Game/Program drive possibility?

Flouro Flibboflasm · Feb 23, 2017

Hi, I am new here and I will be asking a series of questions in order to complete a major (re)build of my main rig.

I currently have 3 SSDs and I want to use one for a boot drive and one for a possible program/game drive. The 2 larger drives are a Samsung Evo 256 and a Samsung Pro 512. The smaller drive is a Samsung 128 Evo- which may be dead/dying and I will ask about it in detail in another thread soon.

For the boot drive in another thread I will ask more about setting up multiple OSes. However, it seems rather wasteful to have to install the same programs and games repeatedly- especially ones that are space-hogs.

Granted, Since I want to install multiple versions of Windows and a version of Linux or two some programs won't work on all versions. I get that. However, most do work across many versions and most allow installation choices rather than just "C" drive.

Therefore, based on those criteria, can it be done? Should it be done? Are there any last minute tips and tricks?

Thanks in advance for any answers!

CountMike · Feb 23, 2017

I also have similar setup. 3 disks each with own OS,
SSD1 - W10
SSD2 - W7
SSD3 - Linux mint.
Each OS was installed while only one disk was present and boot menu made using EasyBCD program. Except for Linux programs of course, the other 2 share some programs but it's not possible to run all programs installed in other Windows. Not because it's another version but because some programs insist on being at least partially installed on C:/ disk at that time.

Tcinator · Feb 23, 2017

Easiest answer for multiple OS installs, where you are not using heavy hardware, would be to virtualize the OS. You would have one main install, then you could use VMware Workstation Player. There are other hypervisors, but Player is the easiest for basic use and compatibility.

If you are interested in running some VMs as opposed to running a bunch of hard installs, let me know and I can explain further.

Flouro Flibboflasm · Feb 23, 2017

Thank you for the replies and I am going to have to think about the options here. I have a ton of programs installed for various reasons and a decent sized Steam library- the primary reason for not wanting the duplication.

My observation is about 80% of programs allow for custom installation to drives other than the usual default "C:." Therefore, would it be possible to create the program/game("P:" or "G:"?) drive for a majority of them and have then have a partial set on each OS for the ones that can't be set to other than "C:"? If possible, would it be practical?

Then, I am debating the VM route vs going with multiple drives or partitions. My preferred route would be to split the OSes onto partitions on a large(r) drive and use something like Easy BCD as a selector.

The OSes that I want are W7, 8.1, 10, Linux(probably Mint Cinnamon) and then possibly XP. Then I would need to figure out good partition sizes. However, this plan isn't set in stone and it is very possible I may go the virtual route.

With the OSes my favorite by far is 7 or a heavily modified 8 that looks and acts like 7 again Through the use of Classic Shell and some other customizations. I have haven't been able to completely defang 10 to the same degree as 8 though. More about that some other day...

The bottom line is I want this to work easily and quickly. Therefore I am not totally set on one strategy. I like to go with practical.

CountMike · Feb 23, 2017

I don't think that part about installing in one place and using from other OSs would work, or at least it would be easily done. When a program/game is installed it also writes to Registry and that wouldn't be same in each OS no matter how similar they are. That goes for OSs in VM too and may be even worse because of different way they share between disks. In a VM, performance could also suffer because you can use only part of cores/memory host has. Host still has to run in the background no matter which VM. There's also matter of compatibility running a program/game in a VM. Not all of them like it. In a VM, program/game doesn't have direct access to HW resources. Typically, Linux is better in a VM than windows.
Than there's a question of why would you want to run same programs/games in all the OSs ? I do it only for compatibility reasons, if a program/game works in let's say W10 I don't need it in W7 too. If it runs in W7 only than there's no point installing it in W10 if it's not compatible.
It's a bit complicated to access other disks from a VM. Other drives (and partitions) are actually networked looking from a VM.

Flouro Flibboflasm · Feb 23, 2017

Thank you for the reply. Every tidbit helps to narrow it down.

