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**marley07712** · 07-10-2009, 06:37 AM

I am considering a second internal hard drive fro my desktop (which has really become my teenage sons). The current hard drive is a Seagate 200 GB 7200 RPM drive, which is about 75% full (I do clean it regularly with /ccleaner and ATF cleaner and defragment once a week). I assume this is due to games, pictures/video and music files. I've done some web research but find conflicting information. So I had a couple of questions that I'm hoping the experts here can shed some light on.

1. Does a nearly full hard drive slow down system performance (again I've seen conflicting information)? Intuitively, it seems to me that it could slow down boot up and program access, but shouldn't impact internet speed.

2. If I do install a second drive I was considering the same model I currently have, which has been problem free for many years. But I was curious as to the best approach. Would you recommend that the new drive be installed a slave drive and move the games, photos and videos to it, or would it make more sense to install it as the master and use the current drive as is as the slave?

3. If the former, are the files/programs that are moved to the slave drive easily accessible and do I need install the OS (XP Pro) on this new drive?

4. If the latter, again, are the programs/files easily accessible on the old drive easily accessible? I assume I would need to install the OS if this option were chosen.

I appreciate any thoughts on this. The physical installation shouldn't be a problem (While no expert I installed the current hard drive without issue when the original hard drive died) but I'm having trouble understanding conceptually how a second drive works and what the best approach is.

Thanks!

07-10-2009, 06:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
marley07712 I helped the forums. Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 169 OS: XP	2nd Hard Drive Questions I am considering a second internal hard drive fro my desktop (which has really become my teenage sons). The current hard drive is a Seagate 200 GB 7200 RPM drive, which is about 75% full (I do clean it regularly with /ccleaner and ATF cleaner and defragment once a week). I assume this is due to games, pictures/video and music files. I've done some web research but find conflicting information. So I had a couple of questions that I'm hoping the experts here can shed some light on. 1. Does a nearly full hard drive slow down system performance (again I've seen conflicting information)? Intuitively, it seems to me that it could slow down boot up and program access, but shouldn't impact internet speed. 2. If I do install a second drive I was considering the same model I currently have, which has been problem free for many years. But I was curious as to the best approach. Would you recommend that the new drive be installed a slave drive and move the games, photos and videos to it, or would it make more sense to install it as the master and use the current drive as is as the slave? 3. If the former, are the files/programs that are moved to the slave drive easily accessible and do I need install the OS (XP Pro) on this new drive? 4. If the latter, again, are the programs/files easily accessible on the old drive easily accessible? I assume I would need to install the OS if this option were chosen. I appreciate any thoughts on this. The physical installation shouldn't be a problem (While no expert I installed the current hard drive without issue when the original hard drive died) but I'm having trouble understanding conceptually how a second drive works and what the best approach is. Thanks!