Shuffling around my data. What do you think?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Cockles, Apr 30, 2007.

  1. Cockles

    Cockles Megabyte Poster

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    Hello chaps and chapesses.

    It's been a long time since I have had an IT related query but at last I have one!!

    Chances are in the next few years i will completely upgrade my system, but just wanted to put forward a quick short-term solution and see if it'd do any good, regarding my hard drives, as at the moment I really haven't got the time to shop around

    At the moment I have two internal hard drives, my C: drive (18 GB) which holds most of my files, and my G: (40GB) which has all my programmes and is the root directory for Windows.

    I was thinking of buying an external HD and shifting virtually every file (in terms of music, pictures, work files, documents etc) onto that, then re-sinstalling Windows on the older C: drive (so effectively using that as one big boot disk) and then using the G: drive purely to run all of my programmes. Do you thinnk that it will have a noticeable effect on the speed at which my system runs? At least both of my internal drives will be clear of any clutter and should at least have about 15GB more space in each.

    Thanks very much people
     
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  2. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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    Are the 2 drives the same standard? eg ATA133 or SATA1 etc. If the older drive is a slower drive then you will see a performance decrease if you install your OS to that drive.
     
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  3. Cockles

    Cockles Megabyte Poster

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    Hmmm, a very good point, I wll have to check that sir. The drives were bought about 3 years apart so that may be the case

    Thank you
     
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  4. Cockles

    Cockles Megabyte Poster

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    Right, my G: drive is a 7200 ATA 133 IDE. I don't have any documentation at all for my C: drive, but can I find out its stats from Windows or will I have to go via CMOS?

    Thanks
     
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  5. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    The CMOS usualy won't tell you anything about the drive. However, the hardware list will show the model number, or you can get this from the boot screens. Looking up that model number on the manuf's site will give the info you want.

    Harry
     
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  6. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    How much free space do you have at the moment?

    You might see as boost if you move the page file to the G: drive.

    What is the OS?

    How much RAM do you have?

    Are you running Norton?
     
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  7. Theprof

    Theprof Petabyte Poster

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    You can also check for the hard drive model through the device manager.

    Also just a small question; why don't you want to get a bigger internal hard like an 80+ gb instead of buying an external one?

    External hard drives also cost more money.
     
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  8. Cockles

    Cockles Megabyte Poster

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    Morning mate

    In answer to your questions (sorry, left work early yesterday)

    Free space - 3GB on the C: drive and 15 GB on the G:. What I would like to do is save my entire CD collection to my PC, which will take up a fair amount of that space

    OS - Windows XP professional

    RAM - 1GB

    AV - No, running AVG Free at the minute

    Unfortunately didn't get to check my C: drive make though as I didn't go home last night

    And in answer to your question Prof, I suppose I'm jus ttrying to take the easy route. Y'see, I wish to upgrade soon, but if I do, it won't be a case of just upgrading the motherboard, CPU and HD's, I will probably need to do everything, which I just can't afford at the moment. For example, my GPU is AGP and so I most probably will need to buy a new PCI-E one, my HDs are ATA and a new board will most probably be SATA (I know you can get a bridge, but I may as well go for the better performance option). Plus, in the long run, I suppose I just like the idea of having a portable unit with everything stored on as a back-up. I was trying to see if whilst I was doing this, I could boost my current PC's performance slightly until I can get the whole system done.

    Thanks for the tips though gentlemen, appreciated
     
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  9. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Well the answer is you will probably see an improvement, as a clean install always helps to return a system back to it's original optimum performance - it's a fact that PCs slow down over time, as the registry gets clogged up and the system get changed over time by the applications which are installed. It's always best to only install apps which you use regularly.
     
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  10. UCHEEKYMONKEY
    Honorary Member

    UCHEEKYMONKEY R.I.P - gone but never forgotten. Gold Member

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    Sorry for breaking away from the thread, but have you booked your A+ exams yet cockles? The expire date for 2003 objectives is almost upon us.

    Have you changed your mind and gone for the 2006 objectives?:blink
     
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