How should I set up my storage?

[imported_Jid]

Hey guys,

I need help deciding on the storage setup to use in my new build. I'm putting a system together for graphic design work that I'll be doing on Win XP64, I want to keep that install clean and light so everything else like games and other programs I want to put on a seperate OS (most likely Vista64).

I've read the FAQ and some other threads on HDDs but I don't really know what will work well, what I do know from other designers is that right now for my purposes Raid is not neccessary, good SSD seem nice but I want to wait for better prices and increased capacities etc, it's still a bit too new of a tech. for someone like me.

So the idea I have is to partition a 300GB velociraptor for both OS' and use a WD 1TB for storage, is that a good idea? I've read in the FAQ also that a good thing to do is to setup the OS on one drive and apps on another, should I just get 2 1tb drives and do that instead?

Or should I do something completely different still?

I hope you can help me out here, as you can probably see I have absolutely no clue

 

[pjkenned]

Get 2 drives, partition them, and raid 1 so if the drive dies, you don't lose data. Back-ups and fault tolerance are key.

 

[imported_Jid]

Yeah, I don't really want to go raid. I do backups manually now moving stuff between the different computers we've got, with the new system I want to use a hotswappable bay to backup files and clone my OS & app. partitions to externals.

So if I'm doing it this way should I still go with 2 1tb drives?

 

[HendrixFan]

If you are already used to backing up your data regularly, then RAID for back up isn't too important. Unless your install partition (including games) is more than 300GB, i think the raptor and 1TB combo will be your best bet.

 

[darkenedsoul]

The problem I have with putting apps on a 2nd drive is that if the main boot drive dies you have to reinstall the apps anyways. So why bother? I can definitely see the use of a 2nd drive as your data storage, i.e. app installed on OS boot drive, work on data on storage drive, back up OS to one external, back up data to 2nd external. if paranoid on data loss or for safety's sake have 2nd external and copy data across from other data disk. Drive prices are so low compared to years ago along with capacity increases that I can't understand why people insist on saying "put apps on 2nd drive" when if you lose your OS you lose access to your apps and with windows and its registry you have to muck around under the hood if you want to try and get the apps working again properly (dll's, associated files, paths, etc..) that you should just install then onto your OS boot drive and use 2nd drive for your data/work area.

Just my opinion but I think that's the smartest way to go.

 

[Talcyon]

I agree nearly 100% with darkenedsoul on this one. I have two hard drives currently, using one for OS and some apps while the second one is primarily games. That will be changing when I build my new computer.

Well, when my OS hard drive went down the tube I installed a new one and guess what...only one or two games still worked. I had to reinstall all of my games and programs I had on that second hard drive anyways, completely negating my sole purpose of having the two hard drive setup.

I'm not sure having two externals (one for OS HD, one for data HD) is really necessary but with the prices of hard drives it's not really a bad move. I just have one external for all and am contemplating on getting the HP MediaSmart EX485 so I can backup my two laptops and gaming machine (plus do all the extras that the HP server can do).

So Jid, since you already clone your OS and etc. to externals then I don't think you need to raid 1 two 1TBs. If the only thing you are putting on that 1 TB is data and not apps then I think you'll be just fine with what you want. In fact, that's pretty close to what I plan on doing.

 

[darkenedsoul]

You could also consider getting a backup app (like acronis) and image your boot disk so that when you restore from failure *or* upgrading to a bigger drive things still point to the right areas on the 2nd HD. Just remember to pull power on that HDD before doing a restore so drive letters don't get screwed up (I hate that they don't do something about that....). I image every couple of weeks (I should weekly on my main system since it's on 24x7....) and also have backups going to my HP ex485 WHS box I bought. I put 2 640's + 1 1TB Caviar Green into it on top of the 750Gb it came with. I need to bring up my other desktop more often for backups to it as well as my laptop (which has seen little use lately other than virus db updates, spybot, ad-aware and MS updates). But you can never be too covered on backups. I prefer to image with Acronis when I can and let WHS do it's daily's/weekly's/monthly's. Just in case I update an HDD or have a failure at least I can restore fairly recently, I'm not anal on needing daily backups...I may lose some email but that's about it for the most part.

Mike

 

[imported_Jid]

Ok thanks for the replies, you guys bring up great points, so I think I'll be going with the 1 OS+app drive and a storage drive

Out of curiosity, when I thought about the "apps on a different drive" option, I figured what I'd do in terms of backing up is clone with something like True Image the OS partition and also the app partition so if either drive failed I could get a new drive and restore both the OS onto the new drive and the apps on the existing drive with the images for instance. Would that not work in terms of being able to access apps and such?

Now that I'm sure I'll use a 300gb raptor for my OS + apps I think I'll clone the whole drive periodically, if it fails I can just use the slower cheaper drive untill I get a replacement, that should be easier and more practical. That should work, right?

 

[ruggb]

An important consideration is that too often apps save "stuff" in their folder - like configurations. Also, if u have two computers, it is nice to have them set the same way so it is easy to transfer data from one to the other. Not having to reinvent the wheel by having the folder structure and config files available after I reformat the C partition to do a clean install saves me considerable time. I backup any config/data files I can't move in normal operation from the C partition to the D partition. When the system is reinstalled, some programs do not require installation, just setting a new shortcut. The ones that do require installation, I have the config files to move/or not and the folder structure remains the same because I know exactly where to install and I don't have to worry about mis-spelling the folder name to keep all computers consistent.

I put data files/documents on another physical drive so that I can switch between Windows 7 and XP and utilize the same data/documents and program pointers as that drive letter remains the same with either system. My W7 and XP C:/D: partitions also reside on their own physical drive. Helps keep me organized and unconfused - and I need all the help I can get. I actually do not have an MS dual boot as my motherboard has a function to select the drive to boot from, so no boot file config is needed.

YMMV