SATA/IDE adapters and paging file performance

I just bought a new Windows XP Professional computer from Dell, with a
500 GB, 7200rpm, SATA II hard drive. To my dismay, I discovered upon
opening it that it only has one IDE connector (which is filled by two
CD-ROM/DVD drives), along with several SATA connectors. I want to be
able to add my old 120 GB ATA/100, 7200rpm hard drive to it as a
secondary, non-RAID hard drive.

I have two purposes in mind for this old hard drive: (1) as a place to
occasionally backup some files like mp3's that take up too much space
to back up to CD's/DVDs (in which case performance/speed of the
secondary drive doesn't much matter to me--I won't be doing daily
backups there), and (2) I am considering running my paging file off
this secondary drive (in which case performance will be more
important), because I have heard that this improves performance.

My understanding is that there are two way that I can adapt the old
drive to my new computer (1) using a simple SATA/IDE adapter (along
with a power cable adaptor) on the back of the hard drive, or (2)
using a PCI adapter card. My questions are, (1) is there any
significant speed/performance difference between the two approaches,
and (2) Is it a good idea to put my paging file on the old hard drive,
or would it be better leaving it on my primary hard drive?

Thanks.
.

Relevant Pages

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