Intel s5520sc system - SSD + Black + Green .. Is it worth it?

Mohamed_Hussein · Sep 9, 2016

I have a system based on Intel s5520sc with dual Xeon E5 series, and 48GB RAM.
It has been running on a Green WD 750 HDD for 4 years now, but the HDD failed a few months ago causing me lots of problems and I was advised to swap it with a new one. It's still running now but it can fail any time.
Here's what I'm planning to do:
I'm looking to buy a Black HDD for storing my active and source files as the main read/write source (I do 3D animations, simulations, and Video Editing). Plus, an SSD of 256 GB to install my Win7 on and my applications as well. I will keep my old Green HDD as a reserve storage unit, just leaving it in place.
My question is - being a complete noob in hardware configurations - is that optimal? Or am I just wasting money unneccearily? Is there a better way? Can I do RAID for the 2 HDDs or that will be useless considering the condition of my old drive? Is it worth buying a Black HDD considering that my OS and programs will run on the SSD or can I just get the blue or even another Green?
My goal here is to add more storage + more performance to my workstation but with the most optimal components, as I may need to entirely change the system in a few years from now. Please advise, and thank you!

kanewolf · Sep 10, 2016

256GB is pretty cheap now. I would look at a 512, that way you have space for your temporary render files on the SSD. You do NOT want to RAID a failing disk with anything. Personally, if I had a known failing disk, once the data was off it I would drill (or shoot) holes through it and throw it out. You don't need it having problems and causing you to chase ghosts.

Mohamed_Hussein · Sep 10, 2016

Thanks for the quick answer! Well then is it worth getting a Black series drive to store data beside the SSD? I'm not quite sure if it will really make a difference. It will have inactive files most of the time, and I would prefer it to be as large as possible (Maybe 1TB - 2TB)

kanewolf · Sep 10, 2016

If you are using it infrequently then a Blue should be fine. Since you are using this system as a revenue generator be sure you have a BULLET PROOF backup and recovery system in place.

Mohamed_Hussein · Sep 10, 2016

Yes it is my MAIN source of income. So, what kind of backup and recovery should I use? Windows? I'm really not familiar with this type of work so I'm very confused. Last March when my HDD crashed it caused my Win7 to fail and my server board to suffer. What can I do to migrate the data safely and also migrate the OS? My motherboard seems to dislike installing windows and gives me hard times whenever I try to do so.

kanewolf · Sep 10, 2016

There are a lot of backup options -- Tom's had a guide to Cloud backup -- http://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-cloud-backup,review-2678.html

The most important thing is to have backups done automatically. The MINIMUM would be a USB drive which you could put a system image and your critical data onto.

Mohamed_Hussein · Sep 11, 2016

Thanks for the detailed info! However, where I live (Egypt) the internet is shitty as you can never imagine, it will literally take half a year to upload my backup lol. Thanks anyways

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Intel s5520sc system - SSD + Black + Green .. Is it worth it?

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