What to do with old HDD?

I have two hard drives. One I was using for my OS, a Seagate 120GB SATA ST3120026AS. You can look up that model number for more info but I assume it's slower than my more current/modern drive, a Samsung Spinpoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB HDD. I was going to use the Samsung as my new OS drive since it's faster for writing/transfer and hopefully, the OS will work more effectively. Windows 2000 was on the Seagate but XP Pro (retail ver.) will be on the Samsung. Good idea, right?

But, what options do I have with the Seagate? Extra storage? I doubt anyone would want it for much $$ so I just thought it can be used for a 2nd computer or for extra storage.

My plan is to get another HDD to use via eSATA in an enclosure. Actually, perhaps two. I will data in one drive and in the other drive movies and video.

That brings me to one more question: which HDDs to get for that? I have considered three drives including:

Samsung Spinpoint F1 Series (750GB ver. or 1TB model) - issues of reliability but one of the faster drive series
WD Western Digital WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB WD6400AAKS - great drive but lowest capacity of my choices
Western Digital Caviar 1TB SATAII (WD10EACS) - my choice so far because of low power, cooler operation and thus, ideal for external setup

Which is the best choice, in your opinion? They are all around $0.16/GB and the WD 640GB is the cheapest for the dollar. I like the Samsung 1TB but for the F1 series, there are cases of you getting errors or drives that either malfunction of die.

The WD10EACS is mostly suited for storage duty? When drives are all 1TB and above, would that WD still be restricted to storage work?

Anyway, I hope to get this situation remedied soon since I need to have a backup system (I have neglected that in the past but want something that is easy and quick. I think having 'external' drives that are easily portable and not always connected to my computer is the way to go! It's safe and convenient.).

Comments? Recommendations? Advice?!?

XP Pro is definitely the way to go, at least over 2000. I've never used Vista so I can't comment on it. With Windows 7 coming out next year, I don't see any reason to upgrade to Vista if your already have XP Pro. Also, you are correct in that your new Samsung drive is better and faster than your old Seagate. Your new Samsung is SATAII and has a larger buffer. Your old Seagate is SATAI and half the buffer. The Samsung would definitely be the better choice for your OS, but 500GB is alot of space just for an OS drive.

I'd definitely keep the Seagate for storage, or a spare, if nothing else, in case you start having HDD troubles. This way you can use the Seagate to test or what-not. Another option for you is to buy a smaller HDD for your OS if you can find one on sale and use your new Samsung 500GB as your main storage drive. It's a personal preference really, but I dont like storing files on another partition on the same drive as my OS. I'd rather have a physical seperate drive for storage. I'd definitely use the Samsung over the Seagate for your OS, and keep the Seagate for a spare or storage drive. You can never have too many HDD's or too much storage space right?

Although, I could also argue that if you all you do is simple web surfing and word processing, then continuing to run your OS on the Seagate will not hold you back any. However, if you do alot of HDD intensive tasks, like playing games or anything else that requires alot of disk swapping and the like (many reads and writes), then the Samsung would benefit your more running your OS. Simply put, if you don't do alot on your computer, then you won't notice a difference between your Samsung and your Seagate.

Lastly, if you're considering new drives, I'd personally stick with Seagate and Samsung. I go Samsung if it's a really good price compared to Seagate, but I always default to Seagate. Seagate has a nice 5yr warranty with their drives and I've never had a Samsung fail on me.

Actually, GRUB can boot off different drives as well. I've once tested four different Linux distros spread across 2 drives. Never had an issue with booting.

I agree with arson94. I have XP, all the major programs, and Ubuntu 8.04 installed and less then 30GB of space. A 500GB just for OS's is really just wasted space.

If you can find a good deal, I'd use it as extra storage and get a smaller, faster HDD for your OS. Again, that's more personal preference. If need be cause you can't find a good deal on an HDD, you can partition your 500GB drive into a 50 or 60GB OS partition and the rest into an empty partition. Use the 120 for storage until it's full or until a really good deal comes along for a somewhat smaller hdd for your OS. Just depends on if you wanna go through the trouble.

Right. I mean you can store files on the emtpy partition of your 500GB with OS's installed on the other partition. It's just easier for me if I don't have to worry about data being on the same drive I'm about to format with a Windows CD and reinstall Windows.

And once you get a newer OS drive, I'd put the 120GB in an external case cause that thing will be limited by the 480Mbps transfer rate of USB2.0 anyway. Your 500GB will sit nicely as a storage drive in your computer while you run your OS's on the new >200GB drive.

Man, comparing specs on a HDD are a pain the ass sometimes. I'd just get a seagate 7200.10 or 7200.11 series drive or another samsung drive that's the same series as your 500GB drive, just smaller. Some drives NewEgg lists their Average Seek Time, Average Latency, and Average Write Time and you can use that one some drives to compare, but only some drives have that listed.