Is it essential to partition a second hard drive that i have just installed (WD SE 120GB) or can i use it without partitioning?

Yes, you have to format/partition any drive you want to use. That tells the computer where and how the information is stored. If the drive isnt partitioned, your telling the computer that there is no place to put information on the drive. You can always just put one big partition on it. If you need partitioning tips, just ask.

A drive has to be partitioned and formatted before it can be used. This may have been done in the factory. Install the drive and if WinXp see's it you don't have to do anything. If Xp will not see it click start then run and paste diskmgmt.msc into the run box and click OK. You should be able to partition and format the drive there. Sandman

When talking about partitioning, a lot of folks think "dividing into sections"- that's not it exactly. The first thing you do to a new drive is partition- meaning you are telling the system the hard disk is there & making it ready to accept information. From there you format the hard disk. Some drives (most actually) ship with an overlay software that pretty much walks you painlessly through the whole set up. Read the manuals that came with your drive &/or check their website for installation software updates. You CAN divide a large drive into sections, for housekeeping sake, but it's not always necessary. Windows XP makes very good use of space with it's native NTFS file system - vs. FAT32 on Windows 98. In my case, I chose to partition into three sections (virtual drives) C,D,E. C holds my operating system & work applications, D- Digital images & music, E- Everything else, (like games,etc...) You can choose whatever you want but really think about it because it's easy to do the first time- more work to change things later on. Good luck!