HDDs - what to buy.

[watercooled]

Backing up on to the same HDD is not a backup!

[AlphaVictor]

Backing up on to the same HDD is not a backup!

Very true, I've edited my post to clarify what I meant. Cheers.

[Giraffe]

I'm seriously considering a couple of these beasties:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500gb...16mb-cache-8ms

They are on Today Only atm, but the difference is only a quid and I'll not be in all day for a few days.

[Giraffe]

Hmmm - looks as if the WD disks are Advanced Format and I'm running XP :-(
Still, found out a lot about this and the methods and tools for it, so I'll go ahead.
When I build a new PC next year it'll probably be W8 so the disks'll be OK on that.

[watercooled]

If it's just XP on your system i.e. not dual-booting, it's as simple as moving a jumper on the drive to prepare it for XP. Just remember to move it back if you move to Vista or above.

[Giraffe]

Yes, that bit looks simple enough, but I might get it formatted on a Win 7 machine or use WD's utility (can't d/l that atm as it needs an account - might do so when I have the disks).

Rather bizarrely, I'm considering making the partitions on the new disk about the same sizes as on the current one, then I might be able to clone to the old one - although the formatting might preclude that.