Partitiion new hd on old rig?

[djohn3853]

OK, i've ordered the WD 640gig Black (oem) for my first new build in 5 years.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1398229

I understand that I should probably partition it for the os anyway and this should be
done before installing os. (i'm still debating whether to go with xp and wait for Win7
to come out, or go with Vista).

I'm ordering my components piecemeal to spread the cost out. So far I have the psu and vid card.

My hd arrives next week.
So, I'm wondering if I can pop the new hd in my current rig and partition it ahead of time.

I think my current mobo (Asus A7N8X Deluxe) supports sata. Not sure if i have a cable though.

Will my oem hd come with a cable?

Is this a good idea or dumb one.

Also, I know ziltch about partitioning.

[djohn3853]

OK, I received the new hd. Responses on other boards said what I planned was perfectly ok (but probably unnecessary). Many said it was just as easy to partition on build up. But hey, I never do things the easy way, its just my nature.

Anyway, I downloaded a freeware called Easeus to do the partitioning. I found cables with the extra material that came with mobo's on previous builds. This is my first foray with sata. I was under the impression that the only cable you had to plug in was the sata. Silly me, that seemed to easy. I've mounted the new hd in old rig and plugged in sata cable. Nothing happened. I'm guessing that there are special sata power connectors on my psu. Before I go to the trouble of pulling my rig apart again
(royal pain in the butt) can someone confirm that I need to plug a power cable also into the new hd.

[DonDon]

Yes, you need to plug in power to the drive also. The power connector is twice the size of the data connector and is located right next to the data connector. If you look wherever you found your sata cable, you may find a 4 pin molex to sata power adapter as that is a common item to be included with mobos.

It is really pointless to worry about partitioning your drive before hand unless you are going to be benchmarking it before you install the OS. If you are going to create a separate OS partition, you can designate the size during the OS install. When you are installing the OS, unplug all other drives and flash card readers other than the DVDrom to prevent drive letter issues during the OS install.

If you get the new drive running on your old system, download HD Tune and compare the read speed on your new drive to your old drive. You will be shocked!

Have fun and let us know how things go.

Don

[djohn3853]

OK, I have powered it and have already partitioned it. I alotted 100g for os. Had seen this was a good number in other threads.

I know it was pointless, but thats my specialty. I think I just wanted to accomplish something, as I'm itchy to build my new rig but only have some of the items so far.

I hope what I did was only pointless and not detrimental. The reason I say that is, the 2 partitions were labeled drives F and H. That is because, for one thing, I obviously already have a C drive. I think I read that when I install this new hd in my new rig, the partition where the os will be install will default to C. Not sure about the other partition.

I'm curious about using HD Tune as you mentioned. I assume there actually has to be something to read on the new hd. If so, can you suggest something I can put on there and then dump after the test.

[DonDon]

HD Tune is a free utility that can tell you how fast your hard drive reads data. There is a pro version with a 15 day trial period that will allow write testing, but that only works for a bare drive with no partitions.

For read testing there is no need to have anything on the drive. What kind of drive do you have in your old system?

Just make sure the only drives you have hooked up when you install the new OS is your DVD rom and the new hard drive. It will have the right drive letters then.

100 gig is a good size for an OS partition.

You can always move your swap file to your new drive while you are waiting to build your new system. That will speed things up a bit.

Don