Hello,

Bare with me, but the history could have something to do with my problem.
About 2 years ago I bought a new HDD, and acquired another shortly after that. Meaning my computer had the following set-up:
Code:
ide0: 80GB (master), CD drive (slave)
ide1: 200GB (master), 250GB (slave)
I noticed that my CD drive was starting to mess up, I could not use the drive without my computer 'freezing'. In both Linux or Windows. Trying several new and used CD and DVD drives the problem still existed. I got rid of my 80GB thinking it could be a device conflict.

At the start of the year I upgraded my PC, keeping only the 200GB and the 250GB HDD from the old system.
Running:
Code:
ide0: 250GB (master), DVD drive (slave)
sata0: 200GB (with a IDE->SATA converter since my mobo only has 1 IDE slot)
Code:
neux:/home/zac # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1       30401   244196001    7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sda: 200.0 GB, 200048565760 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1       14701   118085751    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2           14702       24320    77264617+   f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5           14702       19800    40957686    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6           19801       19994     1558273+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7           19995       24320    34748563+  83  Linux
It especially seems to freeze when I try an access the 250GB while the DVD drive is in use. I'm starting to run out of disk space, so I've started to put things on DVD/CD.

Another possibly related problem, a few weeks ago one of my drives reset it-self during use (happened a few times) -- but hasn't happened since. I ran the manufacturers diagnostic tool on both of the drives and they seem fine. Are one of my drives dying?

So my question is, what's going on?! How can I cheaply rearrange my PC?
Will putting both the 200GB and 250GB in an external case (USB) solve the problem? Running the DVD drive on it's own (ide) and buying a sata drive for the OS?

Sorry my post is soooo long, I'd really appreciate any comments or suggestions. I know it's not a software issue, I run both XP and openSuSE 10.2 (the problem happens in both, even after a few re-installs).

Thanks in advance!