G'day mates,

I'm looking for a simple recipe to ensure success when trying to
install a second HDD on a Dell Dimension 4100 under Windows ME
(or even just mention of "gotchas" to avoid would be helpful .

Current 20GB drive is partitioned C, D, E, F using PM 6.0

I want to install a 2nd HDD (WD 120GB) either as slave on the same
cable, or on the second cable as master or slave (see below).

I also have a CDRW drive (as G), and will be looking to install a
combo DVD/CDRW *or* a DVD writer "soon". So provision needs to be
made for both these optical drives too.

For compatibility with another ("managed") system, I need to keep the
same HDD partitions, but would see C and D as being on the present
master HDD with E and F on the new one, if this is possible.

An alternative that would be nearly as convenient would be to have C
and F on the present drive with D and E on the new one. In fact, any
combination that left C on the present master (no doubt the only
possibility anyway!) and E plus another partition on the other drive,
would be acceptable (though that may mean some playing around with
existing batch files if the CDRW drive designation is changed, and I
would prefer not to have to do that -- but it could be done.)

There is also the issue of the best allocation of the HDDs and the
optical drive(s) to the cables. I've seen this recommended and argued
both ways: (1) keep the HDDs separate from the CDs so that HDD
activity is not so likely to interfere during CD writing; and (2) put
the CDs on separate cables so direct copy will work better.

The main uses would be:
1. Existing drive stays as the system/applications drive (C), and may
contain a second partition (D or F) that would serve as a data backup
area.

2. New drive would be the main working drive (E) but would also
contain a partition to hold maybe 2 or 3 "Ghosts" of the system drive
(probably at least a vanilla system installation and a second one with
the main application software freshly installed too). [Or maybe I
don't really need a partition for that as the "Ghosts" are basically
just files aren't they?]

3. The CDRW would mostly be used for backups and other copies of data
from E, and also for backup copies of program CDs (and that may
involve direct CD to CD copies in future when I get the second optical
drive). It would usually only need to interact with C during program
installations.

4. A temporary consideration is the best (i.e. most convenient) way of
getting nearly 8GB of data off the present E partition onto the new
drive and into the new "E". I can think of possibilities with PM, but
it may come down to CD shuffling in the end. :-(

Hints, guidance, recommendations, links most welcome.

Thank you for listening.


Cheers, Phred.

--
LID