acronis.com).
Use your disk-imaging software to create an image of your old hard disk,
and save it to the secondary partition of the new drive. Then use the
same software to restore the image to the new drive??™s primary partition.
Next, open the Disk Management tool. Delete the secondary partition
and extend the primary partition so that it consumes the whole drive, as
described in ???Work with Partitions,??? later in this chapter. Then, rightclick
the sole remaining partition and select Mark Partition as Active.
Shut down Windows and then unplug both drives. Set the old drive
aside and connect the new drive in its place.
Turn on your PC, and Windows should boot to the new drive. If it doesn??™t,
see ???What to Do When Windows Won??™t Start??? in Chapter 6.
What to look for in a new hard disk
The speed of your hard disk is a major factor of your system??™s overall performance,
at least as much as its capacity. After all, the faster it??™s able to find
data and transfer it, the quicker Windows will load, the faster your virtual
memory will be, and the less time it will take to start applications and copy
files.
Money is usually the deciding factor when choosing a drive, but with more
money, people usually just opt for more gigabytes. If you want the best performance,
though, consider these factors to be at least as important:
RPM (revolutions per minute)
This is the speed at which the disk spins; higher numbers are faster.
Cheap drives spin at 5,400 RPM, but you shouldn??™t settle for anything less
than 7,200 RPM.
Pages:
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374