Best HDD Configuration

[box]

Just about to format and install Vista, but was wondering if anyone could give me some ideas on how I could best use my available drives.


SATA 250GB Seagate 7200.10 16MB
SATA 2 x 80GB Seagate 7200.8 8MB RAID 0 (160GB)
IDE133 40GB Maxtor 7200 2MB

I want somewhere to put
- Daul boot Vista/XP
- Docs/music/apps
- Heavy duty apps (photoshop/games)
- Backup

Wasn't sure whether the O/S would be better on the faster single Seagate, or the RAID'ed two smaller ones. In my mind I'm thinking...

SATA 250GB Seagate 7200.10 16MB
- Dual boot O/S
- Docs/music/apps

SATA 2 x 80GB Seagate 7200.8 8MB RAID 0 (160GB)
- Games
- Heavy duty apps
- Music?

IDE133 40GB Maxtor 7200 2MB
- Dedicated backup


Sound any good?

 

[semi-pro waster]

You could always run something like HDTach to check the speeds that your 7200.10 and the Raid0 array give in comparison to each other but what you suggest sounds fine at the moment.

 

[box]

Did a couple of tests a while back in HD Tune. The RAID array and the single drive have more or less the same access times. However, sustained transfer on the RAID is around 115MB/s and on the single drive is 95MB/s. So not a whole lot of difference.

 

[semi-pro waster]

In that case I'd probably pick the Raid0 array for the OS as that will be the thing you use most frequently along with any regularly used apps, however be very careful if you are going to use it to store any important data and you should think about your backup strategy regardless.