Installing new hard drive

Race

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Feb 21, 2003
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I'm replacing my current HD with a new, larger HD.
Can I simply remove the old HD, install the new one, set as a slave as the current HD is, re-boot the computer, and go from there with partisions, etc.??

I'm deleting all content (games) from the 2 partisions on the old HD before replacing.
Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

One other thing.........XP limits the size of partisions at around 32 gigs on a Fat32 formatted drive, which wasn't a problem on the old 40g HD. This new one is a 120g drive, so I may want to create 3 40g partisions. I have 'Partision Magic' software, so can I do it with this?
(I wanted to keep the file format the same on both of my drives, the other one being a 20g Fat32 system drive, to avoid any other potential issues)
Thanks very much for any help......
 
AHHHHH FAT32......

Make them all NTFS. Split them up as you see fit, but make them ALL NTFS. With partiton Magic you can even convert the existing FAT32 partition on the 20GB to NTFS without losing any data.
 

Race

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Feb 21, 2003
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I understand the ins and outs of NTFS and Fat32, but what I really need to know is if I can simply remove the old 2 partision HD, and install the new HD......start the computer and go from there? Or is there something else that needs to be done?
Thanks......
 
You can use Acronis Migrate Easy to copy the partitions from the old drive to the new drive: C->C or a similar program. You can copy the bootable drive to a new bootable drive and the other partition to empty space on the new drive.
I recommend it if you intend on keeping your files.
Thanks.
 

Race

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Feb 21, 2003
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Thanks for the input..............the new drive is a slave (a second HD). It will not have the OS on it. I'll create new partisions for games, data, etc. I don't need to keep anything off of the old HD.
So from what I'm getting in response.......it sounds like I just remove the old partioned HD and install the new one, re-boot, and create new partisions. That's it?