Harddrive question:

[ErikaeanLogic]

I have a "problem." I just scored a Western Digital WB1200, a 120GB ATA/100 7200rpm harddrive. I want to run my XP system as an audio-recording workstation and bought the drive because I want to take advantage of the wonderful read/write speeds it features. I attempted to copy my "old" drive, a 30GB Maxtor 7200rpm DiamondMax Plus, to the new drive but was unable to do so with the Western Digital software like I used to with Windows98 because I formatted the partition with the system files in NTFS. I either need a utility which will allow me to do this or I want to know if I am seriously bottlenecking my system's performance with the Maxtor by running the system files off of it. I just got WinXP tweaked to where I like it but will do a clean install onto the new drive and transfer my settings (1-2 hours, right?) if the consensus here is to do so.



Help me, I'm lazy!

 

[CTho9305]

edit: my bad, misread the original post

 

[ErikaeanLogic]

Actually, you're right: this is a hardware-related post, albeit a "highly technical" one, but definitely not an "Operating Systems" post since optimized application of harddrive read/write speeds is not an issue upon which the operating system has the most bearing.



Thanks for looking at the post, even if you didn't read it correctly.

 

[Nothinman]

I want to know if I am seriously bottlenecking my system's performance with the Maxtor by running the system files off of it.

Only if you're low on memory, since most of the OS will be in memory, cached or locked, while you're using the PC.

I keep the OS on a seperate drive from apps and data for organizational reasons more than speed.

 

[ErikaeanLogic]

Thanks, Nothinman, that's the sort of information I'm looking for.

 

[VTHodge]

<< I keep the OS on a seperate drive from apps and data for organizational reasons more than speed. >>



I agree. Keeping all OS and Hardware drivers on one drive is the logical way to go. As long as you have plenty of extra room on that drive (I would want at least twice my RAM's worth of free space for swap files), I think there would be no serious slowdown.

 

[ErikaeanLogic]

Thanks, VTHodge, it's just a shame to be using a 30GB drive for system files only. Actually, as far as paging goes, I've split my paging file between the harddisks which has given me a nice pump in performance.

 

[Flatline]

I highly recommend having multiple page files if you have multiple drives; the performance increase is quite noticeable.