Full HD!

[:FI:Murph]

Well it's finally getting to the point where both of my HDs (1 80G,1 100G-[2 50G partitions]) are filled up. I've purged an awful lot of files, but they're still pretty full.
I'm looking at perhaps a 300G to replace the master drive- what's the safest, easiest way to do this without loosing stuff?
I understand XP does NOT like it when you try to install on a new HD- it thinks you're doing an illegal install on a new PC?
Is the a good cheap or freeware utility for simply moving everything from the old drives to the new?
I think with a 300G I'll want to do few partitions as well.

[:FI:Sneaky_Russian]

I got a USB external drive for backup and clean-up . some good deals on these in the UK right now (about £90 for 400-500Gig)

[:FI:Falcon]

Murph,

For my b-day I got a USB external 200 GB Maxtor for about $70. Just plug and store. All my skins/templates are finally backed up.


Falcon

[:FI:Murph]

Are the external drives alright for installing and running programs from or are they just meant for file storage?
Forgot to mention I'm also out of USB ports.

[:FI:Falcon]

Well, I wouldn't use it as my first choice to run games, Murph, but it has an 8mb cache and runs at 7200 RPMs.

I put all of my game aps on one HD, the second is for game files, skins, artwork and web stuff that gets swapped around a lot. The New HD is for back up.

Geez, how many games/programs do you have on your old HDs?

F

[AltarBoy]

External HD is the way to go. You can run games from there also, but it's best for backups and archive storage. My new rig will have 500Gb and I'm keeping all my old stuff form this HD on external backup drives.

[:FI:Dr_Strangelove]

You can use the dos version of Ghost for the copy and Partition magic for your partitioning.

[:FI:Murph]

One important bit of info I forgot to mention; the 100G HD is partitioned, but the OSs for the partitions are win98 and win2K- so I think it would still be a good idea to move what I want to keep off of it and wipe it clean for backup/storage use.
I thought it might be simpler to start with a new, big HD (300-500G), partition it properly and transfer most of what's on the current disks.
Is it best I try to do a clean install of XP on the new HD first, or can I get away with simply moving everything over.
Also the HDs I'm using right now are fairly old and apt to wear out soon.

[:FI:Sneaky_Russian]

I'd go for the clean install if possible.Should run faster.
'46 should just copy over with no problem (it runs from either of my XP boots not just the one it was installed with.)

Some other programs may require the key re-entering and some may need a fresh install. MS office might be hard to come by if you dont have the original to hand, (Open Office is just as good if not better.)

I'd recommend unplugging the existing drives when you fit the new HD, Install XP on the new drive.

When you re-connect the old drives it should give you the option which Boot to use just after the POST screen. That way any stuff that wont run from the new install will still be accessible.

Note that the drive letters will be different on each bootup so make sure you can easily identify from the volume label. ( e.g. C:newXP , D:Old Widows,E:Games etc. booting the old drive will probably give C:OldWidows , D:Games ,E:newXP )

If you're going SATA (if your MB supports it) you may need a floppy during Windows install. refer to your MB manual (or DL one if you dont have it)

[:FI:Murph]

My Motherboard is the K8V deluxe- the manual says; South Bridge supports
-2 x Ultra ATA 133 connections
-2 x SATA with RAID 0, RAID 1
Promise R20378 RAID controller
-1 x UltraDMA 133 supports two hard drives
-2 x Serial ATA connectors
- RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 0+1 configurations

What does this mean in terms of what kind of HD I can use? Can I only use SATA if I'm using a RAID configuration?

[:FI:Sneaky_Russian]

You can use either/both.

Thats how my system is setup (K7VT6).
2 x ATA HD's (1 with backup XP boot)
1 Sata HD (main XP)
+ the USB drive when needed.