IDE ? partitons? HELP!!!

[Douglas3500]

Hey folks,<BR><BR>I hope your all proud of me, i finally went out and bought the stuff for my new comp. But before i start puttin it together i got a couple questions. <BR><BR>I only got one optical drive (my burner) and one hard drive (western D. 40gig). How should i arrange these drives on the IDE cables. Should i put them both on one cable or split them and put one on each?<BR>Also, how should i partition my hard drive?<BR>And i dont like that drive image thing, so if my comp crashes, and ive already registered windows, can i just reinstall windows all over itself? <BR><BR>Thanks folks <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"> PS REPLY ASAP IM SO EXCITED <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">

[mmcduff]

doug, what you want to do is go get a $25 52x cd drive for a couple reasons... burners run much hotter than regular drives, and if you get a low-quality one they can burn out (happened to me) so what you want to do is only use it for burning. And also, getting a dvd drive is helpful, and you can copy CDs easier.<BR><BR>if you still dont want to get a new drive, i'd say put them both on one cable, because it will maximize air flow. Make sure the HD is master tho, but w/ your optical drive it doesn't matter if it isn't master because its not going to be able to keep up anyways.<BR><BR>w/ partitioning, its all your preference, whenever I build a comp i reformat a new hd (whole thing) and partition it up into 2 or 3 segments, which includes installing windows fresh (your comp will run better that way)

[TranceJunkieXL]

If you are burning stuff you will find it is faster to keep the optical drive and the HDD on separate channels. That way there isn't a bottleneck at the CPU while it is waiting to send the data back up the same line it is coming from.<BR>Best way to partition a HDD if you are worried about the OS cr@pping out is to make a primary partition roughly 2GB for the OS and save all your programs to the second partition. That way if you have to reinstall the OS, it won't erase all the data you have stored in the secondary partition.<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"> Enjoy the new system Douglas3500! Give us a list of the parts.<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"><BR>You can reactivate Windows indefinitely (or until they stop supporting it). Just a pain to call MS and get the new activation code is all. <BR>mmcduff, the HDD doesn't have to be master. Shiznit has both his optical drives as master and both his HDDs as slave on the primary and secondary IDE channels.

[Douglas3500]

HEY RITHEM I GOT EVERYHTING UP N RUNNING <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>ok i took mmcduff adviec and just got a 23$ 52X CDROM and put My HD on primary IDE master, and 52X rom as slave, and then put the burner by it self on the secondarymaster. Anyways here all the parts<BR><BR>XP2500 barton<BR>A7N8X (standard)<BR>512MB PC3200 RAM<BR>ATI radeon 9500 pro 128MB<BR>40gig WD HD w/ 8mb buffer<BR>new 19' flat screen<BR><BR>Antec 1000 plusview (im not sure what you call it but its grey and gots a windows and a 350 watt PS)<BR>MS windows XP home<BR>MS optical wheel mouse,<BR>New cable internet <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"><BR>Cheap 2.1 speakers <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"><BR><BR><BR><BR>Thanks for all the help fellas, you answered all my questions and if you have anymor einfo or reccommendations for me please reply asap so i can exchange anything..........(ps this was pretty close ot my budget too comin in at about 1650 canadian <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"><BR>

[GNXtreme]

That is one impressive system there Douglas3500...now it's time to get you folding for PCStats!!!&nbsp; Check out the folding forum, it is for a good cause and we enjoy competing with each other.<BR><BR>BTW rithemking you are falling way back bud...c'mon try to keep up!

[TranceJunkieXL]

LOL! Kiss my ___ (be creative and fill in the blank) GNXtreme! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif" border="0"> I'm still waiting on that damn Abit RMA!!! LOL!<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"> Just you wait. I'm definitely selling this SOYO and getting another NForce2 and then I'M GONNA KICK YOUR @$$!! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif" border="0"><BR>Great to hear you got it all running Douglas3500! C'mon and help me deflate GNXtreme's oversized ego!

[Douglas3500]

haha rithem........ok get the needles lets start deflating <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">, haha btw i was gettin like 185 fps in sof2 <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"> i havent benhcmarked the systme yet, but man o man, i m havin a great time playing games, this new rig sure gets me off<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"> i love it lol. Anyways i got a joke for ya'll,<BR><BR>what has 100 teeth and hides a monster????????????<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>MY ZIPPER <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">:<BR><BR>ttyl homies <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">