Hard Drive setup recommendation

[JPWRana]

I'm building myself a new pc, and I want you guys to give me criticism on the hard drive setup: my main one will be an 18 gig 15k rpm scsi hd, and my secondary one of those new Seagate 250gig 8mb cache serial ata drives (not out yet but it will be, so i'll have time to save up for it). I want to use my primary hd (the scsi one) for just the OS and programs. However, would it be better to partition THAT SCSI drive so that each new drive would have about a few programs!?!?! Cuz i think one partition would be just for windows, another for office applications, one for games, the other for CAD/CAM progs that I use, and the last for the adobe/macromedia progs my sister uses. Would this be the best way to have a fast responding system?!?! (just talkin about hdd's and their setup... no cpu, no mobo, no ram). My 2nd drive, the 250 gig one, will me mostly for storing my stuff (i.e. music, movies, documents), and is it a good idea to have in this hd a partition for each type of my stuff?!?! like a big partition for movies, a medium size partition for music, and a small one for documents?!?!

The greatest risk of all is not taking one!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by JPWRana on 01/03/03 04:25 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Rob423]

not sure.. but i know putting hd's in a raid array can make [-peep-] run very fast

but for that i think you need the same hard drive and [-peep-]..

but the way you are doing it isn't such a bad idea..

Is THG Slightly Slacking??

 

[JPWRana]

Yeah, they do run faster, but isn't RAID just if you want to clone your hd??!!?!? I don't want to clone my hd, although I may later on think of cloning the hd w/ my stuff (the one w/ the movies music and documents.) in case something ever did happen to that hd, i'd have a backup 4 it.

The greatest risk of all is not taking one!

 

[icy_oblivion]

On the main HD I would definately have a partition for the OS, and make it the first partition on the drive for fastest booting. As far as all the other partitions, I'm not sure if that will help you out at all, it may be more of a curse than a help. For example, if you run out of space in one of your partitions and need to install a program in that partition your whole organization scheme goes out the window.

For the data drive, by all means partition it into three different segments.

<b>Just because I like AMD or Intel more at a time because of one product compared to another, does not make me a fan boy, it makes me a person who is able to make a descision for myself.</b>

 

[JPWRana]

Ok... so first partition for the OS. How many gigs for that partition?!?! 3 or 4 gigs?!?! And as for the other parts, yes it may end up being worse cuz if I run out of space, it messes up everything but I'm not so worried about that because it doesn't mean that my rig will crash or have problems because I can't install an unecessary program. If that ever were to happen, I guess I would have to start everythin ALL OVER AGAIN but this time w/ a bigger partition for the progs... problem solved... unless the same thing happens, and if it does, then 36GB hd would be the way 2 go, that way i can have doulbe the space on everything (in fact even more than double, cuz the partition for the OS would still be the same size). However, let's say just for this case that I do have enough room for the partition for the programs. Will the speed/performance/response time/etc. still be better if they had their own partition, or would it be the same as if I weren't to partition them and just leave it at 2 partitions (one for the OS, and the other for ALL THE OTHER PROGRAMS)?!?!? I already know a 15k rpm SCSI hd will be real good, but why not squeeze as much as I can out of it?!?!? Especially when I can.

The greatest risk of all is not taking one!

 

[icy_oblivion]

If you give the OS 3GB that should be lots. And to be completely honest I am not sure how the other partitions would react. I know that the closer to the center of the platter the faster the access speed so you could do your other partitions and make sure you have them in the order that would provide the programs you use most closer to the center of the drive, i.e. 2nd then 3rd partitions as numbers increase so does the distance from the center of the platter.

<b>Just because I like AMD or Intel more at a time because of one product compared to another, does not make me a fan boy, it makes me a person who is able to make a descision for myself.</b>

 

[JPWRana]

Good idea. Never saw it that way. So the most frequent programs that I (or most important one's, whichever is my preference) should have the first partitions because they will be closer to the center of the platter, therefore making them respond quicker when I access them. Having this in mind, why don't I make partitions for the lets say 6 most frequent programs that I use, and make their partitions as exact as the space they need, or should I give those partitions a little extra space (lets say as an example 300 MB's) that way in case I ever need to fix or patch or crack or update it, I will have the space to move stuff around within the partition?!?!

I atleast know now that the OS should get the first partition as it will be closer to the platter. So how much space should I give it?!?! I plan on using Windows XP Professional w/ the service pack (and plan on buying the Longhorn when it comes out and installing it over the xp).

The greatest risk of all is not taking one!

 

[icy_oblivion]

Well what I posted above is the theory of the matter and how well it actually works once you get past the first partition is a good question. Maybe wait for another opinion on that one.

If you are planning on installing LongHorn ontop of XP I would give it 4GB just to be safe, that also gives room for service packs, etc.

<b>Just because I like AMD or Intel more at a time because of one product compared to another, does not make me a fan boy, it makes me a person who is able to make a descision for myself.</b>

 

[JPWRana]

Ok. I'll just wait for another opinion. If no one has another opinion, can anyone atleast recommend me to a good hd forum or any forum where there's hd master's?!?!

hehe, if I get no replies, i'll just keep on resurrecting this thread until someting poops up. BUHAHAHAHA!!! hehe, jk.

The greatest risk of all is not taking one!