Do you install files on OS drive?

[Dexmaus]

Hi, it seems my harddrive is the only thing that is dragging down my overall performance, i would really like a Raptor or a Cheetah HD for my OS. I was wondering do you guys install all your files (appz/games) onto a different drive? so keep the OS as clean as possible? or you just install them in C:\Program Files

What's the best way to increase HD speed? thanks!~!

oh i current have a Seagate SATA 300GB HD

 

[corkyg]

I don't find it makes any difference. I have some programs in c:\program files and others in other drives.

What usually slows a system down most are things running in background.

 

[Oyeve]

All my games are on seperate drives. MS SW like office and crap like that are on the OS drive. Other various apps or on seperate drives also, like benchmarking SW and such. I try to keep as few programs running in the background as possible. My load time from when the windows screen shows up is 4 1/2 bluebars. It would be even less if I didnt have so many USB devices attached.

 

[Billb2]

The number and locations of files on a HDD have nothing to do with HDD speed, Though files nearer the center of the disk will read/write slightly faster Now, fragmentation, that's a whole other story.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Dexmaus
Hi, it seems my harddrive is the only thing that is dragging down my overall performance, i would really like a Raptor or a Cheetah HD for my OS. I was wondering do you guys install all your files (appz/games) onto a different drive? so keep the OS as clean as possible? or you just install them in C:\Program Files

What's the best way to increase HD speed? thanks!~!

oh i current have a Seagate SATA 300GB HD

don't get too caught up on the interface as single hdds don't even saturate a ata100 connection for str (even the 15k scsi).

as far as keeping the hdd going as quick as possible, about the only thing is is to defrag often using a decent defrag program. personally i use and have used diskeeper for about 3yrs. i defrag 1x/week.

 

[Baked]

Programs are installed on the same HD as the OS. I don't even wanna use a 2nd HD now. Everything goes on DVDs for storage now.

 

[Nocturnal]

I install everything from my OS to program files all on the same drive. I keep my data files that can be edited by programs on a different hard drive. Reason for this is you don't really have to back everything up if you plan on re-installing your OS. Also it's good in case your main OS drive just decides to fail.

 

[Skeeedunt]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
I install everything from my OS to program files all on the same drive. I keep my data files that can be edited by programs on a different hard drive. Reason for this is you don't really have to back everything up if you plan on re-installing your OS. Also it's good in case your main OS drive just decides to fail.

Same here. Also remember to increase the minimum size of your swap (to ~1.5G or so) so that it isn't constantly resizing and fragmenting your disk.

 

[Check]

I have three hard drives 80GB and 2 200GB. I gave my OS it's own 7GB partition on my 80 GB and then did divided the hard drive up for music and regular installs. one of the 200's has 50GB games partition and the rest for random storage. The last 200 isn't partitioned at all.

The only thing I have concluded from this whole thing is that only the OS needs it's own partition (probably going to give it a little more space because of the upcoming windows vista).
Whatever possessed me to partition like this in the first place is beyond me, and I'm never going to do it again in the future because it doesn't accomplish anything.

 

[Jiggz]

Originally posted by: Billb2
The number and locations of files on a HDD have nothing to do with HDD speed, Though files nearer the center of the disk will read/write slightly faster Now, fragmentation, that's a whole other story.

I believe you meant files near the perimeter (outside) will read slightly faster, since it will take less revolution for the disc to read more data compare to the inside. As for the hdd speed, well it's either wait for the SSD or invest in a RAID 0 with a back up.

 

[F1shF4t]

I have 3 drives, the OS, virus scan etc, office and other basic programs i use from time to time go on this drive
Second drive is for games and for larger programs ie video encoding ones.
Third drive is for data, videos etc.