Dedicated HDD for Vista OS and Drivers?

[camillette]

I currently have a computer that I use primarily for online gaming and storing personal data. After installing a new motherboard and not appreciating that with Vista I was going to need to format my HDD, I'm looking forward to a lengthy data transfer after work today. Since I upgrade my computers relatively often and since I don't want to go through this again, I'm thinking about installing a second HDD into both of my desktops.

I'm curious if it would be possible and in my interest to set my computers up like so:

Drive 1 (HDD 1 - Master drive): C:\ <--- Operating system, drivers, programs that require OS drive for install
Drive 2 (HDD 2 - Slave drive): E:\ <--- All data, programs that don't require OS drive for install
Drive 3 : D:\ <--- DVD-R drive
Drive 4 (USB attached drive): F:\ <--- Portable drive

My thinking is that if I did this then if I ever have an OS issue again the wipe and repair should be relatively fast since all data will be on E.

If I were to do this though, in order to keep my computer running smoothly (especially when running games) how fast of a hard-drive would I want for the OS drive? Would a 7200 RPM drive work or do I need to move up to a 10000 or 15000 RPM drive? What sort of cache size would I want? Also, while the Vista OS isn't a very large package, I imagine the data begins to add up with drivers and other necessary system files, so, how much storage space would I need?

Thanks for any assistance. =)

 

[Guest]

Well if I were you and i had the money I would definitely go for a solid state disk, if you look at those tests and demos where they boot windows7 from a ssd well... let's just say it blows those velociraptors to shambles.

Oh and about your question, yeah you can set it up like that.

I've got it set up like this

500gb HDD partitioned. 1: vista and applications, 200gb. 2: Games.
500gb HDD, school and stuff.
1TB HDD, music/movies/game images and more..

I believe that if you get yourself a nice TB harddisk and just partition the first 3-400gb for vista and games you'll get the best performance (still remember that in gaming it doesn't do more then just make it load your stuff a bit faster, for me it's barely noticeable). I'm 100% sure but the first partition you set up is usually on the outer edges of your HDD, meaning it'll be faster.

For now i'd say just get a good big harddisk and make 3 partitions.

first 100gb, vista (fastest part of the HD)
second 250gb, for all your games.(if you reset your OS those will not be formatted or w/e and most will still play regardless of them not being seen by your registry)
and for the last part just use it as extra storage.

I am very sorry about this chaotic post, it's just how i am.

regards,

Rico