Best way to use HDs?
Hello
I wonder about the best way to use HDs, or what I mean is, how many HDs to have and in RAID or not.
Now I decided to go with Western Digital, and have chosen their High Performance Desktop drives (WD Caviar SE16), it seems the best choise.
The capacities are: 250GB, 320GB, 400GB and 500GB. If you have another suggestion for HDs (I have decided on WD period) than please offer, but leave out the WD1500AHFD (Raptor X 10000RPM), as it is extremely expensive IMO.
What I want to use the computer is mainly for gaming, but also for some data storage (many GBs).
What I initially thought of was this:
1 250gb for windows and installed programs, and I know its way too much capacity, but: (this is the minimum capacity that WD's SATA II HD has to offer, and I figured windows Vista will operate better on SATA II HD than on an 'old' a 74GB raptor - Have no Idea if I am right but HDs are really cheap now days anyway so in worst case I would end up with some unused capacity.
1 320gb for games
1 320gb for data
So that is what I had in mind, and you can also see the capacities I am on about and my 'needs' from the HDs (games and data)
-
Now I talked with a friend of mine who understand a bit more than me, and he suggested this:
4 HDs of 250GB each (minimum capacity WD has to offer (in SATA II))
C and E as RAID0 (2 partitions):
C 30GB for windows alone (partition 1).
E 470GB for data (partition 2)
D as another RAID0, on the 2nd (or 1st) array, doesnt really matter:
D 500GB for games and programs
Now the capacities are more than enough, my question is, is this organized well?
1) Does a partition acts as a different HD? (For example, are 2 50GB HDs, and 1 100GB HD partitioned to 2 50GB partitions, the same?)
2a) Should the OS (Windows) be on a seperate HD (or seperate partition) than the games, program files and data? (if the answer to Q1 is Yes)
2b) Does the data belong with the OS. (if the answer to Q1 is No)
3) Do Games and Installed programs ('big' programs like Photoshop and other 'small' programs, in short all kinds) belong together
-What I am after is the performance, I want the system to be mainly a gaming system, with the shortest load times and best performance in games and in general windows stuff, as well as in programs acting fast.
-I do understand the risk in running Raid0 (one HD goes down, the data on the other one is gone as well).
-The rest of the hardware will be pretty high end and good quality hardware for best performance.
I also wonder if in real life, what is better to have, less or more capacity (250GB, or 320 / 400 / 500 GB instead)
Will all of the 4 Cavier SE16 models perform the same, or which one better and which one less, and are those differences big or small?
Thanks for the help
.
I wonder about the best way to use HDs, or what I mean is, how many HDs to have and in RAID or not.
Now I decided to go with Western Digital, and have chosen their High Performance Desktop drives (WD Caviar SE16), it seems the best choise.
The capacities are: 250GB, 320GB, 400GB and 500GB. If you have another suggestion for HDs (I have decided on WD period) than please offer, but leave out the WD1500AHFD (Raptor X 10000RPM), as it is extremely expensive IMO.
What I want to use the computer is mainly for gaming, but also for some data storage (many GBs).
What I initially thought of was this:
1 250gb for windows and installed programs, and I know its way too much capacity, but: (this is the minimum capacity that WD's SATA II HD has to offer, and I figured windows Vista will operate better on SATA II HD than on an 'old' a 74GB raptor - Have no Idea if I am right but HDs are really cheap now days anyway so in worst case I would end up with some unused capacity.
1 320gb for games
1 320gb for data
So that is what I had in mind, and you can also see the capacities I am on about and my 'needs' from the HDs (games and data)
-
Now I talked with a friend of mine who understand a bit more than me, and he suggested this:
4 HDs of 250GB each (minimum capacity WD has to offer (in SATA II))
C and E as RAID0 (2 partitions):
C 30GB for windows alone (partition 1).
E 470GB for data (partition 2)
D as another RAID0, on the 2nd (or 1st) array, doesnt really matter:
D 500GB for games and programs
Now the capacities are more than enough, my question is, is this organized well?
1) Does a partition acts as a different HD? (For example, are 2 50GB HDs, and 1 100GB HD partitioned to 2 50GB partitions, the same?)
2a) Should the OS (Windows) be on a seperate HD (or seperate partition) than the games, program files and data? (if the answer to Q1 is Yes)
2b) Does the data belong with the OS. (if the answer to Q1 is No)
3) Do Games and Installed programs ('big' programs like Photoshop and other 'small' programs, in short all kinds) belong together
-What I am after is the performance, I want the system to be mainly a gaming system, with the shortest load times and best performance in games and in general windows stuff, as well as in programs acting fast.
-I do understand the risk in running Raid0 (one HD goes down, the data on the other one is gone as well).
-The rest of the hardware will be pretty high end and good quality hardware for best performance.
I also wonder if in real life, what is better to have, less or more capacity (250GB, or 320 / 400 / 500 GB instead)
Will all of the 4 Cavier SE16 models perform the same, or which one better and which one less, and are those differences big or small?
Thanks for the help
. 0
Comments
1. The larger drives tend to be faster
2. RAID takes overhead, unless you are going to run a real harware raid controler you will suffer.
Right now at Newegg it looks like the 320 is the least expensive for the capacity.
I would seperate OS, data and games. You could use another drive (sector) for scratch/temp and always wipe it.
You could also use a drive as a mirror for backup.
Seperate OS, data and games - does it matter if its as in seperate HD or seperate partition, or no matter, and does it matter if its a partition in an RAID0 drive? What about programs? would you seperate them as well or put them together with something?
Remember that I aim for best performnce
I am not interested in any backup, no important data will be there
I want to know what is the best way to organize data in 3 or 4 HDs, non raid.
Partitions are an option (if needed)
I have Windows, Games, Programs and Data to store on 3 or 4 HDs.
Also, Can I create a partition on an hd with data on it, without losing any data? For example create an 70GB partition on an from an 290GB HD with some GBs used (the 290GB is a partition from a 320GB HD)
Thanks.