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Started by jcraigjones | | 14 answers
Should storage HDD be bootable?
I use a smallish SSD as my boot drive and I have a larger conventional HDD for storage. Should the HDD be bootable?
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June 12, 2014 10:59:55 AM

Take a system image of your SSD once a month/every couple weeks.
If your ssd ever goes down just boot to a recovery disk and restore the image back on your SSD.
a c 954 G Storage
June 12, 2014 9:07:35 AM

jcraigjones said:
USAFRet said:
jcraigjones said:


Thanks for the response. Let's say the SSD fails one day, wouldn't it be nice to immediately boot off of the HDD until the SSD could be replaced?


1. The HDD is likely to fail earlier than the SSD.

2. Whatever theoretical boot OS you have on the HDD will not be 'the same' as what is on the SSD. AS soon as you start using the real OS on the SSD, it will then be 'different' than what OS you have on the HDD.

3. Far easier to make an image of the SSD once a month or so. In the unlikely event of an SSD fail, simply use that image to write to whatever new drive you get.

4. You have to pay for 2 OS licenses.


Focusing on #4 . . . I've always heard that a Windows OS license is tied to the motherboard of the device. So, if I install the same Win7 key on 2 drives attached to the same motherboard, that violates the Microsoft EULA?


Unknown. But I do know if, for instance, you were to use a Virtual Machine, that does require its own license.
2 instances on 2 different drives in the same PC...maybe, maybe not.
And all the applications you use will almost certainly have to be bought twice.

But as said above...you're not gaining any safety/functionality, and adding potential problems and complexity.
There is zero reason to have 2 instances of the same OS in the same system.

As soon as you start using one, they are then 'different'.
June 12, 2014 8:45:59 AM

USAFRet said:
jcraigjones said:


Thanks for the response. Let's say the SSD fails one day, wouldn't it be nice to immediately boot off of the HDD until the SSD could be replaced?


1. The HDD is likely to fail earlier than the SSD.

2. Whatever theoretical boot OS you have on the HDD will not be 'the same' as what is on the SSD. AS soon as you start using the real OS on the SSD, it will then be 'different' than what OS you have on the HDD.

3. Far easier to make an image of the SSD once a month or so. In the unlikely event of an SSD fail, simply use that image to write to whatever new drive you get.

4. You have to pay for 2 OS licenses.


Focusing on #4 . . . I've always heard that a Windows OS license is tied to the motherboard of the device. So, if I install the same Win7 key on 2 drives attached to the same motherboard, that violates the Microsoft EULA?
a b G Storage
June 12, 2014 12:07:07 AM

jcraigjones said:
USAFRet said:
jcraigjones said:
rgd1101 said:
how small is smallish?


The SSD is a Sandisk 120GB. The HDD is a WD "Blue" 1TB.


The HDD does not need to be, nor should be, 'bootable'.
It is just another drive. The 120 SSD you have will work quite well. Use the HDD for stuff that is too large (games) or doesn't need to be on the SSD (movies, music, etc)

There is zero need to have another OS on the HDD.


Thanks for the response. Let's say the SSD fails one day, wouldn't it be nice to immediately boot off of the HDD until the SSD could be replaced?


Yes that might be true, however installing an OS on both would be a hassle as you would likely run into permissions issues and IMHO you should back up anyway as well as the likelihood of the SSD failing being small.
a c 954 G Storage
June 11, 2014 3:54:46 PM

jcraigjones said:


Thanks for the response. Let's say the SSD fails one day, wouldn't it be nice to immediately boot off of the HDD until the SSD could be replaced?


1. The HDD is likely to fail earlier than the SSD.

2. Whatever theoretical boot OS you have on the HDD will not be 'the same' as what is on the SSD. AS soon as you start using the real OS on the SSD, it will then be 'different' than what OS you have on the HDD.

3. Far easier to make an image of the SSD once a month or so. In the unlikely event of an SSD fail, simply use that image to write to whatever new drive you get.

4. You have to pay for 2 OS licenses.
June 11, 2014 3:38:58 PM

USAFRet said:
jcraigjones said:
rgd1101 said:
how small is smallish?


The SSD is a Sandisk 120GB. The HDD is a WD "Blue" 1TB.


The HDD does not need to be, nor should be, 'bootable'.
It is just another drive. The 120 SSD you have will work quite well. Use the HDD for stuff that is too large (games) or doesn't need to be on the SSD (movies, music, etc)

There is zero need to have another OS on the HDD.


Thanks for the response. Let's say the SSD fails one day, wouldn't it be nice to immediately boot off of the HDD until the SSD could be replaced?

Best solution chosen by ErAnkurPaul

a c 954 G Storage
June 11, 2014 2:06:10 PM

jcraigjones said:
rgd1101 said:
how small is smallish?


The SSD is a Sandisk 120GB. The HDD is a WD "Blue" 1TB.


The HDD does not need to be, nor should be, 'bootable'.
It is just another drive. The 120 SSD you have will work quite well. Use the HDD for stuff that is too large (games) or doesn't need to be on the SSD (movies, music, etc)

There is zero need to have another OS on the HDD.
a b G Storage
June 11, 2014 1:56:22 PM

jcraigjones said:
ss202sl said:
You only need 1 boot drive. A second(data) drive does not need to be bootable. You can make it bootable, but it isn't required.


The question is should it be bootable. What are the pluses and minuses?


I'm going to assume you mean it being bootable instead of the SSD?

Only pluses would be possibly easier to manage if you used the SSD as a cache through software. Other than that the OS on the SSD would be much faster day to day if programs were installed on it and the HDD was used for storage of photos/video.
June 11, 2014 1:46:17 PM

rgd1101 said:
how small is smallish?


The SSD is a Sandisk 120GB. The HDD is a WD "Blue" 1TB.
June 11, 2014 1:44:36 PM

ss202sl said:
You only need 1 boot drive. A second(data) drive does not need to be bootable. You can make it bootable, but it isn't required.


The question is should it be bootable. What are the pluses and minuses?

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