What's the best configuration for my drives?

[Adam8281]

Hoping you guys can give me some advice on how to configure my HDDs.

Right now I have the OS and installed programs on a 74GB Raptor, and data on a 500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue.

I just purchased a 1TB Hitachi because space on the 500GB WD is getting a bit tight (and because the price for the Hitachi was $48 .

Space on the 74GB Raptor has gotten a bit tight, with all of my apps and games installed. I have about 8GB left. In other words, one more large installed game, and I'll be out of space. Here are some options I am considering:

Option 1:
Leave things as they are (OS and programs on 74GB Raptor), and add the 1TB Hitachi as additional data storage. If I run out of space on the Raptor, just uninstall a game (since I have more games on there at a given time than I'm actually playing).

Option 2:
Keep the OS on the 74GB raptor, but put installed programs on 500GB WD, and use the 1TB Hitachi as data storage.

Option 3:
Put the OS and programs on the 500GB WD, use the 1TB Hitachi as data storage, and get rid of the 74GB Raptor.

Option 4:
??

Basically, I am wondering what the most efficient set up is. I have never installed program files on a different physical disk than the OS, and I'm not sure if this aids efficiency or not. Additionally, I'm not sure if a 10,000rpm 74GB Raptor actually outperforms a modern drive like the WD Caviar Blue. If it doesn't, then I guess there's not a great reason for me to keep the Raptor. Thanks for your input!

 

[Syntax Error]

Utilize the Raptor's 10,000 RPM spindle speed for the OS so you have a faster user experience when loading Windows and other Windows-related functions. Install frequently-used games on this drive as well.

Use the 500GB WD for games that you want to have installed but don't play very frequently. You'll still have good performance, it just won't load as fast (if even) than the 10,000 RPM Raptor. Consider partitioning this drive, say, 150GB for games and the rest for storage in the event you need to nuke the partition after a reformat or whatever.

Maybe even an 80-100GB partition for the installed games as that would short-stroke the hard drive for faster sequential read/writes and reduces access times a bit. You can utilize the remainder of the disk as storage, and you'll reap the benefits of the short-stroked partition as long as the storage partition isn't being utilized (i.e., copy/pasting or indexing).

Use the 1TB Hitachi for storage.

Simple, and you don't have to get rid of your Raptor!

 

[Adam8281]

So all things (like drive RPMs) being equal, does a large program (say a game, or Photoshop) load faster if it is on the same physical drive as the OS, or a different drive?

 

[myocardia]

Having the OS on one drive and the apps & games on another is almost always faster. That's assuming both drives are roughly the same speed, though. When one drive is ~50% faster than the other, lines start to blur. In this instance, my best guess would be that any app that's on the first half of the Raptor is going to load faster, even though the Raptor is having to do double duty (triple duty actually, because of the page file).

Normally, I would say put all of your apps on the 500GB drive, and leave Windows and the page file on the Raptor, but in this instance, I agree completely with Syntax error, including a smaller partition at the "beginning" of the 500GB drive for your other, less played games, and the rest of it for storage if/when you start running out of space on the 1TB drive.