Building my first PC: should I install two hard drives or one?

[rnmcd]

I have ran into a few problems regarding building my first PC (for non-linear digital video editing). If you have any suggestions I would appreciate it.

I bought two 7200rpm hard drives and a CD-RW.

I plan on putting the OS and software on the Primary IDE as Master then the CD-RW on the Primary IDE as Slave.

My audio/video files will be on the second hard drive which will be on the Secondary IDE as Master.

The thing I don't understand/know is if the CD-RW and the Primary IDE hard drive share a cable will I be able to load programs from the CD-RW to that hard drive?

If I understand correctly, the two devices cannot operate simultaneously. So how would it work?

Should I just get a larger drive and forget about having a second hard drive?

Thanks,rnmcd

 

[Quickfingerz]

Yes you willbe able to copy from the CD RW to the hard drive. If you plan on burning something CD make sure the image will go on the secodary channeled hard drive. When you put a CD RW on the same line, file transfers will get a little slower than normal. Because the motherboard can only access one Device at once. Your setup is fine. Keep it that way. A performance tip is to put your swap file in the drive that does not have your programs on it.

 

[rnmcd]

But how would the CD-RW be able to load a program to the hard drive that is on the same cable?

I went to a few other tech sites and every signle one of them said "one IDE device per cable".

 

[Crypticburn]

You see, the only reason to have the 2 HDs on seperate IDE cables is to increase productivity and speed. When copying from one HD to the other on the same cable it can only access one at a time, therefore having the HDs on seperate cables is beneficiary. But, this does not mean you can only use one HD when both are plugged into the same IDE cable. This applies to your problem too, you will be able to use both hard drives and the CDR the way you have it set up, but only the HD or the CDR, on the same cable, can be accessed at one time, therefore it is better to burn to a CD from the second HD, because the computer can access them both at the same time because they are on different cables.

Hope I helped

***remember, proofread, then post***

 

[rnmcd]

Heck, I could never stipe. I am having enough trouble figuring out how to configure my IDE devices. I wouldn't be able to figure out how to stripe before Christmas.

I am probably going to get one 40GB drive and forget trying to configure multiple hard drives.

-rnmcd

 

[Crypticburn]

What??? If you really want 2 HDs, it's not that hard.
Step one, put HD1 as Primary Master
Step two, put CD as Primary Slave
Step three, Put HD2 as Secondary Master

I recommend having a CD and CDR, not just the CDR. It doesnt really matter if you have both HDs on the same IDE cable, it's just preferable to have them on seperate cables. striping would be cool, that's what I'm doing with my 30gig IBM 75GXP drives, but it's not necissary, but it does boost performance.

To clear up any misconceptions: rnmcd "If I understand correctly, the two devices cannot operate simultaneously. So how would it work?"

The two devices cannot be accessed at the same time, but with both plugged into the same IDE it can switch from one to the other and seem like they are both being accessed at the same time. Thus, having them act faster on seperate cables as apposed to the same.

 

[Crypticburn]

BTW, dont do software striping if you choose to go that route, personally I would recommend hardware to control the striping. but, then again, that's just my opinion

 

[Radboy]

http://radified.com/DV_NLE/dv_nle_1.htm

 

[Quickfingerz]

When installing a program, the IDE device switches back and forth from CD RW to hard drive. It stores the info in RAM from the CD RW then puts it into the Hard drive. It takes quite a bit longer to install programs. But the time you have to wait is nothing when you see that you won't have any Hard drive lag when playing a game if you set your swap file to one hard drive while installing the game on the other.