Why have multiple hard drives?

Plumcuda1

Senior member
Jan 1, 2005
911
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Ok, I see ALOT of people on this board that have multiple HDD's on their pc's ... my question is why? The system in my sig will be finished by friday (if all the parts are on time). That sytems main purpose is gaming. Would I benefit from another hard drive? if so how would I set it up? RAID? Would I load the games on the raptor and the OS on the other drive (i wouldnt buy another raptor for $$ reasons)

I guess I just dont understand how 2 or more HDD's work. If I have the OS one the, lets say 7200rpm drive, and games on the raptor how would that be any quicker than having the games and OS on the raptor? or is it more about free disk space?

I bet some of you are laughing .... like I said Im a n00b just looking to understand how this works and if I would benefit from it.

Thanks for any help.
 

Budmantom

Lifer
Aug 17, 2002
13,103
1
81
I have a second hd because I got a great deal on it and 40 gb wasn't enough, now all my important data(pics) are backed up on dvd's and on both hd's just in case.

As far as raid it is faster.


Tom
 

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
33
86
Raptor: 73GB. About 68GB formatted. Not a lot of space, but it's basically nice SCSI drive in ATA clothing, and keeps up with the cureent 15K SCSI drives (for single-user use and single-HDD server use, sucking when in RAID, but not as much as the cost delta).
For less than the cost of that Raptor, you can get a 200GB 5 year ATA drive, or a 3-year 250GB...well, still for less than the Rator's cost.
For the cost of the 36GB Raptor, you can get a 160GB drive, possibly a 200GB.
So, OS and swap file on the Raptor--FAST, with data on the ATA drive(s).

No, you would not benefit a lot from it. If you want a super-speedy PC, it will help, but the effect will be minimal in games, only affecting load times, not FPS.
 

stevty2889

Diamond Member
Dec 13, 2003
7,036
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Using a second hard drive is good for keeping all important files backed up. That way if you have to reformat you drive with the operation system on it, you don't loose everything else, becuase it's on another drive..In the case of having a raptor and a second drive, I would put the OS and games/programs on the raptor, and then use the second drive to hold important files, and ghost the the raptor on to it. That way if you have to reformat, you won't loose your files and have to re-install everything.
 
Nov 7, 2000
16,403
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You only boot off of one hard drive. This is where your operating system gets loaded, and commonly where programs are installed to.

The only reason for more hard drives is extra capacity. It is recommended that you store all *files* (think word documents, mp3s, photos) on a different hard drive, or at least a different partition for the reasons stevty2889 listed above.

The computer is constantly accessing your program files and operating system files (swap file etc.), so it is definitely recommended that you put these things on the faster hard drive (in your case the raptor).

RAID is another reason to have multiple hard drives. Anandtech has a great RAID FAQ if you want more info on that.
 

twodaend

Member
Dec 3, 2003
116
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I aggree with the backup theory. One drive for the OS and another for data. So if the OS fails for some reason you still have your data. However you will probably want to backup your data somewhere else also becuase that data drive can just as easily be taken by the hard drive gods as well. Also some people like to make an image of there pc current settings just in case something goes wrong they can restore from the image without going through the trouble of reinstalling the OS and other programs. The image file is reccommended to be on a seperate drive as well (although a seperate partition is ok) so that if that drive is totally lost, the image file and OS are not lost together.

Having multiple drives is 1) about having more space and 2) redundancy for backup purposed, images, data, etc. Always CYA!!!
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
2 200GB hard drives are cheaper than 1 400GB drive.
And, it can be good to have files spread across multiple drives. That way, if you have a drive failure, and you mysteriously lose the backup discs that you studiously update every day:), then it might not be as horribly catastrophic. You'll only lose half of your really important stuff.

I personally have 8 hard drives at my disposal - 2 in my main system, 5 in my secondary (4 in RAID 5, plus an extra one), and one in my laptop. Loads of storage space, a high-speed, fault-tolerant safe-house, and portable storage.
 

