My hard drive is really getting senile. The whole computer is massively throttled by it and I spend a lot of time just waiting for it to grind away. So I need to do something about it!
The current set up:
Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.10
Partition 1 80GB: OS
Partition 2 80GB: Media, Photos, work
Partition 3 the rest: Games, programmes
Now windows defrag really won't do any more, its just got gunked up I guess. I recently bought a second drive, also a 500GB Barracuda, but being newer its the 7200.12 revision. I haven't touched it yet. So my options:
1)Do a bit-to-bit copy across to the new one and hope it works better
2)Do a bit-to-bit copy, but with a larger OS partition... so the OS one is always pretty much empty
3)Backup, do a clean install and reformat using both HDs (prolly partitions 1&2 on the new one and the old one reformatted for programmes and games)
4)Any other suggestions?
I'm not keen on 3)... I have no end of useful programmes and things collected over the years that would be a hassle to find again/ reinstall. Plus I would no doubt fail to back up everthing I needed.
How do I do these things anyway?!
Thanks for any help!
The current set up:
Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.10
Partition 1 80GB: OS
Partition 2 80GB: Media, Photos, work
Partition 3 the rest: Games, programmes
Now windows defrag really won't do any more, its just got gunked up I guess. I recently bought a second drive, also a 500GB Barracuda, but being newer its the 7200.12 revision. I haven't touched it yet. So my options:
1)Do a bit-to-bit copy across to the new one and hope it works better
2)Do a bit-to-bit copy, but with a larger OS partition... so the OS one is always pretty much empty
3)Backup, do a clean install and reformat using both HDs (prolly partitions 1&2 on the new one and the old one reformatted for programmes and games)
4)Any other suggestions?
I'm not keen on 3)... I have no end of useful programmes and things collected over the years that would be a hassle to find again/ reinstall. Plus I would no doubt fail to back up everthing I needed.
How do I do these things anyway?!
Thanks for any help!