Using an SSD with a HDD in a new build?

[F_Pastor]

Hey, forum. I'm a day away from building my new computer and I've bought a 60GB Corsair Force 3 SSD and a 500GB WD Caviar Black HDD.

I was thinking of installing the OS, Windows 7 Home Premium, on the SSD along with some games and designing software (3DS Max and probably AutoCAD), while using the HDD for storage (music, pictures, videos, documents, etc.).

I've read that to install the OS, I should keep the HDD data cable unplugged until after the OS install and then restart the computer with the HDD plugged in. After that, I can choose which drive to install any other program.

Is what I plan to do a good idea and is the install process I mentioned correct? Thanks for any answers.

-Francis

 

[dingo07]

That's correct, only plug in the SSD and install the OS. Then install all the drivers for the motherboard, video, etc. then run windows update several times. Then when all thats done and all is good, you can connect the HDD and start installing your software wherever you like.

 

[F_Pastor]

Thanks for the reply, Dingo. What's your opinion on what I'm going to do, though?

Is it a good idea to keep the OS, games, and important programs on the SSD and hold pretty much everything else on the HDD?

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply, Dingo. What's your opinion on what I'm going to do, though?

Is it a good idea to keep the OS, games, and important programs on the SSD and hold pretty much everything else on the HDD?

here is a thread on this forum with a lot of useful links.
Useful SSD Articles - Part 2

since you have a 60GBs SSD you need to limit what you have on it because it can fill up fast. of course the OS and most needed spplications; gaming will have no performance increase except loading the game or any level it may have (no increase in frame rate). people i know with smaller SSDs keep their steam folder on the platter for an example.

go through those links and google how to use the MKLINK command to make a short cut to your platter so windows access that instead of the SSD when installing and running games or not so important apps.

 

[F_Pastor]

Oh, wow, thanks. Sorry I missed that :/

 

[Guest]

no worries

 

[dingo07]

Yeah. Exactly what looniam said - I only have 2 Steam games and CIV 5 because I'm not an avid gamer, have CS5 Adobe Premier Pro, AutoCAD, Photoshop, Pagemaker and a couple other programs I use on the SSD- I have to delete my Skyrim saves to free up space with roughly 6-12 gigs free on my 56GB drive, so it will fill up fast

 

[game junky]

60 will get you through the OS install and a most of your programs (probably no games or Adobe CS - files are huge).

Yes, just reboot the machine and plug in that HDD SATA cable. The reason you don't want it connect while you're installing the OS is that it can potentially write MBR files to the hard drive which is not ideal for a non-raid multi-drive setup.

I am rocking a 120GB SSD & a 1.5TB disk for media - it's truly the right way to go. You never have to worry about storage space for your programs and you can save all your media to the HDD without worrying about deleting things. Flipping awesome

 

[DarkOutlaw]

SSD Guide
Move User Folders

bucknutty wrote :

I use steam it is installed on my regular HD. Games like BF3 MW3 and ME3 all seem to have very long loading times. So I made a folder on my C: root (ssd) called games. I then copy the game from the steam directory on d: into the games folder I made on the C: ssd. I then use the mklink command for the dos prompt to make a linkshortcut that steam sees. This allows all my steam stuff to stay, update and live on the D: but keep only the games I want on the ssd. When I get tired of the a game I just copy the games folder back into the steam directory on the d: drive.

Google mklink or mklink steam, there are a ton of guides. It sounds complex but it only take like a minute to do.

I just used this last night, it worked flawlessly. I have 2 x 60GB ssd in a RAID 0, and 2 x 1TB hdd in a RAID 1. Here is how I installed:

SSD:

OS
Microsoft Office
Other programs I use (Avast, Gimp, Notepad++, etc)
Diablo III
Starcraft II
Current Steam Game via MK Link


HDD:

All user folders and public folders.
Steam/Steam Games
Movie Files

Just make sure you read over everything before you do anything. This way you will know what to expect through the process.

 

[DarkOutlaw]

Yeah. Exactly what looniam said - I only have 2 Steam games and CIV 5 because I'm not an avid gamer, have CS5 Adobe Premier Pro, AutoCAD, Photoshop, Pagemaker and a couple other programs I use on the SSD- I have to delete my Skyrim saves to free up space with roughly 6-12 gigs free on my 56GB drive, so it will fill up fast

Move your user folders to your hdd. Skyrim saves their, not the actual steam folder.

 

[dingo07]

Move your user folders to your hdd. Skyrim saves their, not the actual steam folder.

I'm aware the game saves for Steam ar in the User folder, but it's not an issue for me because I plan on upgrading to a 240GB SSD as soon as the prices drop some more - probably around X-Mas time

 

[DarkOutlaw]

I'm aware the game saves for Steam ar in the User folder, but it's not an issue for me because I plan on upgrading to a 240GB SSD as soon as the prices drop some more - probably around X-Mas time

It is still a good practice to move your user folders. SSD drives can read forever, its the writing that shortens there life the most significantly. In an ideal world you really only want to install your programs to your SSD, and then never write to it again. User folders constantly have data written to their location, which in most cases is the ssd drive.

 

[F_Pastor]

Best answer selected by F_Pastor.