installing windows tomorrow, what to do first?

[unwashed potato!]

well should be getting a new hard drive tomorrow as my last went kaboom. will be starting windows again and just want to see what people think i should do before i install windows.

I will be installing windows on this hard drive (500gb) and then the replacement one will come in weeks to come which i might sell or keep as a second hard drive (250gb)

so what can people reccomend? whats this partition thing i hear so much about? is it worth doing as i may have 2 hard drives? i'd like to learn how to do it anyway so possibly i could give it ago but need it explaining to me.

any other suggestions before i go ahead?

thanks

 

[unwashed potato!]

thanks for the quick reply. so you saying that i can add and delete partitions later on if i need them, and as i use 2 hard drives i don't atm?

if i can add partitions later then i think i will do this instead as it seems rather easy to learn.

what sort of size partition qwould be reccomened anyway for the 500gb drive?

 

[unwashed potato!]

Depending on the BIOS support your motherboad has for hard drives, you may well find that windows will recognise it as a much smaller size (say 300GB).

you saying that the 500gb without diong anything to it, my motherboard may end up reading as smaller then it is, e.g. 300gb? if so is the 500gb still usable just being shown as only say 300gb or is it only able to use 300gbs worth?

my motherboard is a asus A8R-MVP, anyclues as to whether this will read the 500gb fine?

is it better to partition before or after isntalling windows? is there a real need for partitioning or is a sort of geeky thing to do that just a tiny bit more secure?