Need help with computer build..

[RAFlorida]

As Warren said. Mine ask where to save a download.

I use my "D" drive for all that type of stuff. Also all my JPGs, photos, etc. on the D.

[radhak]

Just an update, I pulled the trigger and said Merry Christmas to myself....

Antec Sonata III 500w Earth Series Quiet Super Mid Tower ATX Case (Black)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB
GIGABYTE GA-880GA-UD3H
kingston KVR1333D3N9K2/4G
AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3GHz

$399.94

Now to agonize over whether to spend more and get win7 or wait and convert in the future. Another question that comes to mind, how do you setup windows to use another drive as default for programs and data? i.e. if os is on c:, but you want programs to install on another drive?
If I just wanted to run a small ssd drive in the future for the os, how would I go about doing that? I figured the 1tb hd would be sufficient for progs, video processing, windows swap file, but I wouldn't want to dump programs and temp files on the os drive.

Those are neat specs.

I suggest you buy an SSD disk, make it your C: drive and place your Windows and Program Files folders in it. I bought the 128 GB Crucial SSD, but even the 64GB one would have sufficed. You do need the Bay Convertor so this 2.5" disk could sit inside your desktop tower.

My Win 7 Pro installation takes up less than 30GB. The temp files could sit in the same drive, or in a second partition of the same drive - but you could get better advice from others.

My bigger (SATA) drive is partitioned into D, E and F drives. 'D' holds important stuff like documents etc, 'E' holds images and 'F' holds your games. This allows me to take backups of each of these separately and even format a partition when needed without impacting all my stuff at one fell sweep.

And please go for Windows 7 without any worry. I have the Win 7 Pro version for the past 2 months and only regret that I took so long to move from XP. I thought XP was good enough, but that's because I didn't know better.

[dbhost]

On the operating system issue, unless you are nursing along some very old software, I would, and I can't believe I am saying this... give serious consideration to getting and installing Windows 7. XP is a good OS as far as Microsoft operating systems are concerned, but it is now 2 full versions behind, and Microsoft will soon start phasing support for Windows XP out.

Of course if it were me, I would be installing CentOS. If you can wait a bit while they work out the kinks, CentOS 6 should be out soon...

[chopnhack]

Thanks guys, Warren and RA I hadn't thought of that , but wouldn't windows still put some program data under the c: drive under c:\program files?

Radhak, the ssd is something I will def. do in the future, but the prices are just too high for now.
Does your win7 pro install include xp mode? Are you using 64bit or 32bit?
Thanks for your ideas on partitioning! I never really messed with partitions, but I can see the benefit of doing that in this case, esp. with the massive size of storage now.

dbhost, I still do use some xp programs so I figured if I was to get win7 I would get the pro edition for the xp feature.

[Warren]

I would have to ask my daughter for the particulars, but as far as I know, only what is necessary for Windows to fire up the program is put in the registry (or somewhere in the OS). My once voluminous knowledge is rapidly eroding as I age and software makes quantum leaps forward.

[Eric]

I have Win 7 Pro 64 and have had to use the XP compatibility only a few times.

I have a small 10k RPM hard drive that I installed the OS onto. I have a 1 TB drive that has two partitions one for programs and one for files. When I install a program I just tell it to install on drive D: and put all my photos, videos etc on drive E:

There are settings in most programs that will let you assign where you save files, and I believe you can move your "My Documents" to another drive too. I don't use those folders very often so I haven't bothered looking into it.

[LCHIEN]

Virtually all programs will ask where you want to put the program files and mopst will ask where you want to put the data files. The problem is you have to be religious about it (forcing a different drive) because it will default to the C: drive (or the drive the OS is on). If you just are in the habit of accepting all the defaults for quick install, then you will end up with them on the OS drive.

I don't know of any option in XP or earlier to have the install options default to a different drive.