CraigRT

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
31,440
5
0
it seems weird to not have 2
my other drive is external, as I only use it for storage, and it doesn't clutter up the inside of my case.

but without that, how would you back anything up before a format?

I could never just have 1 hdd thats for sure.
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
22,025
868
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I have six hard drives in my system. Why? Because they have not made a hard drive large enough (yet) to hold all my data. :)
 

rforum

Member
Oct 26, 2004
128
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76
Putting swap files on the auxilliary hard disk can speed processing. My Windows XP swap file and Photoshop swap file are on my auxilliary hard disk.
 

dtboos

Member
Dec 12, 2004
120
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It depends on how much space you need really, or what you do with your computer.

The "so if you need to reformat" argument, however, isn't a reason. You can just partition your single drive and do that just fine.

My work comp has 3 harddrives. The first is for the OS, with a 2nd partition just for flat files and drivers. The 2nd harddrive is my main harddrive for my sound editing programs and stores all my in-work data. I need a large harddrive for that, and want to keep my work separate from my boot drive. My 3rd harddrive is simply for backing up my bundled data files and projects, and is inserted via a 5.25" bay HDD kit and removed once the data is backed up.


So for your purposes, 1 disk drive would be plenty. I would say maybe even 1 HDD at 74gigs would be plenty (although I'd get one at 120gigs in case). 1x 30gig partition for your OS, and the remaining 40gigs or so for your gaming partition and to save any important files to. That way, if you DO need to reformat your HD and re-install windows, your game files (saved files, configs ect) and data files are fine since you are only wiping the OS partition.
 

MellowMan

Junior Member
Sep 14, 2004
12
0
0
I only have four hard drives a 160+80+40+40, having multiple drives, makes my data more secure, and gives me more room to grow.
 

farmercal

Golden Member
Mar 23, 2000
1,580
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I use a 10K RPM SCSI (17GB) for my operating system and programs because it is fast. I use a Seagate SCSI 7200 RPM (160 GB divided into 2 partitions) for my data. I also have another 10K SCSI mounted but not powered up just in case the first one goes bad and I also have a Maxtor (8 MB buffer) 120 GB with a backup of my data mounted but not powered just in case the 160 dies. That's why.
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
239
106
My response is for planned redunancy. I have three systems - each has two identical hard drives, one being the clone/duplicate of the other. This allows a fast switch due any problem on any machine. I reclone them all every Saturday afternoon.

In addition, each system has a pair of external drives solely for data and common files that get updated frequently. The pair are also duplicates.

Hard drives are so cheap that planned redundancy is very affordable and provides security in depth.

All duplicate drives are disconnected from power, so they incur no wear and tear. After cloning, they are rotated so that the last duty drive gets a week off.
 

piroroadkill

Senior member
Sep 27, 2004
731
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This is a stupid question. For storage space, what you do with that (backups, more shit, swap file management, RAID arrays) is irrelevant. More storage space is always useful.

I just ordered another Barracuda 200GB 8MB cache for my server, infact. Bringing that server up to 900GB, and including my other server, that's 1150GB ;)
 

biostud

Lifer
Feb 27, 2003
19,107
6,037
136
Originally posted by: CraigRT
it seems weird to not have 2
my other drive is external, as I only use it for storage, and it doesn't clutter up the inside of my case.

but without that, how would you back anything up before a format?

I could never just have 1 hdd thats for sure.

 

tweeve2002

Senior member
Sep 5, 2003
474
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Originally posted by: Oyeve
I have six hard drives in my system. Why? Because they have not made a hard drive large enough (yet) to hold all my data. :)

dido, I have 2x80GB + 2x120GB + 2x300GB = 1TB :D I put them in 3 RAIDs not because of speed, its not that big of in increse, but because i can. Its easier to find data spread accross 3 RAIDs than it is to find data spread across 6 hard drives.