3 SSD setup, which drive to use for what?

[andyc1988]

Hi all,

I've been using a 2 SSD setup for a while (60GB each) and have just decided to buy a decent size drive to avoid having to put large apps on my external drive - it performs remarkably well but obviously not up to internal drive standard. I'd just like some opinions on which drive you would use for what purpose and which SATA controller to use.

I'm using an Asus P8P67 Pro motherboad and so far am exclusively using the P67 SATA2 controller. My SATA drives are:
Corsair F60 SATA2 60GB (very old)
Corsair Force 3 SATA3 60GB (Corsair replaced a broken F60 with this)
Samsung 850 Evo SATA3 500GB (arrives tomorrow)
DVD-RW SATA drive

I propose to connect the 850 and the Force 3 to the P67 SATA3 controller and leave the F60 and DVD connected to the P67 SATA2 ports. Unless anyone would recommend I connect the F60 and DVD to to the Marvell controller to reduce workload on the P67?

At the moment Windows 10 64-bit is installed on the slowest F60 drive as I initially didn't trust the Force 3, my high intensity apps/games are installed on the Force 3 and older games/apps are on the external HDD.

I'm after your opinions on whether I should install Windows and all apps on the 850 to gain maximum performance from it, or whether to install Windows onto the Force 3 and install apps onto the 850 in order to avoid having Windows and the app I'm running accessing the 850 simultaneously. The F60 would be redundant, so I'd maybe use it as a cache drive or for smaller, older apps/games.

I know making the wrong decision at initial setup could affect long term performance so I'd like to get it right from the start.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[ArtPog]

Unquestionably, since the total data in your system is well under the 500 GB disk-space capacity of your new Samsung SSD, ALL your data - your OS and everything else - should be installed on your new SSD. Whether you have a viable option to simply clone the contents of the OS and all the other data from your two other 60 GB SSD is something for you to decide.

You may want to fresh-install the OS onto the SSD and then copy or clone the other data contents from the two other SSDs to effect the transfer.

Oh, I just noticed you're also working with an external HDD - presumably a USB device. You didn't indicate the size of that USBEHD or the total amount of its data contents. Perhaps you could transfer (or clone) its contents to one of your 60 GB SSDs or just leave it be. Perhaps even transferring the data (or a portion of it) to the 500 GB SSD. Utilize your new SSD to the fullest - that's the key, capiche?

 

[andyc1988]

Unquestionably, since the total data in your system is well under the 500 GB disk-space capacity of your new Samsung SSD, ALL your data - your OS and everything else - should be installed on your new SSD. Whether you have a viable option to simply clone the contents of the OS and all the other data from your two other 60 GB SSD is something for you to decide.

You may want to fresh-install the OS onto the SSD and then copy or clone the other data contents from the two other SSDs to effect the transfer.

Oh, I just noticed you're also working with an external HDD - presumably a USB device. You didn't indicate the size of that USBEHD or the total amount of its data contents. Perhaps you could transfer (or clone) its contents to one of your 60 GB SSDs or just leave it be. Perhaps even transferring the data (or a portion of it) to the 500 GB SSD. Utilize your new SSD to the fullest - that's the key, capiche?

ArtPog, thanks. I had considered copying everything to the Samsung and running directly from that, but thought it might reduce the load and wear rate if I put apps that weren't speed dependant onto the smaller SSD's or the external (500GB transfers nicely at around 30MB/sec). I also have a 1TB NAS but it's data rate is around 3-5MB/sec so it's used solely for backup storage as I can barely stream HD films from it never mind play a game!

I would leave the content on the external, as it only holds photos, large files and CD/DVD backups. What would you recommend I utilise the 60GB's for? Can they be used effectively as a cache for the system?

 

[ArtPog]

I would use the 60 GB SSDs for miscellaneous backups and the like. Perhaps if you fresh-install the OS onto the new Samsung SSD you would create a separate (C:\) partition just to hold the OS files. That partition, together with the System Reserved partition which I assume will also be created could be cloned over to one of the 60 GB SSDs so that you would have a comprehensive backup of your OS - always a wise thing to have. Just a thought.

I suppose you could also utilize the 60 GB SSDs for this or that game. (I'm not a gamer but all my gaming friends tell me that the SSD makes little difference in the "speed of play" (except faster loading time) as compared with a HDD).

I see no need for a "cache" in the system. Your new 500 GB Samsung SSD will handle that aspect quite well.