Basic M.2 Configuration Query

[Brocky36]

Hi, all.

In the process of ordering parts for a new gaming / browsing build but have never used M.2 drives before. I am considering getting a couple of WD Black SN850X - a 1TB and a 2TB. I also have a 1TB Samsung 850 EVO SSD which is 5-6 years old.

Board will be an ASUS TUF Gaming B650 Plus Wi-Fi
1 x M.2 2280 PCIe 5.0 x 4
1 x M.2 22110 PCIe 4.0 x 4
1 x M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x 4

Back in the day, it was preferable to have a smaller drive just for OS, then a bigger one for programs and the biggest and best one for games....with maybe an old one for storing pictures, music, movies etc.

Is this still the case with new drives and systems? How do people set up these days?

 

[Joxeon]

The reason it was preferable to use a smaller NMVE/SSD for the OS was the costs for fast drives were quite high back then, these days its not worth bothering with anything under 1tb they are much cheaper and also with the limited M.2 slots its not worth wasting one on a small drive.

 

[Brocky36]

The reason it was preferable to use a smaller NMVE/SSD for the OS was the costs for fast drives were quite high back then, these days its not worth bothering with anything under 1tb they are much cheaper and also with the limited M.2 slots its not worth wasting one on a small drive.

Thanks for the reply, Joxeon.

The query was not so much about the size / cost of the drives but more about the configuration of having a separate drive for only OS, then one for games, one for apps etc. whether for efficiency or organisation purposes.

I am curious to know how people set up these days.

Is a configuration of three dedicated drives preferable?
C:OS
D:Apps
E:Games


Or do folks just have two?
C:OS & Apps
D:Games
or
C:OS
D:Apps & Games

I'm also curious to know if there are any advantages or disadvantages to having certain apps on a separate drive from the OS. For example; assuming the above three dedicated drive setup, would I want GPU drivers installed on C:OS, D:Apps or E:Games, from an efficiency / performance perspective.

Or is all this complete tosh in my head as today's drives make this all irrelevant?

 

[Joxeon]

I’d probably just go for 2 2tb drives if I was buying a new board with 3 M.2 slots as then I’d have 4tb with an option to upgrade again in the future.

I’d have the first drive for the OS + non steam games and apps / media and the 2nd drive for steam.

 

[Tetras]

I'm also curious to know if there are any advantages or disadvantages to having certain apps on a separate drive from the OS. For example; assuming the above three dedicated drive setup, would I want GPU drivers installed on C:OS, D:Apps or E:Games, from an efficiency / performance perspective.

Not worth worrying about. I'd only be concerned with partitions/drives for the reasons of:
- Easier reinstallation of OS.
- Easier backups/cloning.

 

[Brocky36]

I’d probably just go for 2 2tb drives if I was buying a new board with 3 M.2 slots as then I’d have 4tb with an option to upgrade again in the future.

I’d have the first drive for the OS + non steam games and apps / media and the 2nd drive for steam.

Not worth worrying about. I'd only be concerned with partitions/drives for the reasons of:
- Easier reinstallation of OS.
- Easier backups/cloning.

Ok, cool. Thank you to both of you for your time and advice.

 

[FredFlint]

The reason it was preferable to use a smaller NMVE/SSD for the OS was the costs for fast drives were quite high back then, these days its not worth bothering with anything under 1tb they are much cheaper and also with the limited M.2 slots its not worth wasting one on a small drive.

I have always used a relatively small fast drive for the OS and others drives for games and storage. The reason was never cost, it was performance and convenience. Running everything of one drive can reduce performance and if the drive fails you have to re-install everything. I now have a 1TB NVMe for OS + Programs and a 2TB NVMe for games and work data and a few SATA drives for general data and backups. The OS is constantly doing small read/writes to the OS drive, this can cause stutter in some games but as drives got faster with lower latency, its become less of an issue.