Hard Drive Upgrade

[hwheeler43]

Hi Walt. Why don't you simply move all your music files to an external drive and delete them from the internal? This should free up plenty of space and keep you going. I keep all my kma files on an external and run hoster that way. Works well.

[WaltR]

Originally Posted by hwheeler43

Hi Walt. Why don't you simply move all your music files to an external drive and delete them from the internal? This should free up plenty of space and keep you going. I keep all my kma files on an external and run hoster that way. Works well.

I know that is an option but now I purchased this wd320gb drive and was trying my best to get it working. It isn't going to happen with this puter. I used to keep my music files on an external drive but I just didn't want to carry one around anymore. Lazy in my old age. Also I thought by cloning my drive on to an external I would be in good shape if my internal drive ever crashed during a show. Wrong....can't boot to the cloned external drive or if one can I haven't figured out how just yet. I guess I'm destined to carry two laptops for backup purposes. I may buy a usb kit for this new drive and put the old back in the puter and do just what you suggested.

Thanks,

Walt

[billyo]

Waltr, what software are you using to clone your drive..

[WaltR]

acronis true image home 2010

[billyo]

oh ok, that's what i've been using, i have an old Dell laptop, maybe 8 or 9 yrs old ( Inspiron 1000 ), my 4 yrs. old daughter is using it now.. and i did an xp home edition fresh re-install , change the hhd from 40-80g, and it gave me the same 80g space when i got done minus the data that was already pre-installed...if you can find a diff.PATA hhd, brand, besides WD try it...WD like i said is famous for not giving tthe right space when cloning..if you noticed when you got done cloning " in the partition space ( d: ) it says " unused space "..

[WaltR]

Originally Posted by billyo

oh ok, that's what i've been using, i have an old Dell laptop, maybe 8 or 9 yrs old ( Inspiron 1000 ), my 4 yrs. old daughter is using it now.. and i did an xp home edition fresh re-install , change the hhd from 40-80g, and it gave me the same 80g space when i got done minus the data that was already pre-installed...if you can find a diff.PATA hhd, brand, besides WD try it...WD like i said is famous for not giving tthe right space when cloning..if you noticed when you got done cloning " in the partition space ( d: ) it says " unused space "..

Billyo,

Thanks for all your suggestions. going from a 40 to 80gb is not a problem with Xp home addition. Going above 137gb is the problem. Xp sp1 or above will recognize above 137gb but you have to have a 48 bit bios not the 32 bit bios that came with my computer. This is confirmed by Microsoft and other so called experts. My bios is a Phoenix bios used on a AMI mother board. Supposedly there is not a 48 bit bios that will work with my system. I've done much research on this and this is what keeps coming back to me. I thought I could partition the drive to get around the 137 gb but apparently no matter how many partitions I put on the drive it still will only have a max of 137gb with my system. I think I am at the end of the road here.

Thank you so much for your help.

Walt