Hey Just used your method B to upgrade from 160GB to 500GB on XP. Worked flawlessly. I think that the amount of freedom to do what you want in a computer is directly proportional to your operating knowledge, the lower end being a system with a one button mouse . . , middle being Windows-land and the high plateau being Linux and its various distro's. I am impressed with the functionality of Linux, I used Slax and Gparted.