I do have reasons for running almost all of the programs in 7 and 8. I despise 10- but one of my ongoing projects is seeing how far I can alter 10 and then passing that along to others. More about that another time...

XP would be at best a part-timer- probably just for playing a few old games every blue moon. For the Linux I never got it properly set up in the past setup so that one needs more experimenting.

The registry and hardware issues that you pointed out could start sealing some of the deals here. The next question would be about going with multiple drives or partitions. I do have 2 HDs( which I will ask about in detail in a future thread) and an external backup HD already. The next question is what would be the advantages/disadvantages of partitioning (perhaps the 512 sized SSD) vs putting one(?) OS per drive???

CountMike · Feb 23, 2017

One OS per drive is actually best way, two OSs on one drive not so good because there's a chance that problems with one OS could wipe out the other one.
Using a BOOT loader like EasyBCD you can easily make a BOOT menu to choose which OS to start and run.

Flouro Flibboflasm · Feb 23, 2017

That clears it up a bit. On the previous failed setup it seemed that 8.1 within days completely destroyed 7 and 10(on one partitioned drive attempting to use Easy BCD) and I had been meaning to dig deeper on that one.

I never got a straight answer on if one attacked the other(s) more than others. The early evidence was it was 8 being the aggressor. A followup would be how would one attack another different partition? Then, aren't there some BIOS settings that would be key? I never got a straight answer regarding that either.

Lastly, if I go with the multiple drive option would there be any key BIOS settings that need to be adjusted?

Again, thanks for any information!

CountMike · Feb 24, 2017

Those "attacks" can come in multiple forms if 2 OSs on same disk.
A computer BOOTs from only one place on a disk so if one OS changes to something the other one doesn't "like" whole disk could be in jeopardy.
If you don't turn off System Restore on one OS it can make changes to other OS too.
Malware on one OS can infect the other one too.
OS updates can get confused and attempt to update the other one and leave you with no system at all.
At the early (Alpha) stages of W8 development I had W8 wipe out other OS (W7) even being on another disk.
If you want to play with multiple systems at least keep it as safe as possible, keep them as separate as you can, even to the extent of disabling access to other OS on other disks/partitions. Above all, keep system backups for each one but that goes for anything anyway.

Flouro Flibboflasm · Feb 24, 2017

I wanted to ask more about these things. The first question is how could one OS detect them on other partitions or even drives? Maybe I was wrong to assume it- but I thought that partitions would be enough. If so, thank goodness for holding off on buying more and bigger SSDs.

As far as a few of your other points here are a few quick hits:

I didn't know that system restore could be so aggressive- but yet it isn't surprising.

I follow exceptional security practices and there was no malware- but I could see potential outbreaks spreading across OSes.

I am also not that surprised to hear about bad updates spreading. I do think that some of the first regressions were caused by bad W8 updates- and that is after screening them individually, leaving out all 10 pressures, telemetries, marketing... and mostly only going with security updates. The good part is when I reinstall all of these OSes it will give me a chance to finalize a list of updates to avoid and then publish it. I am going to go through the whole kit-and-kaboodle and really look them over.

One thing that saved me is I have great backups of nearly everything that matters- and this is also why I use data drives. I will ask more details regarding them in probably a split thread.

CountMike · Feb 25, 2017

"Medicine" for System restore problem is to set it in each system to ignore all other disks/partitions but even than it can change boot menu on it too. Situation is more serious if you have to do system repair on one OS which can render the other one unreachable. With separate disks all of that is mostly avoided.

Search

Game/Program drive possibility?

Flouro Flibboflasm

Commendable

CountMike

CountMike

Titan

Tcinator

Reputable

Flouro Flibboflasm

Commendable

CountMike

Titan

Flouro Flibboflasm

Commendable

CountMike

Titan

Flouro Flibboflasm

Commendable

CountMike

Titan

Flouro Flibboflasm

Commendable

CountMike

Titan

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page