Hi All,

Having just about filled up the 200GB drive I use for data (primarily as a consequence of getting a new camera a few months ago, and it's thirst for taking full-HD video!), it's time for an upgrade.  I'm interested to hear what others may do given the following situation:

First, a bit of background on the current setup:

Windows XP SP3
3 physical internal drives:
C: = 80GB   (IDE - OS)
D: = 200GB (IDE - Data, just about all program installs, games etc, photos+videos from the camera)
E: = 640GB  (SATA - Videos - editing family ones, the odd TV recording etc - and other large downloads (e.g. game demos))

I also have a 1TB external USB drive for backups.

Since the 80GB drive is now 8 years old, I thought I'd take the opportunity to retire it before it fails (although I have done a chkdsk, and no bad sectors were reported).  So I was initially thinking that I'd buy a 1TB drive, move the data to it from the 200GB D: drive, and then move the OS from the 80GB drive to the 200GB drive.

And then I got thinking... and I decided that I may as well take the opportunity to upgrade to Windows 7 too.  So, I've bought a new 1TB drive, and have a further 4GB RAM (currently running 2GB) and Win 7 64-bit on the way.

Given that I'll be doing a full reinstall, I'm now wondering what the best use of the available drives is.  I was initially thinking of putting Win7 OS on the 200GB drive, and then using the 1TB for data as above.  However, as well as the 80GB drive being 8 years old, the 200GB is nearly 6, so I'm thinking maybe it's time to remove that from the picture also.  If I was to do that though, does anyone have any recommendation on the best partition split for the 1TB drive - 100/150/200MB for the OS, and the rest for the data?  Or should I stick with the separate 200GB IDE drive for the OS, and continue as planned?

I have in the back of my mind that even if I partition it, and stick the OS and the data on separate partitions, that should the drive fail I'll potentially lose both.  But if on separate disks, at least I'd only lose one or the other.  But with drive capacities being so big these days it seems a waste to have a dedicated drive for an OS, and they're only going to get bigger (can't afford a SSD yet!).

So with all the above in mind, what would others do in this situation?  Keep the separate drives, or remove both IDE's and partition the new 1TB SATA?  If the latter, what partition size split?

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Cheers,

Simon.

P.S. Apologies for the slightly long post!  :-)