Adding another hard drive to my computer - Can I install programs to my new one?

Hey I have a ide 250gb Hard Drive and was going to get another one. I know to set it to slave before installing it to my computer, after that will it show up in 'my computer'?



I have a few others questions too (answer what you know thanks heaps)

- To install programs to my slave/new hard drive, Do i just change the installation path when i am installing the program?

- Will installing a program on my new hard drive (The one i have now has 104gb left) make the program run any faster/slower?

- Will my computer/the programs run any faster?

- If I set my virtual memory to run on my new hard drive which will have most of it free space will it run faster than setting virtual memory on my current hard drive? and what should i set the virtual memory to be (I have 1.5gb Ram)



Final question, Can i install lets say ubuntu on my new hard drive and if so do I set it as slave or master? And how can I choose what OS to boot up at?



Sorry about all the questions but just answer what you can. Thanks!Adding another hard drive to my computer - Can I install programs to my new one?
I now to set it to slave before installing it to my computer, after that will it show up in 'my computer'?

#Yes if it is first partitioned and then formatted to FAT32 or preferably NTFS - if it is not, look up both on the internet to find out how to do this. An un-partitioned unformatted drive will not show up in 'my computer' although it may in administrator tools- computer management- disk management in XP and above



- To install programs to my slave/new hard drive, Do i just change the installation path when I am installing the program?

# Yes this is exactly what you do - but bear in mind that for many programmes some files will still be installed to the boot hard drive i.e sometimes in the root - in C: maybe some in common folders in C:/ program files and some in windows or windows-system or windows -system32.



So if you install programs on the second drive and later change or reinstall your boot windows system on your first/boot drive you will probably still have to reinstall any programs that are installed to your new drive



-Will installing a program on my new hard drive (The one I have now has 104gb left) make the program run any faster/slower?

# maybe a bit faster but not any slower - but not significantly even if it is a faster hard drive as this is dependant on other things as well. However if your exsisting disk is really struggling for space to store files and for virtual memory it could help quite a bit with VM set up on the new second disk. However if you really have 104GB left it will not be struggling........... as this is a reasonable amount of space - are you sure you do not mean 104MB! left on your exsisting disk? then a new disk will increase speed but it would still be advisable to move as many files as you can to your new disk to make more space on your boot disk



- Will my computer/the programs run any faster?

#Same answer as above



- If I set my virtual memory to run on

my new hard drive which will have most of it free space will it run faster than setting virtual memory on my current hard drive? and what should i set the virtual memory to be (I have 1.5gb Ram)

#Yes this might increase speed and under XP onwards you can have every hard disk used for virtual memory not just your boot disk. If you have both disks set to use virtual memory just set it so windows allocates the size on each disk - in XP or Vista go to disk management in Administrative tools - computer management to set this.



You could set the new disk to a fixed amount of virtual memory - if so just give it the largest amount you feel you can spare .

But if your boot drive is really short on space, leave it without any virtual memory and just use the second one for this only. I reccomend having VM on both disks and within some programs you can specify what disks to use as a 'scratch/VM disk' if you can specify within programs too.



Final question, Can i install lets say ubuntu on my new hard drive and if so do I set it as slave or master? And how can I choose what OS to boot up at?

#Leave you new drive a slave or your windows may not work -

You can install any linux version to any unused or sometimes un-partitioned space on any drive( master or slave boot or not) - if you are thinking of doing this it is best to leave enough un-partitioned space on your new drive when you install/partition /format it



Most linux versions installed when a windows version is already on another disk or partition on a PC will install a boot manager in the root of your boot drive - I am sure ubuntu does( whatever drive or partition you actually install Linux the boot manager will go on your boot drive) which will allow you to boot to windows or to Linux at start up.



As you install Linux on your new hard drive the Linux installation programme should give you options to set this upAdding another hard drive to my computer - Can I install programs to my new one?
Burning Brightly is more or less right. It will automatically show, but it is generally best to use your new drive only for putting data onto: keep progs on your C drive which is where they are installed by default. Putting your virtual mem on your new drive (and removing all from your C drive) should increase your speed (recommended in my Win2K help) Maybe 1.5 times your RAM. It is best to put Ubuntu onto your C drive and you can boot from either. I do not know how to do that.
You can do the lot ~~