Which Files Do I Move to the 2nd Drive?

[JaxSon]

Hi Guys,

Here's my setup: 233MHZ Pentium with 96MB RAM running Win98. My 4.3GB Seagate HD is getting somewhat full...about 3/4 used. I have another Seagate 4.3GB drive that I have installed as a Slave on the same IDE as the original drive is set on. I have my CD-ROM drive as the master on the second IDE.

Everything seems to be working fine. I have Fdisk'd, formatted, etc. on drive D and Win98 is recoginizing everything fine.

Question: Which files should I transfer over the my second drive and which needs to stay located on drive C? For instance, I have moved My Documents to drive D. Can I also move my Office97 files? How about Internet Explorer 6.0 and Outlook Express...can I move those guys over too or do they need to stay on drive C?

Sorry for the ignorant questions...any help and/or recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

TIA

[Garak]

I would just leave them alone and move your swap file over to the d drive, if your unsure on how to do that ask.

Install any new applications on your d drive however.

good luck.

[NooNoo]

If you really want to move your existing applications, uninstall them from the C: drive and then use the custom install option to install them to the d: drive.

You can also move your temporary internet files to the d: drive - use tools, options, settings in ie to do this. You can move your mail by opening oe, tools, options, maintenance, store folder and specifying a directory on d: drive.

You can also move your virtual swap file to the d: drive if you wish - right click my computer, properties, last tab, virtual memory, adjust settings manually, type in d: drive and ok it... yes it will warn you, but you are just moving it so it should be ok.

[JaxSon]

Thanx for the good tips, NooNoo.

I've done the things you listed...except that I'm leery about Removing applications and then Reinstalling them. Worried that I might lose something.

Any more ideas, tips, etc.?

TIA

[JaxSon]

I tried moving it to my D drive...it asks if I want to continue...I click on Yes...it reboots. But when I go back to check, it has gone back to Windows is managing virtual memory.

Any suggestions?!?

[JaxSon]

I'm still having problems moving the swap file to my D drive. It does not keep the settings. When I reboot and go back to check, it has gone back to Windows is managing the swap file.

What am I doing wrong? I'm running Win98...

TIA

[JaxSon]

OK, I just checked the D drive and the win386.swp file is physically located there. When checking My Computer/Properties/Performance/Virtual Memory, the D drive is greyed out but it is listed. So, my guess is that WinDoze is still managing the swap file but that it is at least located on my D drive. Does this sound right?

Also, should I move the D drive to the second IDE with the CD-ROM or should I keep the C and D drives on the same IDE?

TIA

[NooNoo]

The d: grayed out is right

As to moving the hard drive to the second ide chain, you will be bringing the speed down to the level of the cdrom, and if the drive is ata66 or above and the ide1 port is ata 66 or above you will notice a huge drop in speed if you move it to the second ide. If the drive is a slow old thing - it probably wont make much difference.

[Garak]

Most 4.3gig drives I know of are UDMA33 or PIO mode 4, so I doubt you will notice much of a speed decrease - if any at all,

[confus-ed]

Originally posted by NooNoo
...As to moving the hard drive to the second ide chain, you will be bringing the speed down to the level of the cdrom, and if the drive is ata66 or above and the ide1 port is ata 66 or above you will notice a huge drop in speed if you move it to the second ide. If the drive is a slow old thing - it probably wont make much difference.

I have many a sytem with a mix of ata speeds on the same channel, all working at top whack for the units...

This is a bit of an urban myth, & I long held this belief, the trouble is not cables, controllers or any h/w issue, its how windoze drivers deal with 'errors' on the channel, & is governed by what busmaster driver you are using...

The Intel busmastering driver will simply default to the slowest speed on the ide channel or even turn dma off completely should it detect any errors on the ide channel, The VIA (&SIS, I think) busmastering driver will attempt to slow the faster device by one dma mode at a time....

This is all obviously dependant on the actual abilities of the controller (can it support 'independant device timing'), almost all newer ide controller chips support this now, you can see for yourself here (http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confTiming-c.html) ...

The one thing I will say is true for sure is that you don't want to mix compliant DMA and non-compliant(PIO mode) devices on the same ide channel that way you will get PIO....

If you know how to 'move' your devices about, I don't see its that hard to do a bit of swapping about & see what works best with what....