Should I Have Two HDDs For Recording Gameplay On PC?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
T

TheFrostyBlur

Reputable
Sep 15, 2015
3
0
4,510
So I want to start recording gameplay again but last time my PC got very slow because of it. From what I can tell that was because I was recording gameplay to the same HDD that had Windows installed, correct me if I'm wrong. If I get a HDD (1TB) just for recording gameplay will my PC take it easy? Not get slow and mess with my everyday gaming and stuff. So basically the gameplay (Massive files) Would be loaded on to the 1TB HDD for gaming videos and nothing would be dropped on the HDD with Windows 10 installed. Would my PC stay up to speed if I go into this direction? If I didn't have the gameplay recording HDD all my gaming video files would be dropped on my HDD with my OS, so that would be super bad right? The files vary from 20GBs to 200GBs. So basically all I want to know is if I do this will my PC slow down? Specs are below

CPU: Intel Core i5 4790

RAM: 8GB

GPU: GTX 970 (4GB)



 
Solution
jaguarskx
When recording gameplay it is best to record video to a physical hard drive dedicated just for writing the video file. That means no partition where you split something like a 1TB drive into two drives; one HHD for games (and OS) and one for video recording.

That is because if the PC needs to read something off of the physical hard drive while video is being recorded to it that can potentially cause dropped frames / stutter. Beside recording video means the HDD is constant used which can potentially increase it's chances for mechanical failure.

But I would not be overly concerned with hard drive failure. I do a lot of DVD and Blu-Ray rips from my library. That means I copy the video from my DVD and Blu-Ray collection to my hard...
Sort by date Sort by votes
modernwar99

modernwar99

Reputable
Jul 9, 2014
1,166
0
5,960
Based on how you worded it, the drive is slow in general (not just when recording, which is to be expected). Filling up the space on the hard drive shouldn't slow it down much at all, so recording all that data must be fragmenting your drive.

Put windows and all your documents and games on the main drive and have only videos on the second drive. That way you aren't writing video to the drive at the same time windows or a game is reading/writing to it. Will fix both problems. Btw, you should be using shadowplay to record if you aren't already, pretty light on the system compared to standard recording software.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
T

TheFrostyBlur

Reputable
Sep 15, 2015
3
0
4,510

Yes I will be using Shadow Play, seems decent. And I will be upgrading to a SSD later this year for my OS. So it'll end up like this: SSD for the OS, HDD 1 for games, HDD 2 for Video recordings.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
T

TheFrostyBlur

Reputable
Sep 15, 2015
3
0
4,510

Oh and for Shadow Play I might but I heard it breaks all audio into one track which is a pain. FRAPS demands too much and Dxtory has a bad audio glitch in it's system.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
jaguarskx

jaguarskx

Titan
Apr 19, 2006
27,979
3
84,965
When recording gameplay it is best to record video to a physical hard drive dedicated just for writing the video file. That means no partition where you split something like a 1TB drive into two drives; one HHD for games (and OS) and one for video recording.

That is because if the PC needs to read something off of the physical hard drive while video is being recorded to it that can potentially cause dropped frames / stutter. Beside recording video means the HDD is constant used which can potentially increase it's chances for mechanical failure.

But I would not be overly concerned with hard drive failure. I do a lot of DVD and Blu-Ray rips from my library. That means I copy the video from my DVD and Blu-Ray collection to my hard drive, then I encode them into MKV files to be stored on my HTPC. Yeah, the Blu-Ray disc can have a MKV version of the movie, but I like to control the quality. All movies are ripped to a hard drive I label as "Thrash Drive" and it is about 4 years by now. Sometimes when I encode movies I do so for 3 - 5 days in a row without any break (batch process). That means my "Thrash Drive" can be in constant use for 72 hours - 120 hours at a time. Once completed I transfer the MKV files to my HTPC.

If my "Thrash Drive" were to fail, then that means I simply loose ripped movie files and encoded videos. While it is a bummer, I simply need to re-rip the movies on to a new drive and start the encoding batch again.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom