Using 2 hard drives with Windows XP

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I have 1 hard drive with XP installed. It is almost full so I have installed
a second drive. The drives re formatted as basic.

Two questions:

What is the best way to utilize the space in the second drive?

How do I move most of the installed applications to the second, larger drive
that does not have XP installed?

Thanks

Quincy
 
Quincy said:
I have 1 hard drive with XP installed. It is almost full...
Click to expand...

It should be used up to 85 percent leaving space for the defrag
program to work.
... so I have installed
a second drive. The drives re formatted as basic.
Click to expand...

They should be formatted as FAT32 or, preferably, NFTS.
Two questions:

What is the best way to utilize the space in the second drive?
Click to expand...

The best way is to use it for storing data.
How do I move most of the installed applications to the second, larger drive
that does not have XP installed?
Click to expand...

You shouldn't. But you may clone your first drive to the second by
means of a program like Acronis True Image*, then format the first
drive and use it as your data storage drive.
Thanks
Click to expand...

U R welcome - Roy

*<http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/trueimage/>
 
I have 1 hard drive with XP installed. It is almost full so I have
installed
a second drive. The drives re formatted as basic.

Two questions:

What is the best way to utilize the space in the second drive?

How do I move most of the installed applications to the second, larger
drive
that does not have XP installed?
Click to expand...

Move data to the second drive. Go into each program and through it's
settings have it store it's data on the second drive. In general there is
no advantage to having apps on another drive but if space is that much at a
premium, uninstall the app from the 1st drive and reinstall on the other
drive.
 
You can't move installed applications to another drive, the pointers are
pointing to the current drive, you move it and it will no longer work.
I suggest you move only data files.
also you need to post more details, ie how large are the drives, how much
space is left on primary drive, etc...
 
The 1st post by roy is totally wrong...If 2 hds are being used,the 2nd will
be
used as storage (pictures,music files,etc),as for program files,you must
install
the program/software to the 2nd hd,uninstall if needed,then reinstall.As for
program installations,just about all can be installed,youre only limitations
may be pc games or similiar if youre an on-line gamer..
 
Your post Andrew is even wronger.
The 1st post by roy is totally wrong...If 2 hds are being used,the 2nd
will be
used as storage (pictures,music files,etc),as for program files,you must
install
the program/software to the 2nd hd,uninstall if needed,then reinstall.As
for program installations,just about all can be installed,youre only
limitations may be pc games or similiar if youre an on-line gamer..
Click to expand...
 
Quincy said:
Thanks to all who have responded. I am obviously not a computer expert so
all of your assistance is welcomed!
Here are details that were requested. The original drive is 9.5 GB of
which 1.3 is available. The new drive is 40 GB. Both drives are
formatted
NTFS, basic disks (i.e. not dynamic disks).

After reviewing the various posts, what I really would like to do is make
the bigger drive the most prominent, with the original, smaller drive
held
in reserve. The questions that this wish create for me are:

1. The XP Professional and all applications and programs are stored on
the
original drive. The amount of data is insiginificant: it's the
applications
and programs that are taking up most of the space. How can I make the
new,
bigger disk the primary disk?

2. Does the use of a program such as the cloning software recommended by
one post have any downsides?

3. Are there any issues associated with reinstalling software on the
second
disk? Some of the sofware was purchased on line so that I do not have
disks.

Thanks.

Quincy
Click to expand...


Quincy:
As one of the earlier responders to your query suggested, why not use a disk
imaging program such as the Acronis one he or she recommended so as to clone
the contents of your 9.5 GB HDD to your new 40 GB HDD? That would seem to be
the most sensible approach at this time inasmuch as you've indicated that
you want to retain your programs/applications and apparently no longer have
the installation media for some or all of those programs. Acronis has a
15-day trial version available - see...
http://www.acronis.com

After you successfully clone the contents of your old HDD to the new one,
you will shut down your machine, disconnect the 9.5 GB HDD, connect your
new 40 GB HDD as Primary Master and boot to that HDD. You can later
reconnect the old HDD as either a Slave on the Primary channel or anywhere
on the Secondary IDE channel if you want to retain that HDD "in reserve".
But really consider purchasing another HDD for that purpose. The 9.5 GB
capacity is absurdibly small in today's environment. Consider at least a 80
GB HDD (it seems the 40 GB HDDs have virtually disappeared from retailer's
shelves in many areas). I noticed one of the Office stores recently
advertising an 80 GB HDD for only $29.99. Hopefully you can afford that or
something similar.

If you're interested, I'll post (again) step-by-step instructions for using
the Acronis program for both disk cloning and disk imaging operations. The
program is relatively simple to use and very effective.

But please - try to get yourself a larger-capacity HDD for your secondary
drive if at all possible.
Anna
 
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