Just got my new HD

[Farm]

I just got my new Seagate 120GB SATA and I'm getting ready to install it. I just have a couple questions:

1) I don't have to uninstall XP off my current drive as long as I make it a slave or second boot drive, correct?

2) Should I partition the new drive with about an 80/20, and install the OS (Windows XP) on the 20% partition?

Any other tips would be appreciated too.

Thanks

 

[Mareg]

1) correct
2) 80/20 is a good ratio if you plan to install both WinXP and all your program on the partition. If only for WinXP, its a bit overkill (10 gig is more then enough).

Tip : Do a search before installing WinXP on your sata drive. Their is many ugly a story about that depending on your motherboard.

 

[Farm]

I have an ASUS A7N8X-Deluxe. It has native SATA, I wasn't assuming there would be a problem with Win XP. Should I?

 

[Mareg]

Yes you should. There is a certain procedure to follow in order to install winxp on a sata drive.

Basically, you have to press F6 at the startup of the installation (maybe you remember you're last install where they told you to press F6 for any scsi drive etc)
Then, you must put a disc (normaly provided with your motherboard or on their site) with the sata controller software and the drivers.

Where the nighmare really begin is when many people reported some combinaison of motherboard/driver render the sata device unrecognizable even with the said procedure !
But ther is probably small chance that this would happen to you. I just wanted to warm you in case it happend.

I'm sure you will be fine. Have fun !

 

[Mareg]

http://forums.viaarena.com/messageview.cfm?catid=20&threadid=57687

 

[Lyfer]

20GB is fine if you have lotsa games to install. I have 15gb allocated and I have only 1.5gb left. All these new games on 3 CD's with 100mb size patches can really tack your storage space.

 

[Mareg]

Yeah Farm, if you plan to install games on the same partition as your OS, you need much more then my initial 10 gig suggestion.

 

[Farm]

Originally posted by: Mareg
Yeah Farm, if you plan to install games on the same partition as your OS, you need much more then my initial 10 gig suggestion.

I don't have a ton of games right now.

Here is my estimate of computer usage:
AutoCAD (my wife) - 10%
Surfing, general use - 20%
Excel, Word, etc. - 15%
Gaming - 25%
Video editing - 5%
Photo transfer and editing with Photoshop - 25%

 

[Mareg]

If you install games on the partition, 20 gig is the minimum. Some games can take up to 2gig or even more (doom3 with is use of 512meg vidcard ! must have some eavy giga texture).
But for me, on the system partition, there must only be windows and programs(minus games). I always put games on the data partition.