Sata drive naming

soothsayersoothsayer CT., USA
edited January 2008 in Hardware
I'm doing a new build with a Raptor 36G for the OS and 2 Seagate 250G Sata II Raid 1 for the programs. I'm using MCE 2005. Can I name the mirrored pair C (and name main drive OS) so that my installation programs go there or should I go into the registry and change the "default installation directory" to that drive- http://www.tech-recipes.com/windows_tips242.html. Also can anyone think of other programs that need to be with the OS like Microsoft Office, ie.. Is 36G enough space for the OS and some programs with MCE 2005. I put Plextor Premium burner in because when I try to load MCE 2005 all I'll have is a sata dvd and sata drives, so I am worried the disc won't be read if I can't load the drivers.

Comments

  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited January 2008
    Naming the labels of the drive has no bearing on the actual drive letter. I would also not recommend doing what your doing as it's rather pointless.

    It's fine to use the 36g drive as your C: drive where the OS will reside. Then leave your mirrored pair as your D: drive. On D: create a folder called Program Files, this isn't necessary but keeps things tidy. Then when you install software 95% of the time it'll give you an option of where you want it installed so just override it's default path that will usually be c:\program files\'the program' to d:\program files\'the program'. Then the bulk of your software will be installed there.

    However keep in mind there is are still going to be pieces that get put into various parts of your C: drive when you install software. Most modern software drops programs into the c:\windows director, c:\program files\common files\ and other spots.

    What this means is that in this modern age, generally speaking if you have to wipe out your OS partition, you generally have to reinstall most of your software anyways.
  • soothsayersoothsayer CT., USA
    edited January 2008
    Thanks kryyst, it sounds like I need to buy another 36G and mirror them. Unfortunately the mobo only has 4 sata ports and I bought a sata dvd, so I'm one short. Any thoughts on how to accomplish this without buying a new controller and if I have to, any recommendations.:)
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited January 2008
    Well if you have an eide port on your motherboard and most sata equiped mobo's have at least one. You could get a sata to eide converter and put your optical drive on that.

    Personally though I wouldn't worry about putting your os drive in a raid. I personally wouldn't recommend raid at all for home computers, but that's just me.
Sign In or Register to comment.