Does Size Matter: Smaller Size HDD better for OS?

[ajaju]

I am putting a new rig together... and have a fairly simply question about HDD allocation.

All my rigs so far have had 2 or more HDDs. Used to keep the OS and Apps on one HDD and my docs, media, etc. on another.

In all my previous builds, I used a small-sized HDD for my OS+App storage and a larger HDD for the docs+media etc. TWO reasons:

1) I believed (dont ask me why) smalled-sized HDD had a faster access time (everything else being equal)... and so aptly suited for OS+App. I never had more than 50GB of OS+app - so why waste storage space on it.

2) Docs+Media need significantly larger storage space while access time is not so much of an issue... so use larger HDDs (with partitioning, if needed)

For my new rig, I am arguing with myself (preconceived notions)...

A) Is a smaller sized HDD better suited for OS - given access time issues etc.? Does it even matter?

B) I have 2 x 400GB SATA 3.0Gb/s (Seagate) - should i buy another smaller sized HDD (maybe 80 or 100GB) for OS+App? or should i just use 1 x 400GB for OS+App with partitioning? Which option is better.

Any help will be appreciated.

thanks

 

[Never Knows Best]

You don't need a smaller hard drive to speed up your os. Best thing to do would be to have the os on one hard drive and the page/swap file on the second drive. That should net you the largest gains in performance. Also once you get everything setup defragment the boot drive boot sector and clean your prefetch files.

 

[ajaju]

thanks

will certainly keep this in mind as i build the thing now

 

[Thalasar]

I guess you are referring to the difference in seek times on smaller drives? It's not noticable to a human being.

 

[Bob Anderson]

Originally posted by: Never Knows Best
You don't need a smaller hard drive to speed up your os. Best thing to do would be to have the os on one hard drive and the page/swap file on the second drive. That should net you the largest gains in performance. Also once you get everything setup defragment the boot drive boot sector and clean your prefetch files.

--------------------------

I keep hearing this advice (putting the page file on a second hard drive) over and over again.

I've looked into it and came up with two limitations: the second hard drive has to be on a second controller, and, there is virtually nothing to be gained if one has 1 GB of memory or more.

I've never tried it, but I would like to hear other people's experience.

-Bob

 

[jose]

Not sure about windows, but under most OS's, the larger your access list the longer it take to access a file.

you have to maintain a larger index of all the files on a drive. We had to implement our own OS back in college, many years ago..

Now whether you'd notice the difference, probably not.. But ever notice how a very large disk gets slower over time as you put more files on it..

What you would notice is the difference in speed (random access) between a 15K scsi and a 7200rpm ide/sata drive..

I have all types in my system, 15k & 10K scsi and 10K & 7200 sata.. You do notice the difference in system response time..

In your case do which ever you feel like.

Regards,
Jose