I am very far from a power user and only have first principle understanding of how IT works, no DIY construction experience. Please therefore excuse if the below seems ABC stuff to you, but a hyper tight budget = need for help to maintain an effective low cost system for graphics/photo editing. I have put the specs for my PC at the bottom of this post.
I should be very grateful for advise in regards to these questions:
1. What would be the best value for money HDD (to be used in a Hot Swap bay) to create an Image of the C drive on (64GB SSD) ? Not a bootable clone, but a stand alone image for system recovery purposes. I have Acronis True Image so can add incremental info to cover updates etc., but would prefer to have one almost virgin Image, and then add separate stand alone Images (taken at maximum intervals for realistic usefulness, ie. after new software installation and otherwise every how many months to cover updates ??? (I imagine every 6...?). Also, is there an advantage to 1 large disk vs several smaller ones from a quality/price equation perspective?
2. What is a good HDD to be used in the Hot Swap Bay for storage of infrequently accessed image files? With my old system I used external or "mobile" HDDs with USB connections for photo back up, but am quite concerned about their longevity (I add about 4000 photos annually). I should therefore like to use the internal HDD for working and 'current use' files, and have a hot swapable storage HDD for less frequently accessed files/long term storage. I do not envisage turning to cloud storage (live in country side with poor internet connection/on tight budget), so imagine that this/these HDs need to be of a reasonable quality to be relatively future proof. But what does that mean in terms of cost and specifications, what would you prioritize/recommend?
Finally, 3. Is there any point to partitioning the internal (and/or the hot swap) HDD, if the objective is to reduce wear and tear rather than to increase speed? I have i7-3770 processor, 16 MB ddr3 sdram and a Nivida GF GTX560 graphics card which in my clean PC is fine for my speed needs. In other words, I am neither a power user of storage volume nor speed requirements, but hope to keep the PC working effectively for as long as possible. My small SSD may become a problem, but I hope to keep the set up working smoothly, and without too much upgrading, up to 2020 - the expected cut of point for support of W7 and Adobe CS6. I have Acronis disk manger software and am considering to partition off the outer 25% of the internal HDD, and to only use this ring for files that I am working on - but I have no idea if this would make a worth while difference, or if it is only relevant for super competent/savy power users ....
In anticipation of your valuable advice, many thanks
My PC's specifications: It is a new set up with a 64GB SSD for the C drive, (now containing windows 7, home premium x64, a couple of browsers and some Microsoft bloat stuff, but it will include Adobe CS6 in the future) + a clean 1TB HDD internal storage disk and a hot swapable 3.5" HDD bay (manuf. description = 'expandable with all common internal 3.5" hard drives'). I do not know where to find out which model of motherboard I have, it is neither indicated in the manufacturer's hard copy nor their online info, but it is supposed to be from Intel, and the HHs are supposedly from Samsung. CP, RAM and graphics stuff is listed under Q3 above.
I should be very grateful for advise in regards to these questions:
1. What would be the best value for money HDD (to be used in a Hot Swap bay) to create an Image of the C drive on (64GB SSD) ? Not a bootable clone, but a stand alone image for system recovery purposes. I have Acronis True Image so can add incremental info to cover updates etc., but would prefer to have one almost virgin Image, and then add separate stand alone Images (taken at maximum intervals for realistic usefulness, ie. after new software installation and otherwise every how many months to cover updates ??? (I imagine every 6...?). Also, is there an advantage to 1 large disk vs several smaller ones from a quality/price equation perspective?
2. What is a good HDD to be used in the Hot Swap Bay for storage of infrequently accessed image files? With my old system I used external or "mobile" HDDs with USB connections for photo back up, but am quite concerned about their longevity (I add about 4000 photos annually). I should therefore like to use the internal HDD for working and 'current use' files, and have a hot swapable storage HDD for less frequently accessed files/long term storage. I do not envisage turning to cloud storage (live in country side with poor internet connection/on tight budget), so imagine that this/these HDs need to be of a reasonable quality to be relatively future proof. But what does that mean in terms of cost and specifications, what would you prioritize/recommend?
Finally, 3. Is there any point to partitioning the internal (and/or the hot swap) HDD, if the objective is to reduce wear and tear rather than to increase speed? I have i7-3770 processor, 16 MB ddr3 sdram and a Nivida GF GTX560 graphics card which in my clean PC is fine for my speed needs. In other words, I am neither a power user of storage volume nor speed requirements, but hope to keep the PC working effectively for as long as possible. My small SSD may become a problem, but I hope to keep the set up working smoothly, and without too much upgrading, up to 2020 - the expected cut of point for support of W7 and Adobe CS6. I have Acronis disk manger software and am considering to partition off the outer 25% of the internal HDD, and to only use this ring for files that I am working on - but I have no idea if this would make a worth while difference, or if it is only relevant for super competent/savy power users ....
In anticipation of your valuable advice, many thanks
My PC's specifications: It is a new set up with a 64GB SSD for the C drive, (now containing windows 7, home premium x64, a couple of browsers and some Microsoft bloat stuff, but it will include Adobe CS6 in the future) + a clean 1TB HDD internal storage disk and a hot swapable 3.5" HDD bay (manuf. description = 'expandable with all common internal 3.5" hard drives'). I do not know where to find out which model of motherboard I have, it is neither indicated in the manufacturer's hard copy nor their online info, but it is supposed to be from Intel, and the HHs are supposedly from Samsung. CP, RAM and graphics stuff is listed under Q3 above.
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