Hard Drive Advice

[Alex Crouch]

Okay, so, I was thinking of buying a new hard drive and I was looking at 2 TB drives. My current one is a Hitachi 500GB, and am running 32 bit Vista. But, anyways, I want this new drive because Im currently running out of space on my primary right now, and don't want to have to worry about space issues when installing more games and downloading movies, etc.

BUT, in the next couple of months I plan on buying Windows 7 64 bit. I know to upgrade from 32 bit Vista to 64 bit Win 7, the drive will be wiped clean. So, here's where my question comes in. I want to buy this drive soon, due to fears of the price going up even more due to the flooding in Thailand, and I want to in the future install Win 7 on it. So, when I buy this should I transfer everything over from my 500 to the 2 TB and wipe my 500 and then when the time comes to buy Win 7, back up the 2 TB to my 500 GB right before installing? But, then I'm wondering if I then upgrade to Win 7 and my hard drive is then formatted to accomadate the 64 bit OS, then how will I restore my programs and files if they're all on a 32 bit vista on my other hard drive?
Will it reinstall Vista if I do like a Windows Restore?
Or would I just want to transfer all the files over seperately and not do like a Windows Restore?

Or is there some other option i'm missing?

I was talking with my dad, and he suggested installing Vista on the 2TB without transferring anything over, and setting it as my boot drive. Then creating shortcuts to the other drive for my programs and files. Then when it comes to Win 7 time, I don't have to worry about it erasing all my current programs. Then I would just transfer over certain files and programs manually. I don't know how well this would work though.

I don't know if i'm explaining this right. I'm a little newbish when it comes to these things.

Any help and advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Alex Crouch]

Also, just to add in another thing, if you have any suggestions for hard drives ranging from 1TB to 2TB, that would be much appreciated. My dollar limit is around $200.

 

[Alex Crouch]

Sorry, I'd also like to add in one more thing. I know I have my board supports SATA, but I don't know if its SATA-I SATA-II or SATA-III, and I don't know how to check. My board is a Nvidia XFX nForce 780i

 

[pizzapicante27]

Right now I dont recomend you buying a Hard Drive (enceforth an HD), as you mentioned the flood of thailand is just about ending and the water is receding (or they are pumping it out or something), yet, they have speculated that they wont restart production until March-ish, my advice: wait until next year, hopefully they will go down on February (maybe), and about the install, its always easier to install a clean install as you will avoid the garbage of your previous install and will give you a chance to check your HD ans see what you want and what you dont want.

 

[pizzapicante27]

Oh and your Motherboard is SATA I, Im not sure if the II and III 's are compatible, better google it.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

First off, Hitachi HDDs have a terrible reputation for reliability. WD, Seagate, Samsung or don't bother when it comes to HDDs.

Second, baaaad time to buy a HDD. Even HDDs from manufacturers who weren't effected (such as Samsung) are going to rise in price because of market demand.

Third, plugging a SATA III drive into a SATA I or II socket will still work, it will just be restricted to transfer speed of the socket (1.5Gb/s or 3Gb/s).

...

Lastly, if memory serves, Win 7 has an option when upgrading OS to save all your programs, settings and the like to a seperate HDD... which you can then port back into your spanking new version of Win 7. Saves a lot of fuckarsing around with reinstalls, remembering passwords, personalising settings and so forth. Personally I prefer a clean install but the option is there (I think).

 

[Alex Crouch]

Well the one I have in there right now is a Hitachi, not the one I'm thinking of buying. I was looking at the WD Caviar Black series, but they're above my price limit. So, maybe in a few months, they'll come down?

I've pretty much decided that I won't get a HDD now and will wait a couple months.Thanks!

A new question, should I just buy Win 7 64 bit now and put it on my 500? and then just wait on the new HDD?

Lastly, if memory serves, Win 7 has an option when upgrading OS to save all your programs, settings and the like to a seperate HDD... which you can then port back into your spanking new version of Win 7. Saves a lot of fuckarsing around with reinstalls, remembering passwords, personalising settings and so forth. Personally I prefer a clean install but the option is there (I think).

I saw somewhere that when upgrading from a 32 bit operating system to a 64 bit, the drive has to be formatted, but I could be wrong. Actually, It would probably be easier to just do the clean install. But do I have to buy a full version of win 7 or can I use the upgrade copy? From what I understand, I can use the upgrade copy, right?

 

[Alex Crouch]

Oh and your Motherboard is SATA I, Im not sure if the II and III 's are compatible, better google it.

Actually, I found where the SATA speed is 3.0 Gb/s which is SATA-II, but I guess it really doesn't matter because SATA-III is still compatible, its just bottlenecked.

 

[Supernova1138]

For mechanical hard drives the SATA version is really irrelevant. You won't get bottlenecked with a 3.0Gb/s transfer rate on any mechanical hard drive. SATA 2 only becomes a bottleneck with the faster Solid State Drives. As said above, you may want to wait until some time next year to get a drive, as the prices right now are through the roof, almost to the point where the Solid State Drives are looking like a good deal.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I saw somewhere that when upgrading from a 32 bit operating system to a 64 bit, the drive has to be formatted, but I could be wrong.

Usually that's only if your bootdrive is formatted to use the FAT32 filing systm rather than NTFS. If memory serves, Windows 64bit Operating Systems won't install to a FAT32 bootdrive.

Actually, It would probably be easier to just do the clean install. But do I have to buy a full version of win 7 or can I use the upgrade copy? From what I understand, I can use the upgrade copy, right?

Couldn't say off the top of my head.

 

[Alex Crouch]

Actually, It would probably be easier to just do the clean install. But do I have to buy a full version of win 7 or can I use the upgrade copy? From what I understand, I can use the upgrade copy, right?

Couldn't say off the top of my head.

Well after some googling and research it appears I can. So, I think I'll start with that upgrade and spread these other upgrades like the HDD over some time when the price comes down. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Asclepion]

worry about space issues when installing more games and downloading movies, etc.

Aarrgh, me matey.