Added a new hard drive, now what?

Ok, here's the deal. My computer had a 160GB hard drive, then it got full. So I just added a 500GB internal drive, I now have 2 drives.

The thing is, the 160GB is full, and the 500GB is empty. I don't really understand how the 2 interact. What I want is for the 500GB to be the drive where all my documents, applications etc are stored.

How do I go about making the 500GB drive the one where everything resides now? Currently I'm copying everything that appears when I open up my 160GB drive (134GB). But then how do I tell my computer that the 500GB is my new drive now?

Hope that makes sense

Thanks in advance!

You could manually setup the folders- music, movies, documents, etc...- on the new HD and when you need to save something, just change the directory. You can change the path some apps save to manually, like iTunes if you go into the advanced preferences setting.
I have a similar issue. My PowerMac only has an 80GB drive. I plan on adding 2- 500GB drives seeing the prices are so cheap on newegg.com. I was thinking of keeping the 80GB as for storing the base OS and using the two larger drives for storing my music at high bit rates and the other HD for my photos and such.
I don't believe there is a right way to do this; it's just a matter of personal preference.
Bryan

I don't really understand how the 2 interact.

Click to expand...

They really don't interact. Not in any meaningful way without you. You can't just copy the contents in the Finder. You need to use Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper or Disk Utility. When it finishes, go to System Preferences, Startup Disk and select the new drive. At that point, you may decide to use the old drive for some sort of backup scheme.

Sherman Homan said:

They really don't interact. Not in any meaningful way without you. You can't just copy the contents in the Finder. You need to use Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper or Disk Utility. When it finishes, go to System Preferences, Startup Disk and select the new drive. At that point, you may decide to use the old drive for some sort of backup scheme.

Click to expand...

ok I downloaded carbon copy cloner and am copying everything to the new drive, which I put in the A slot.

after that I will go to system preferences and chance my startup disk.

After that I can then erase my 160GB drive?

ok! everything seems fine, using the new drive as my startup disk, when I click documents etc I now have 350GB of storage.

so I can go ahead and clear my old drive now right?

As long as everything is in working order and you have all your stuff, sure.

Always backup before you do any erasing....especially in this case...