- Nov 17, 2013
- 3,881
- 1
- 15,960
i've been mulling over this for most of the weekend, and i have a headache. i need some insights and alternate views on what to do. here's the rundown:
Computer #1 - games, some work, mixed use, data recovery tools
triple boot (XP, 7, and 8.1) on an SSD, all data on HDD as per question
Computer #2 - basically a HTPC, with some light steam games added
just Win7 on an SSD, all data on HDDs again
Computer #3 - games only, not a player in this for the most part, OS is on an SSD
so, i have the following drives to "play" with:
4 x WD Red 3TB
3 x Seagate 3TB
1 x WD Red 2TB
1 x Seagate 1.5TB
1~2 x WD Blue 500G (not really useful here?)
i haven't got the budget to buy more now, though if i see something good on sale or lightly-used i might just add to this pool
so, i have files to store on there, but i can't decide how to set up the drives best. i know that for Comp#1 i need a separate drive just for WinXP's stuff since it can't read anything beyond 2TB, so it might just be the 1.5TB that goes there
i don't really LIKE having separate drives, especially trying to manage or decide which type of files (movies, games, music, etc) go on which drive, and i don't like having to wonder how much space i have left. so that tells me that either a RAID set or a DynamicDisk would be better.
on the flip side, once i go RAID or DD, i'm basically stuck with that choice - i can't add or even remove a drive if need be down the road, without breaking the whole thing apart and almost starting from scratch.
and i don't really want to "waste" half of my space by going RAID-10, so i'm only looking at 0 and 5. yes yes, backups elsewhere and/or accept potential losses.
on Comp#1 i know i can't really do DD since i'd have multiple OSes accessing the data, so if anything i would need to do mobo-RAID, but only up to 4-drives based on chipset / controller.
on Comp#2 i can do anything, up to 7 drives (i have 8 ports, with 1 being set aside for the OS SSD)
and Comp#3 will just get some random left-over drive, possibly the 2TB. i only have space for one 3.5" drive since it's an ITX build.
so.... any insights? advice? random thoughts on cheese?
Computer #1 - games, some work, mixed use, data recovery tools
triple boot (XP, 7, and 8.1) on an SSD, all data on HDD as per question
Computer #2 - basically a HTPC, with some light steam games added
just Win7 on an SSD, all data on HDDs again
Computer #3 - games only, not a player in this for the most part, OS is on an SSD
so, i have the following drives to "play" with:
4 x WD Red 3TB
3 x Seagate 3TB
1 x WD Red 2TB
1 x Seagate 1.5TB
1~2 x WD Blue 500G (not really useful here?)
i haven't got the budget to buy more now, though if i see something good on sale or lightly-used i might just add to this pool
so, i have files to store on there, but i can't decide how to set up the drives best. i know that for Comp#1 i need a separate drive just for WinXP's stuff since it can't read anything beyond 2TB, so it might just be the 1.5TB that goes there
i don't really LIKE having separate drives, especially trying to manage or decide which type of files (movies, games, music, etc) go on which drive, and i don't like having to wonder how much space i have left. so that tells me that either a RAID set or a DynamicDisk would be better.
on the flip side, once i go RAID or DD, i'm basically stuck with that choice - i can't add or even remove a drive if need be down the road, without breaking the whole thing apart and almost starting from scratch.
and i don't really want to "waste" half of my space by going RAID-10, so i'm only looking at 0 and 5. yes yes, backups elsewhere and/or accept potential losses.
on Comp#1 i know i can't really do DD since i'd have multiple OSes accessing the data, so if anything i would need to do mobo-RAID, but only up to 4-drives based on chipset / controller.
on Comp#2 i can do anything, up to 7 drives (i have 8 ports, with 1 being set aside for the OS SSD)
and Comp#3 will just get some random left-over drive, possibly the 2TB. i only have space for one 3.5" drive since it's an ITX build.
so.... any insights? advice? random thoughts on cheese?
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram