Hard Disk Organization

[Tex Arcana]

Okay, need some comments here, thanks in advance for the help.

Here's my setup, it's old, but it works for now:

2003 Dell XPS, 875-based mobo, 3Ghz P4, 1.5gig DDR RAM, nVidia 5950XT MSi vidcard, WinXPSp2, 60gig Maxtor ATA133/SATA1 adapter, split into 15/15/25 gigs for XP/future Linux/imaging or ghosted images, and a 250gig WD SATA2 drive. The mobo only delivers SATA1/PATA100, and only has 2 SATA ports. I tried putting a SATA card in, but it wouldn't play right. The opticals are a Samsung DVD.r.rw/CD.r.rw/Lightscribe and a DVD reader, both on the PATA channels.

I just got a 250gig Maxtor 7L250S0 SATA1 drive, and I want to swap it out for the PATA Maxtor 60gig in the box (yes, the one on the PATA/SATA adapter dongle, I suspect that's causing some odd issues with the mobo). Here's what I'm thinking for a partitioning scheme:

Disk1, Maxtor 250gig SATA1:
Part1: c:\, ~ 60gig
part2: Linux, ~60gig
Part3: use it for images from some form of ghosting program (suggestions are welcome, free is best.)

Disk2, WD 250gig SATA2:
part1: 6gig swap partition
Part2: the rest, for pure data, including MyDocs, Desktop, and Program Files from Win, and set up the Linux boot to use that as it's Desktop "folder" as well.


I'm looking mainly for as much performance as I can get right now without plopping down bux for a new system, I just can't afford it right now. I got the Max250 from Fry's for about $60, and I think it'll solve my suspected problems with the PATA/SATA adapter. beyond that, I'm just trying to make it effective (put data on a drive that can be removed and put in another machine, put swapfile on a fast separate drive for pure performance, etc.), and stave off any upgrades for a while.

Again, thanks in advance, I appreciate the comments and suggestions.