SSD and HDD backups: What should go where?

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nlightningmusic

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Mar 29, 2017
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I'm working on a new build, but my current set up has a 750gb HDD and an 2tb external hard drive.
My plan is to buy a 120gb SSD for my OS and applications, and then a 2tb SATA drive for all of my media files and stuff. I primarily work with audio recording, so both 2tb drives will be partitioned roughly in half and will probably be direct copies of one another.

Thing is, I want to do sysmte/software backups using the 750gb drive to backup the SSD, but that'd leave me with over 600gb of unused space on there, plus the fact that there will be a lot of free space on the SSD as is it.
Should I use the free space on the 750 drive for something (are backup drives "untouchables"??)? Or should I drop the thought of investing in a 120gb SSD and just install onto the 750gb drive and make it easy on myself?

What should/can I do with that space?

Edit: Another option I thought of - buy the 120gb SSD and use it for OS+applications. Use the 750gb drive for all project files, and partition 1tb on the 2tb drive for backups, using the other half for mass media. But that also sounds dangerous for both the backups AND the other files in case I lose the 2tb drive.
 
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Use it for whatever, the odds of your drive failing and your backup drive failing at the same time is pretty small. You could partition it to separate the image backup from extra storage space if it worries you. Say 150G for images and 500 for storage for example.

Personally I found 120G a little restrictive as I like to install some games on my C: drive, but if you are not installing anything large it is plenty.
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Dugimodo

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Use it for whatever, the odds of your drive failing and your backup drive failing at the same time is pretty small. You could partition it to separate the image backup from extra storage space if it worries you. Say 150G for images and 500 for storage for example.

Personally I found 120G a little restrictive as I like to install some games on my C: drive, but if you are not installing anything large it is plenty.
 
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RolandJS

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You could make rotating full images backups, in short, for example, in three weeks, you will have three sets of different backups; that would take some more of the available byte-space on that large backup-purposed hard-drive.
 
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nlightningmusic

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Sounds like a cool idea. But it'd leave an entire half-drive to fill - is it wise to even touch it? Maybe I could put audio libraries there.

That brought me much closer to an eventual solution, though:
Take the 750gb HDD and partition it as 500gb, plus two sets of 125gb. Then I'd make two cycling backups of the 120gb SSD onto the 125gb partitions, and backup the audio project files onto the 500gb partition. Then I can use the external HDD 2tb drive for all storage - with a 500gb partition where all project files are saved, and another 1.5tb spent on all the other stuff.

After some figuring, this looks like a really good, tidy solution. I've still got 1,3tb's free on the 2tb drive, and if that ever gets over the limit I can always use an additional storage system or re-add an OS backup partition to the 500gb partition. ALL the software installed on my current desktop add up to ~70gb, and that's after my family passed it on to me - I'm certain I'll have far fewer programs installed there even, I'll bet I barely crack 60gb in OS + installed applications on the SSD, so that should serve me fine.

Thankfully this'll also save me $50 for not having to buy another 2tb HDD.

Thanks guys! Helped me work it out in my mind :)

UPDATE: I've actually worked out an even better solution (I'm sort of about not wasting hard drive space on nothing):
Buy a 1tb HDD and a 120gb SSD. My 750gb will be for project files, SSD for OS and apps, 1tb for mass media, and 2tb external drive for backup of everything else. Simple!
 
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