PCTech Forums

Current spec:
Athlon xp 1800+
40 GB HD
256mb PC 2100

I currently have a 5400RPM 40 GIG Hard drive. Though it has served me well I wanted to add a few DVD's worth of game roms etc so I ordered a new Hard Drive. The new Hard Drive is: 120 GB 7200 RPM/ 8MB cache. My thought is to completely remove the old slower hard drive and install WinXP Pro on the new bigger faster hard drive. My friend suggested keeping the old Hard Drive for even more storage but I figure I would be losing the benefit of the faster newer hard drive if I did that. My question is: Will having my O.S. on the new faster hard drive really increase the speed of my system AND am I better off completely removing the old 5400 RPM hard drive? Your thoughts and opinions please, I have no issue remving old hard drive if it impacts performance of new one........

I don't know what OS you currently have loaded on the old drive. But a refresh of an OS can do nothing but help. The newer faster drive will help performance, but not by much. Keeping the old drive as a secondary drive could come in handy if you think you are going to need it. I have an 80GB main drive and an 80 secondary drive for just storage.

That's my $.02!

If you install the OS on the new drive and use the old one for storage you will not lose any of the "new" performance.You will see a gain in loading apps and such from the new drive mainly due to the 8MB cache...I'd keep the old one in...My OS is on a 120 and i have a 60 for storage.

my $.02 as well...