Replacing Your Old Hard Drive, Part 2: Dealing With the Options
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The previous installment in this series of articles about your hard drive listed various ways to can add hard drive storage memory to your computer.
This article will evaluate some of these possibilities.
The first and second options suggested adding an external storage device. This is fine if you have large graphic files that you would like to store, or if you have to run certain DOS programs. Certain Windows programs can run on an external storage medium, but they may lock up the machine or cause errors. External storage should be reserved for just that purpose - storage - and not for running programs.
The third option relates to the addition of a rewritable CD or DVD drive. Many more programs will run on a CD drive than on the resources suggested in the preceding options, but the CD disk is not very sturdy. You certainly would not want to use this option if your healthy and active kids or a number of co-workers will be using the drive.
In addition, not every program will run from a rewritable CD disk. The best way to find out is by trial and error - but this is a lengthy process. It may take several long and frustrating hours to find out that a game or program doesn't work on the CD drive.
The fourth option is to leave that full hard drive in your computer, and to add a second, larger drive. This option will work in most computers, but only for a limited amount of time. After an unpredictable amount of time (which usually doesn't take that long) you will probably have a problem with the computer (isn't that what always happens with computers?). That problem will inevitably be traced to those two hard drives. Both of them seem to fight over which will be the main drive (usually Drive C). At that point you will probably want to remove the old drive and put everything into the newer drive. It's probably best to make that switch from the beginning, in order to preserve your sanity.
Some people like to transfer all of the data from the old drive to the new one. This is possible, but not recommended. All the problems that existed in the old drive will be transferred to the new one - including viruses and problems with the Windows registry. They will haunt you in the future. It is far, far better to re-install all of the software when getting a new hard drive. If the software and drivers are installed properly, then you will feel as if you are working with a new computer.
The next installment in this series will deal with the best way to add storage memory to your computer.
Click here for the next article in this series, which explains the best way to add storage memory to your computer.
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