Would this be a good idea for saving some space on 1st drive?

Question

I have sort of run out of space on my original drive
until i can get more RAM so that it may stop spinning beach balls.. the space taken up is nowhere near the max, but it's obvious I need to speed it up a bit, asi can here the processor working overtime... (I have the stock 1GB, but I should be using 2GB to 4GB of RAM!)
My new second drive is now where the backup of the first drive resides (YAY!)
My question is, what should I do to put stuff from the first drive that is taking up so much space, onto the second drive?
I was thinking this is the best way:
1) Make an alias of each thing I can move temporaraily to the second drive.
2) Place the aliases on the desktop instead of the actual files themselves.
3) Make a folder for the actual files called:
"Stuff i would rather keep on my desktop if i had enough RAM" and put them all in that folder.
4) Move that folder to the second drive until i get more RAM.
I am guessing the second drive is only active with RAM when i use it as the main desktop drive.
Maybe there is a better way.. ? thank you

Answer 1

Hi doofmaczemy,
I just want to help clear some things up as you may be confused about what is happening on your computer.
1. Are you short on hard disk space or RAM? You say the space taken up is nowhere near the max, so I wonder if what you really need is just more RAM.
RAM is used by the computer to store information about currently running programs and the operating system. You don't necessarily use RAM directly as a user (ie to store files, etc).
Hard Disk space is used by you directly to store all your files, programs and operating system. When you save a video file on your computer it is taking up Hard Disk space.
2. If you have, say, over 10GB of Hard Disk space left you should be OK. You say you can hear the processor working overtime. The processor is actually silent in its operation. You are most likely hearing your Hard Disk reading and writing data. If it's making a lot of noise, this probably means you are swapping out RAM memory onto your Hard Disk due to low RAM. So this is a sign that, yes, you do need more RAM.
3. All of your ideas 1 to 4 aren't very good at all. Using aliases is generally a bad plan for using files. What I would suggest is, if you really are short on Hard Disk space, finding out what is taking up all your space. There must be something. It'll most likely be music or video. Then, just move all that music or video on to your new drive.