Question on size of HD for OS.

[Dunkel]

I'm building a new computer and I've never used two HDs before (yeah, I know I'm a noob). I think I want a HD for the OS and a separate HD for programs and such. My program HD will be a 400GB Seagate. What size should the OS HD be?

Thanks for the help.

 

[zenmaster]

At least the same size.
400GB should do.

You will only need a fraction of that for the OS, but you want to be able to save data from your other drive back to the OS drive for backup purposes.

Files get corrupt, deleted. Drive Crash, etc....

Give youself a little protection.

 

[evongugg]

I would use a 100 Gig hard drive for OS and Programs and a 400 Gig for data.
Have a good backup program, like an external eSATA 500 Gig hard drive.

 

[Wolfshadw]

My all-purpose rig has a 160 Gig OS/Programs drive (about 25% full at the moment) and a 500Gig Data drive (about 40% full).

-Wolf sends

 

[Guest]

Mine are in my Sig, the 74g Raptor is the OS drive while I use the 500 for storage and backup. Having OS on one drive and programs/games on another gives a nice little performance boost also. I don't like storage or backup files on my OS drive so I have a 500 external also to do a sync with my programs/games/storage 500 internal.
This way also if your OS drive ever gets fried you can just reformat and install. You never have to worry about losing your data.

PS also place your MY DOCUMENTS profiles path to your 500g and you are basically data safe !

 

[cah027]

I would say that depending on what you use your pc for could effect your HD situation.

A lot of guys that do video editing like to use 3 or more drives because they want separate drives for sound source, video source and one for the output file. This way each drive is single tasking.

I would just make sure your os drive is a fast one, doesn't have to be huge, and have a large program/data drive. I would even get a huge external to backup to and keep files that are not accessed everyday. I keep a 500gb external for just that. It only comes on when I need it. I suspect it will last a lot longer that way. Less wear and tear.

I have yet to have a harddrive last much longer than 3 to 5 years before its a gonner,well except for my scsi.

 

[rockyjohn]

I am surprised you have had such short lives on your HDs. What brand do you use? Most good drives are warrantied for 5 years and the mtbf rating on them is over 1,000,000 hours - which equals over 100 years. I have owned PCs for over 20 years and never had a failure. Of course in the earlier years the PCs did not even have a HD.

 

[runswindows95]

My setup is a 120GB for OS's and programs while a 200GB is all for data.