XP and new Hard drive

[Nina]

I'm running XP Home, and my computer has 2 HD's - 80Gb primary, 40Gb
secondary.

I want to add a bigger HD, and I'm thinking of getting a 160Gb. Is it
correct that anything over 120Gb needs to be partitioned? If so, how do I do
this?

Is it also correct that it's best to have the largest drive as primary, for
Windows to work efficiently?

My original Maxtor 80Gb HD died recently, and though I've replaced it and
re-installed XP, I still have 24 days to activate it - would I be okay to
re-install it again on a new drive, without first activating it on the
current one?

Many thanks,
Nina

 

[Harry Ohrn]

All drives must be partitioned before they can be formatted. So all drives
must have at least one partition in order to be used. I think you are
wondering if you need to have more than one partition if your drive is over
120GB and the answer is no you can use just one 160GB partition if you wish.
Your second question is answered with a no. You definitely do not need to
have the largest drive as the primary. To learn about Windows Product
Activation you should take a look at Alex Nichol's page
http://www.aumha.org/a/wpa.htm

 

[Ron Sommer]

I would not put XP on the larger drive.
Will your Bios support a 160 Gb drive?
If not, then you will have to use an ide controller card. I will be harder
to get XP to boot from the card.

 

[Nina]

Thank you, Harry, that's very useful information.

Regards,
Nina

All drives must be partitioned before they can be formatted. So all drives
must have at least one partition in order to be used. I think you are
wondering if you need to have more than one partition if your drive is over
120GB and the answer is no you can use just one 160GB partition if you wish.
Your second question is answered with a no. You definitely do not need to
have the largest drive as the primary. To learn about Windows Product
Activation you should take a look at Alex Nichol's page
http://www.aumha.org/a/wpa.htm
--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp

I'm running XP Home, and my computer has 2 HD's - 80Gb primary, 40Gb
secondary.

I want to add a bigger HD, and I'm thinking of getting a 160Gb. Is it
correct that anything over 120Gb needs to be partitioned? If so, how do

I

do
this?

Is it also correct that it's best to have the largest drive as primary, for
Windows to work efficiently?

My original Maxtor 80Gb HD died recently, and though I've replaced it and
re-installed XP, I still have 24 days to activate it - would I be okay to
re-install it again on a new drive, without first activating it on the
current one?

Many thanks,
Nina

 

[Nina]

Hello Ron,

If I don't need to have the 160Gb as my primary, for the sake of XP, I
intend to use it purely for storage only.

Heh heh... bios... I never thought of that; I'm just starting out in the
world of upgrading Actually I was intending to purchase a Sigma PCI
Ultra ATA133IDE controller card - hope this does the job.

Thanks, Ron.

Regards,
Nina