Hi All,

I just ordered a brand new system that will arrive on Thursday.

However, I recently discovered that I'd like to make my primary HDD as clean as possible. I'd like to run the OS and critical programs off this drive - it's 500GB.

Now, I was also contemplating either going with an external drive or internal drive for media downloads, gaming, ect. Is this a wise option? I don't want to download of limewire and junk up my entire computer in doing so.

I'm also looking for some source of redundancy and backup. I don't want to rely on system restore to save my ass - what should I do in this situation?

Thanks ahead of time!

That is definitely a good way to go for keeping the main as clean as possible. As for saving your ass, Acronis TrueImage is a good software, and you can make backups of your main boot drive (or even the entire system onto an external), and if all else fails, you can boot from the Acronis disk, and restore it to your last backup.

You're on the right track and you might want to consider a removable drive bay such as Data Port, Kingwin or one of many other manufactures. This is the best of both worlds, it's like having an external drive that slips in and out of your 'puter case. I've used them for years and have never had a problem yet. In fact both my primary and secondary drives are removable.

While it sounds good in principle, implementation is better said than done.

Too often, software will create or copy files just about anywhere it pleases. Installation programs, office suites, operating systems, and internet downloads will often stick files all over your system. Sometimes they ask where you would prefer to put files, but not always. Temporary files seem to pop up in just about every directory.

The result is nearly the same as using folders to try and separate all your documents from your music and your software from your pictures. Sometimes it works, but a quick directory listing in just about any folder often prompts the question "Where did this file come from and why is it here?".