and make sure you have a spare PSU molex connector available to power the new drive, if not, you'll have to buy a 'Y' splitter to power it.

 

[Quadophile]

If you are still considering look for a drive with 8 mb cache instead of just 2 and maybe 120 mb instead of 80 as you will in no time fill up the space. Just a suggestion!

 

[Techy]

definately go for a 120GB it'll only cost you an xtra £10, then again a 160GB hard disk will only cost you £20 xtra, so temping, and beore you know it you've spent a fortune, also check that your BIOS will support the HDD otherwise you may need a BIOS update.

James

 

[Ian]

I wanna get another HDD because my 40 gig is filling up quick because of all these stupidly big games. So i was wondering if i bought an 80 gig drive, would i be able to just go ahead and fit it without having to install any programs? (cos im gonna keep my 40 gig one as it is, with XP and other apps on it).

I have a similar setup in my system:

80gig Main Hard Drive - Windows / Game / Applications / Documents
250 Gig Drive - Backup Drive / Music / Video

Works like a charm

Make sure to set your "Virtual Memory" to use the 2nd drive, as it will help when running from the alternate drive (as it is faster and not on the same drive as Windows).

 

[Techy]

Make sure to set your "Virtual Memory" to use the 2nd drive, as it will help when running from the alternate drive (as it is faster and not on the same drive as Windows).

excellent advice. this does make a resonable difference.

techy

 

[Reefsmoka]

I meant to say 120 =/ . i must of had a memory lapse. heres the drive i think im gonna go for http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=115428&cks=PRL. I aint going for the £8 more 160 gig version because i really dont see the point, I mean yes its only £8 for 40 gig, but hey how the hell am i gonna fill the 40 gig one i already got and the 120 gig one i want?


Anyway, ty for all your help .

 

[Reefsmoka]

Make sure to set your "Virtual Memory" to use the 2nd drive, as it will help when running from the alternate drive (as it is faster and not on the same drive as Windows).

what do i have to do? (note: im using XP)

 

[Reefsmoka]

How and what do i do to the "Virtual memory"?? please reply you've got me intrested now!

 

[Quadophile]

Let me reply on behalf of Ian.

You just make chages to the virtual memory so that your system's performance increases (faster).

My Computer>Properties>Advanced>Settings>Advanced>Virtual Memory>Change

The dialog box will give you the information on the drive partitions, you will notice that the paging file resides on the C:/ partition. Change it by setting it to no paging file and min max to be cleared. select the partition which is on the second drive and put the size indicating min and max. Ideally min and max should be same as the Windows operating system dynamically expands and contracts the file and in the process it get defragmented. To avoid that if the min max are set same this will not happen. For your information normal defragmentation does not correct the problem since the paging file during that process is not accessed. The only way to defragment the paging file is to shift it from one partition to another and back making sure the size is fixed.

If you have say 512 mb ram the paging file size should be one and half times ram (for XP) which means 768 mb.

I hope I was clear in my explanation as this is as concise I could manage. I could write even more and maybe make things complicated for someone doing it first time. If you need any further assistance I am here.

 

[Reefsmoka]

ok cheers man, im gonna be trying that soon, so if you hear a loud bang, tis only me.

 

[muckshifter]

Let me see ... your going to install a new HD and put your games on it, then your going to move your 'swap file' (page file, virtual memory) to that drive.

Leave it alone ... XP will do a good job.

 

[Reefsmoka]

I think i will actually, ive been reading around about this virtual memory business, and it says it hardly makes any difference at all. So i dont think im gonna mess about.