New HDD.

[Noah]

I just bought myself a new Samsung 500 GB 7200RPM S-ATA2 16MB HDD, heard that it would be superawesome.

When I got it I saw that I had around 460gb of space on it. I haven't bought a new HDD in years, so I can't remember how much % loss is normal, if any.

Second thing, I see that my other HDDs partitions is listed as logical drivers, while the new ones on the new disk is not. Is this just a way of telling me that this is the disk that has Vista installed?

Lastly, do you guys have anything to recommend doing after creating new partitions from a new HDD?

[Kolar]

That's about normal. The manufacturer sells the drives assuming 1 Gigabyte = 1000 Megabytes when 1 Gig actually equals 1024 Megabytes.

[PUNK rock]

Second thing, I see that my other HDDs partitions is listed as logical drivers, while the new ones on the new disk is not. Is this just a way of telling me that this is the disk that has Vista installed?

Pretty much. It means you do not have any operating systems installed on another drive and you have no plans to boot from the other HDDs.

Lastly, do you guys have anything to recommend doing after creating new partitions from a new HDD?

For the drive you bought to install windows, I would recommend partioning that drive into 2. Give windows 25-30GB and use the rest for installing programs, etc. This makes reinstalling windows less of a hassle.

[Money]

yea my 320gb HDD only shows as 298gb

[Kolar]

For the drive you bought to install windows, I would recommend partioning that drive into 2. Give windows 25-30GB and use the rest for installing programs, etc. This makes reinstalling windows less of a hassle.

Actually that wouldn't be the best setup. It means every time you access an application your disk drive would have to switch between your primary partition (where you operating system resides) and the secondary partition wearing out the drive read-write head. It's better to use your primary partition with the operating system to install applications and make a smaller partition to store data or use as a backup.

[PUNK rock]

I really haven't had any issue with this setup. I've used it for over a year. I've talked with friends who have the setup as well and they haven't noticed any difference in the life of their HDD.

[Money]

yet

[a21ozcoldcup]

Unless it effects the read time, I wouldn't care if it wears out a little quicker. But I'm no genius about hard drives, maybe it wears out like.. super quick, though I dobut it.... Hell.. you probably won't keep a hard drive more than 4 or 5 years anyways. Shit keeps getting bigger and bigger it seems. There was a day when I'd laugh if you told me I'd fill up my 120 gig hard drive with just music.