I have a 2.1Gb HD with W98se on it. I "lost" my W98 OS disk and just got a new 40Gb HD. Maxtor suggested to use their "MaxBlast" program for format/partition purposes. I found out it is possible to 'copy' the OS from the old HD to the new one. The thing is, I'm not familiar with the use of partitioning - with a 2.1Gb HD I guess it wasn't necessary to use it much. What I was originally going to do was just use the new 40Gb HD for storage and keep the OS on the old HD. I have a number of questions that come to mind with this situation. 1. Will the system run slower if the OS is on the smaller HD than if it was on the big one? 2. If I do use the 40G HD for storage, does it need to be partioned (beyond the usual use)? 3. Would installing or downloading programs cause any problems because the OS is on a different drive than the install destination? (I notice that sometimes small files are stored in the Windows/System folder, which would be on the smaller OS drive; different than the file's program drive.) The reason I want to keep the 40Gb as a slave/storage is because it is a much easier process. If I was to copy the OS from the smaller HD, I would have to change the jumpers on both HD twice each (as well as install/uninstall) and to copy a lot of other stuff from one to the other. If I just use the 40Gb HD as storage, I just put it in! But, again, I would really like to know if the system would run better or not, and I would like to know about the partioning of the larger HD in both situations. Thanks, Jamie

G'day James, you should have no problems with what you are asking, Your O/S should run the same from where it is. You do have to partition the new HD and then format it after that or you won't be able to use it. Installing programs on a second HD is ok, that's what I do. Some of a programs' files will go into the System folder anyway as they have to. I would also suggest you do not use Maxblast but just use Windows' Fdisk instead and be careful not to touch Disc 1. With Fdisk select Yes for large disk support and then option [5] to select the disc to partition [2] then create a new primary paretition [1] and then extended [2] and use all the space it allocates. You can run Fdisk from the run command for a second HD. Once it's been partitioned you can right click the new drive letter [should now be D:] to format it from Windows explorer. You will also notice that your CDrom will get a new drive letter because HD's take precedence over other devices in the drive letter pecking order. Some people might also suggest you swap the drives over to have the O/S on a bigger HD, I won't suggest it as I believe what you want to do is the way to go and if you haven't had the experience just yet so let's just keep it simple for now. Any problems give us a holla.

Although keeping the Win98SE OS in the current 2.1 GB HDD and other applications and your personal files in the new Maxtor HDD would not cause any 'significant' problem with speed it is better to use the larger and faster Maxtor HDD as the Primary Master Disk for the possibility of the older disk dying earlier than the recent HDD, the faster speed of the disk and more Free space for file swapping in the Maxtor HDD. If you want to avoid the inconvenience of changing the Jumper caps on both drives, you may keep the Jumpers of both Drives on Cable Select [if the older drive has that option and your Mob would support... most will] After Partition & Format of Maxtor HDD and Copying files from the old HDD using the software all in one sweep, simply switch the Connectors on the IDE cable to alter the Master/Slave configurations of the drives. To avoid having to twist the cable in an akward manner to accomplish connecting the two HDDs as Master and Slave in its final status, you might want to mount the new Maxtor HDD which will be the eventual master in the Slot that will be higher of the two in the Tower in its normal standing position so that the terminal Master connector and the Middle Slave connector will remain in alignment without having to be twisted on itself. [which can increase the possibility of loose connection or disconnection]

There's a good chance the bios on your P-pro won't see a 40 gig drive or won't see all of it. In that case you'll need to install the drive overlay from the disk that came with the drive. I believe the overlay needs to be installed on the booting drive. So if you have the 40 gig as slave, the overlay will need to be on the 2 gig. I agree with Ronnie about not using the installation software to set up the drive. But with the configuration you're talking about and the liklihood of needing an overlay makes me think that in this case you should use it.

Hey! Thanks guys! Response was better than I expected, in the number of options and also explaining of each. The way is clear for me now!!

You're welcome. We hope you get it setup OK.