I need a dedicated OS Hard Drive

[Smartazz]

I guess the ideal size would be around 40GB and SATA. I'm going to dual boot XP Pro and Vista on two different drives. Would 40GB be enough for Vista Home Premium and possibly Vista Ultimate?

 

[Hardlin]

In my testing, it should be enough to hold the OS. Currently, I haven't had an install take more than 20GB

 

[T9D]

You might as well buy one of the denser newer models. They will be a lot faster and barely cost more. Look at something around the 300 gb mark for the best value and speed.

 

[Roguestar]

If you're looking to install just the OS, 20GB is more than enough but surely if you're installing your main programs to the same drive you'll need more...

 

[Smartazz]

I have a 320GB Seagate that's partitioned in ~300GB for games and files, ~20GB for Windows XP Pro and I think I want a seperate 40GB HDD just for Vista and use the larger partition on the 320GB for files.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: Smartazz
I guess the ideal size would be around 40GB and SATA. I'm going to dual boot XP Pro and Vista on two different drives. Would 40GB be enough for Vista Home Premium and possibly Vista Ultimate?

Do you mean just the OS or do you mean the OS and program files (MS Office, Firefox, etc)?

 

[coolpurplefan]

You may want to check out performance benchmarks because I actually found a Samsung 250 GB was faster than the 300 GB models. Why, I don't know. I even found the PATA model was way faster than a lot of drives. Anyway, that's what I got because it's my personal preference anyway.

EDIT: I read you should not mix and match PATA and SATA. It should be either all SATA drives or all PATA drives.

 

[Roguestar]

I've not read anything decrying mixing PATA and SATA, and I've got two IDE drives and an SATA drive running in my PC and couldn't be happier with it 😕.

 

[SexyK]

Do they even make drives that are 40GB and SATA? I'm guessing the smallest you'll find will be at least 120GB, but I could be wrong about that... Also, maybe I'm misunderstanding the question... to me it appears you want a physical drive that is 40GB on which you will only install Vista... is that correct?

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: SexyK
Do they even make drives that are 40GB and SATA? I'm guessing the smallest you'll find will be at least 120GB, but I could be wrong about that... Also, maybe I'm misunderstanding the question... to me it appears you want a physical drive that is 40GB on which you will only install Vista... is that correct?

Yeah Vista OS only, no other program files involved.

 

[SexyK]

Okay, a quick look at Newegg reveals four 80GB SATA drives available for ~$50... I'd guess that's the smallest drive you'll be able to get with an SATA interface. For a few dollars more you could get a larger, faster drive and partition it in a similar manner to your current drive though...

 

[HannibalX]

Raptor.

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: Trinitron
Raptor.

I considered a 36GB Raptor, but they're really pricey.