Separate Drive For Operating System

[StillLearning]

In the Tom’s Hardware Feb 6, 2006 article on the WC 1500AD Raptor Hard Drive, the writers said:

“On the basis of our experience we recommend using two hard drives if you are at least a bit performance conscious. In order to maximize data safety and performance, you should use the fastest hard drive that you can get for your operating system and temporary data, and store all regular data such as images, music, project data, video files etc. onto a larger hard drive. This one does not necessarily have to be that fast, because access happens only occasionally.”

Can anyone refer me to something that tells how to do that? Also, which drives would you recommend for each?

Finally, I have heard some people say you should put your documents on a separate drive. Does that mean you should have THREE drives?

I presently am running two WD 36GB Raptors in Stripe mode. I am bumping the 75GB total space available and need to look at different ways to go. I want to get away from the Stripe mode. Maybe, I could use one of the 36GB Raptors for my operating system. Then what should I get for the rest of my needs? And how do I set them up?

I thank you in advance for comments and/or advice you could share.

 

[ausrick]

With your 2 raptors, running as they are...All you need to do, is buy a good size ATA 7200 HD..Then put all your stuff on it..Programs,vids, mp3's etc. Use your raptors, for your OS, Games, temp files only..

 

[butitoy]

i think ur raptor on a stripe configurations is the best it can offer for system and apps.

and yeah ausrick right, you just have to have a new bigger driver for ur vids, mp3's.
but if ur doing photoshop.separate disk for temp files is adviced, other than ur system disk.

THG had the benchmark for ur needed IDE or SATA HDD. pick ur choice and enjoy.

 

[StillLearning]

Thanks for the input.

What I have now are (1) the two Raptor 36GBs that serve as Drive C; (2) a Maxtor SATA 300GB Drive that I am using to learn to do video – I am a little bit leery of using this drive for anything truly important. This is the second replacement (total of 3 attempts of getting one that works). The first ran so hot that it would bind up – the second had almost as much bad area as it had good area. The third one seems to be doing OK so far, but I am running it in an Antec HD Cooler tray just to be sure; (3) a WD SATA 250GB that I am using to remaster some old family cassette tapes.

I have room for one more hard drive, but if it is to be a SATA, I need to get a SATA controller card because there are no more SATA connectors on my motherboard. I don’t mind doing that, but I need to know which card to get. I boldly say that without knowing how much the controller cards cost. Therefore, that statement is subject to immediate reversal.

Ausrick mentioned that I should use the existing Raptors for the “OS, Games and Temp files only.” I don’t do games, so should I (1) maybe load the Video (Premiere Pro) and audio (Diamond Cut DC6) programs ONLY on to the Raptors with the OS and put all other programs on the to-be-purchased drive or (2) put ALL programs on the to-be-purchased drive as was suggested?

I looked at the THG hard drive benchmarks, but really didn’t know what I was seeing. I guess the main things I should be concerned about are reliability and cool running.

Oh yes - what about the document files? Should I set them up in a drive separate from everything else?

P.S. - After the drive problem is solved, I’m going to need someone to tell me how to get the computer to always put the temp files on the Raptors.

I truly am “Still Learning,” as my nickname says. Maybe it should have been “Dumb as a Doornail.”

 

[g-paw]

I would put all of the programs on the Raptor with the OS. If you have to do a clean install of the OS, you'll have to re-install all your other programs anyway. If you don't "trust"you current SATA drive, I'd get either a Seagate or Western Digital SATA 3.0, they should be backwards compatable to 1.5 if you MOBO doesn't handle 3.0 and they will be more "future proof" and aren't really more expensive. I'd also go with as big a drive as you can afford. Put all of your files, music, documents, photos, etc on the new drive. Given your current drive is 300GB, should be able to back up your new drive onto the 300GB and still have room for video editing, etc.