HD Setup Options, which to install Windows?

[mplutodh1]

So my Maxtor 300G 16mb cache drive showed up today along with my eVGA personal cinema card. I tried to install the cinema card but have had so many problems both evga and I think I need to restart with a fresh install of windows. I was ready to send the card back in thinking it was DOA but before doing that tested it in a spare box I had that didn't have SP2 installed yet and nothing else on there, worked like a charm...

So with that said I am going to reinstall windows. So my question is this: I have a 200Gig Seagate PATA drive that currently has windows installed on it along with some other storage for mp3s etc. My initial thought was to install the new drive as just a storage drive but now that I have to reinstall windows I am not so sure about that.

I always like to install windows on a different drive then I had in the past that way any of the settings or files (fonts, etc) from the old system that I forget to backup, I can just jump to that drive and move them over. Then after a few months when I know things work fine I reformat that partition so it's just storage after that.

Should I install Windows on the SATA drive instead of the IDE? Being that it was larger it was originally going to just be a storage drive, but everyone I know has suggested I use the Maxtor with the 16mb cache as my system drive cuz it might boot and load programs faster.

Suggestions or thoughts?

 

[LED]

Go with the faster Drive (prolly the Maxtor) and this time put in the SATA Drivers (F8) when you install) although you most likely won't realize a real time difference between the 2

 

[airfoil]

The normal consensus would be to put the OS on the faster drive. If you do this, you'll probably need to set aside a generous partition of 30 gigs or so for the OS, and the rest as a single drive.

I'd leave the other drive unparititioned.

 

[necine]

maxtor will be faster because of the cache. and do what he ^ said

 

[imported_Kensai]

F6, not F8. F8 takes you into a selection screen for safe mode, etc.
The Maxtor will of course be the faster of the two.

 

[mplutodh1]

So i have never had a SATA drive, I know I need to install SATA drivers when running XP install, however, all I see for my board are SATA Raid drivers, I don't want to run a RAID setup, any ideas on what driver I need? It is for my Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro 2 Rev 2 board.

 

[mplutodh1]

nevermind, looks like that sataraid driver worked.