I need help with my storage setup...

[Hirochezz]

I currently have a gaming rig, that I use for gaming, surfing the web, video recording, and little video editing. My current hard drive is 1tb, and I am looking into purchasing a new storage setup. I have some questions about how I could make a 1xSSD 2xHDD setup work, if it is at all possible.

Would I be able to have a small SSD for strictly my os, a HDD solely for games, and then another HDD for data and my programs?

EXAMPLE: OS on SDD, GAMES on HDD1, and USER FILES/EVERYTHING ELSE on HDD2 (or vice versa, user files on hdd1 and games on #2)

Is this even possible? Would it reduce performance? Do the HDDs have to be the same size? If it is possible, how would I go about doing it? IS IT SAFE?

I plan on formatting my current hard drive anyway, so basically Im going to be "starting over" with this computer.

Sorry about all of the questions, I just really need some help here.

 

[cball1311]

Sure. You could do it like that. The drive size doesn't matter unless you want to setup a RAID array. If you aren't too worried about losing data to a drive failure, I would recommend setting up a RAID0 array with two hard drives of the same size. You will get a little bit more read and write performance out of it. The only thing is that if one drive fails you lose the data on both disks. A RAID0 combines 2 drives as if they are 1 (called striped).

What are you motherboard specs?

 

[Hirochezz]

I have the ASUS P6X58-E PRO

Heres the newegg link with all the specs: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131755

 

[cball1311]

Sure. No problem doing it however you want.

 

[Hirochezz]

So how would I go about having the computer store the OS on the SSD, but writing and reading all of the user files on the HDD? While keeping the windows folders without encountering errors.

Plus, I dont think I wanna do RAID. Looked at it, but i can deal with slightly slower speeds.

 

[cball1311]

Here is a great guide. You might want to bookmark it.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

 

[Hirochezz]

Now I have 2 more questions. (I am so sorry about all of these!Im not the best with the hardware aspect of computers :lol: )

1. Do the HDDs and SSD need to be the same brand?

2. Does that guide show how to set it up to where all of my user files/downloads are saved to the HDD instead of the SSD? The last thing I ask of you is to verify how I can do this, so I dont constantly have to keep moving files because they won't save properly.

 

[cball1311]

1. No

2. Yes. Read everything even the (Click to Show) links and then read it again. Great information here. Any questions, just post back.

 

[Hirochezz]

Alrighty. Thanks man, you've been a great help.

Expect more questions, lol. Hardware is NOT my forte.

Okay THIS is the last one for now (I swear this time)

Since Im going to be doing a clean install, will I be able to get my Norton Antivirus functional again, without having to repurchase?

 

[cball1311]

You should be able to. Just make sure that you have either the product key or an account with your activation already processed.