copy primary or install secondary??

[mrbamathews]

Here is my situation. I have an older dell dimension 8400, it runs flawless so I have no reason to get another machine just yet. A message is now popping up that the drive is full and to delete some stuff. The drive installed is only an 80gig i believe.

I am going to purchase another SATA 600 drive probably around 320gigs to install.

Should I?

1. Leave the old drive in and install the new as a secondary? And if so how would I clear up some room on the primary C drive? Simply move files from it to the secondary D drive?

2. Somehow copy the old drive and have just the new drive installed? And if so how would I copy the files and ensure the new drive doesn't clone itself to become an 80gig drive?

Thanks,

 

[johnb35]

You can clone the old to the new and have leftover space to use.

 

[mrbamathews]

Ok, I have read when cloning a drive the new drive takes the size of the old drive. Is this true?

 

[johnb35]

No.

 

[mrbamathews]

Thanks for the help. So you would recommend only running the 1 new drive? Reasoning?

 

[johnb35]

Well, your 80 gb drive is older and slower. After you clone it and you make sure the new one is ok and runs windows ok, you can delete whatever is on the old one and use it for extra storage if you want.

 

[mrbamathews]

Any recommendations on how to clone/ copy it? Use the website/ program that comes with the new WD drive?

 

[johnb35]

Yes, use their version of acronis true image to clone the drive.