shabushabu

I currently have a 40GB hard drive on my computer and decided it was time for some more space. I just bought a 200GB HD to add in, but haven't installed it yet. I figure it's about time for a fresh install of XP, and was wondering how I should set up my data with two drives for best performance. Should I install XP and all my programs on one drive and leave the other strictly for data? Or should I install the OS and programs on separate drives? My computer is for home use and I run a lot of different types of programs, so it's not a dedicated video-editing station or gaming system or anything special like that.

I don't necessarily need the 240g of storage, but I don't have another system to use the drive in. I thought there might be some small performance gain by using the smaller drive strictly for applications (not that I have 40g of apps). I like your partition idea...I'm one of the many who don't bother to partition the HD under Windows...for me, out of sheer lazyness. Hey, I just had a thought...what about setting Windows to use the smaller drive as swap space? I don't need the virtual memory that badly, but I do work with rather large files now and then...just a thought. It's a decent drive: 7200rpm/ATA100, so I'm sure it'll have some use. Thanks for the tips!

That makes sense...but is there any benefit to installing my applications on the OS drive or should they go on the other drive?