WD Velociraptor partitioning advice needed

[MTDEW]

Ok, i just got a new 300GB Velociraptor.
Im going to use it for my OS drive.(of course)
And im going to use my Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB drive for storage.
Heres my basic plan...

Velociraptor
1: 90gb Primary / active partition (this is for my OS and programs to be imaged using Acronis)
2:191gb logical partition (for games and other programs i use)

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB drive
1:A single primary partition for music/ movies / storage

I have several questions.
1:Would games be better off on a completely seperate drive than the OS drive?
2:Should i create a swap file partition on the WD 640 or am i better off leaving it on the faster Velociraptor?
3: Should i divide the Velociraptor into a primary and logical partitions, or just stick with two primary partitions? Any advantage using both partitions as primary over one primary and one logical?
4:Does it matter (speedwise) if i use the 640gb as a single / large partition? or should i partition it also?

In other words, how can i partition and distribute my stuff so i can make full use of the Velociraptors speed?



Pc Usage priorities.
Primary - gaming speed (not sure the velociraptor will help much here)
Secondary - raring/unraring large files and video encoding (mostly avi to dvd or dvd to avi)


complete specs....(if it matters)
Vista Ultimate 64bit
8gb G-Skill DDR2 1000
Gigabyte EP45-UD3P
Q6600 @ 3.4ghz
Corsair HX620w
GTX 280
X-FI Xtreme Music
300gb WD Velociraptor
640gb WD AAKS
LG DVD-RW DL
CM stacker 830 EVO
Dell 24" 2405ftw
Logitech Z-5500's

 

[Fallengod]

I never have seen the point of partioning myself.

-Games, no you want games on the raptor lol, for sure.....raptors load stuff like games really fast.. Thats kinda the whole reason to have a raptor. They load games and OS super fast.

-swap file i guess "might" help being on the 640 drive.....

-I personally done use partions, I dont see the point.

-I just use my 640 black as slave...works great.

If i were you, just use the 300 raptor as main with the full 300gb, then set the 640 as slave and be done. Thats easiest heh.

 

[MTDEW]

The point of partitioning is i can put my OS on one partition and image that partition.
So the image can be restored within a few minutes whenever i want a clean install of windows.
In other words, if my OS gets hosed, i can just laugh and restore my image and be back at my desktop like nothing happened in about 5mins.
And its usefulness is immeasurable when troubleshooting.
I keep two images.
One with just a clean install of windows with no drivers. (for fresh starts when i want to start all over from scratch)
One with a clean install of windows and all my programs. (no vid or sound drivers)
For quick clean install of new drivers.

And i can keep my games , backups of my programs /saves and other stuff on a seperate partition so they dont get overwritten when i restore my os partition.

Heck i restore my c: drive at least once a month.
I always have a clean running 'new" install of windows.

And i also never post in threads saying "man these new drivers messed up pc!" because my drivers are always installed on a clean windows installation

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: MTDEW
The point of partitioning is i can put my OS on one partition and image that partition.
So the image can be restored within a few minutes whenever i want a clean install of windows.
In other words, if my OS gets hosed, i can just laugh and restore my image and be back at my desktop like nothing happened in about 5mins.
And its usefulness is immeasurable when troubleshooting.
I keep two images.
One with just a clean install of windows with no drivers. (for fresh starts when i want to start all over from scratch)
One with a clean install of windows and all my programs. (no vid or sound drivers)
For quick clean install of new drivers.

And i can keep my games , backups of my programs /saves and other stuff on a seperate partition so they dont get overwritten when i restore my os partition.

Heck i restore my c: drive at least once a month.
I always have a clean running 'new" install of windows.

And i also never post in threads saying "man these new drivers messed up pc!" because my drivers are always installed on a clean windows installation

wow a little anal eh? no pun intended.

 

[MTDEW]

LOL
I spend a lot of time at my pc(s)
Yes, everything is always organized and running "like a new installation".
Why not.
It takes like 10min to install image software after installing windows.
And like 5min to restore the image whenever i want.
heck i can take a leak and go grab a dew out of the fridge and my "new install" will be at the desktop b4 i sit down.
Its just too easy to do and VERY convienient.

As a matter of fact i dont have to re-install everything onto my new raptor.

I just restore my image to the new raptor drive, reboot, change boot order in the bios to boot off the raptor 1st.
im done, im at my desktop with all my stuff installed. :thumbsup:
Gotta LOVE imaging software!

 

[MTDEW]

Also...
Ever build someone a pc, and a few weeks later they call and say "Hey , my pc is messed up i need you to drop everything and come fix it for me!"
Nope, " i gave you a restore disc with it, you screwed it up , i didnt, just restore the pc with the disc i gave you."

And overclocking, ever push "too far" and corrupt windows?
No biggie, just restore the image and try again.

those are the actual reasons i started imaging/partitioning pcs.
the rest just came little by little over the past 20yrs or so.


Anyway....back on subject.

Im wondering if games on a seperate drive with the swap file on the velociraptor would be faster than games on the velociraptor and the swap file on the seperate drive.

 

[masteryoda34]

The swap file isn't going to make much difference since you have 8GB ram.

 

[MTDEW]

Originally posted by: masteryoda34
The swap file isn't going to make much difference since you have 8GB ram.

Thats what i thought too. (thats why i have 8gb)
Oblivion with mods and quarls texture pack still hits the hard drive while roaming.
And thats with 8gb ram and 1gb vid mem!
And ive tried all kinds of insane values for mem in the oblivion.ini, it just uses only so much memory no matter what value you set over like 4gb.

Anyway, ive never put my swapfile on a different drive, i just keep seeing it suggested for better performance and felt maybe im missing something here.
I guess i can just experiment with that and see what happens.

And this is my 1st raptor.

I never could get myself to justify the extra cost per gb.
This was an early X-mas present from my wife, cuz shes heard me talk about them for yrs now, yet ive never owned one.

Think im gonna do what i usually do.
primary os drive velociraptor
1: Patition 1 OS and apps that are always needed
2: Partition 2 Games and other apps that get installed / uninstalled often

Storage drive 640gb AAKS
1: One large partition for storage.