Ideal Multiple Hard Drive Setup

[oldapachesquaw]

I just ordered the retail version of the new Western Digital 300gb Velociraptor hard drive and would like to get information on the best way to use this new drive and re-arranging my other current drives.

This is how my current system is setup:
C Drive (Seagate 160gb SATA, ST3160811AS) = ONLY for Windows and programs
D Drive (Seagate 300gb SATA, ST3300620AS) = My Documents
E Drive (WD 500gb SATA, WD5000AAKS) = Pictures & Video files

PARTITION VELOCIRAPTOR OR KEEP AS SYSTEM DRIVE ONLY?
I will be using the Velociraptor as my new C Drive, with only Windows and programs on it. I have always kept My Documents and all my files on separate hard drives, away from the C Drive. Would there be any benefit to now storing My Documents on the Velociraptor as a 2nd partition? Or is it best to keep the My Documents and the C Drive separate?

PAGE FILES
I have no clue on how best to arrange Page Files either. I have 4gb RAM on Windows XP Pro. Since I have multiple drives, do they each need page files? And where best to store the page files?

I do very little gaming, and edit photos/videos primarily, along with web & graphic design.
Your help and advice on the fastest hard drive setup is appreciated.

 

[aevm]

Hmmm, for $300 you could have replaced all 3 drives with WD6400AAKS disks, for 2 TB of storage. I don't know those Seagate models, but I do know my WD5000AAKS stinks big time compared to the WD7500AAKS and the WD6400AAKS.

I'd put Windows, the page file, and Program Files all on the VelociRaptor, in one partition, leaving the other drives for storage.

 

[exo232]

I find it much more efficient to have multiple drives for speed... Copying files from one drive to another is twice as fast when using multiple drives. Also such things as streaming music while playing games or something that demands constant use of the drive needle & heads seems to be much smoother the more you spread out the information

Such as

Drv0 C:\ Operating System
drv1 D:\ Operating System #2
drv2 E:\ Installed Program Files
drv3 F:\ Music & Video
drv4 G:\ Backup Software & Recovery

This is the setup that I use


All are on seperate hard drives and increase performace slightly and can also increase the lifetime of the hard drives themselves.

 

[aevm]

Excellent advice. Too bad it's 7 months late