operating system
installing a new drive
Installing a second hard drive in your system will have an immediate impact on system performance if your system is memeory bound?
installing a new drive
Yes.
configure the bios settings to auto detect the master hard drive
False.
By not installing it there. Virtually all programs will allow you to specify the path you want to install the program to. Just change the drive letter and folder to the installation directory.
No. Installing Linux is no more destructive than installing Windows.
if you have a double disk drive put it in the e drive
Rear of the drive
No it does not. As long as the motherboard has the proper connectors for the hard drive you are installing, IDE or SATA, you will not have to replace it. If the connectors are different, then return the hard drive and get one with the proper connection type.
Since hard drives seldom affect a computer's speed, no. It will only give you more space for storage.