Hard drive upgrade questions...

I want more hard drive space... there is a 1TB hard drive on sale that I am thinking about getting... is it better to add a second hard drive or to just replace the one I have.

If I add it as a second hard drive do I have to install an OS system on it too or will it work in conjunction with the OS on the drive I have now.

If I decide to not add it as a second hard drive but just replace the one I have is there a way I can transfer the OS and files on the hard drive I have now on to the new.

Thanks for any replies... don't know a whole lot about adding a new hard drive to my computer. Thanks again.

P.S. The info re my computer is up to date on my profile.

JDobbsy1987 said:

Me personally would add the 2nd 1 TB hard drive to your current system (basically keep the drive you are using now and add the new one to it).

You would just need to insert the new drive and connect the sata cable to a spare sata port, when you turn the computer on you should see the new drive in 'Computer' when you double click it to open it for the first time it may ask you to format it, just say yes and that's it.

Regards,
JDobbsy1987

Ok...thanks :)... sounds good that is probably what I will do then...

I just have one more question when adding new programs and saving files etc will my computer fill up the first drive and then start using the second one... or how does that work... or do I have to let the computer know where I want the new programs files etc. What is the best way to manage the new space... I guess is what I am asking.

Sorry if these are noob questions :P

knk17forever said:

JDobbsy1987 said:

Me personally would add the 2nd 1 TB hard drive to your current system (basically keep the drive you are using now and add the new one to it).

You would just need to insert the new drive and connect the sata cable to a spare sata port, when you turn the computer on you should see the new drive in 'Computer' when you double click it to open it for the first time it may ask you to format it, just say yes and that's it.

Regards,
JDobbsy1987

Ok...thanks :)... sounds good that is probably what I will do then...

I just have one more question when adding new programs and saving files etc will my computer fill up the first drive and then start using the second one... or how does that work... or do I have to let the computer know where I want the new programs files etc. What is the best way to manage the new space... I guess is what I am asking.

Sorry if these are noob questions :P

No, you have to explicitly tell the computer on which drive to write a file. Many applications have options where you can change a setting on where files it manages are written to. For instance, you can tell internet explorer to put its cache in a folder on the second drive instead of the C: drive, you change the location of the cache and scratch disk for Photoshop, etc..

But in general you need to direct where files are written to.

It is best to keep your programs and Windows OS on the C: drive, and all of your data, like photos, on the second drive. In that way you can use different mechanisms to back these up - an image backup for the C: drive and incremental backups for your data drive.

JDobbsy1987 said:

The 2nd hard drive in its simplest form would just be storage space, it would not have program files or anything like that, all this would be stored/saved as normal on your c:\ drive.

Does this make sense?

knk17forever said:

Sorry if these are noob questions :P

Ask as many questions as you need :)

Regards,
JDobbsy1987

Yeah that makes sense...

Also thanks everyone for the answers, rep added :)