Need more space: upgrade advice

[Irish_Tom]

Lo all,

I currently have a 160GB Samsung SATA HDD in 4 partitions:

6GB for Windows 4GB Scratch disk 100GB for work/storage and 50GB for software.

Basically I need more space; my software partition is almost full (mostly thanks to Steam applications) and my storage partition is full of large filesize photos etc. I would also like something a bit quieter.


I see myself with a few options:

Option 1
keep my current Drive and get a new one say about 250-320GB (I'm torn between the WD and the Seagate). Then re-partition my 160GB and keep the larger drive for storage only. (what sized partitions would you recommend if I went down this route). This would probably be the cheapest option.

Option 2
Stick my current drive on MM and go for one large (500MB drive) then partition it into the relevant sections. More expensive but I wouldn't have two HDD's to worry about.

option 3
Stick my current drive on MM and get an 80Gb barracuda for windows and apps and a larger drive (320-400) for my storage. I'm thinking this option would be better for faster loading of windows and apps as well as having plenty of storage but is more expensive than option 1.

Any advice would be welcomed

Cheers Guys

Panzer

 

[asim]

I like the 3rd option for speed and efficiency reasons.

I just bought a 500gb wd drive for storage. I use my 74gb wd raptor for windows and apps. Since I bought the second drive and moved everything across my pc is running a lot faster.

 

[Irish_Tom]

Ok thanks Asim, do you think I'll notice any difference if I swap the 80GB barracuda for a 74GB raptor?

Cheers

Panzer

 

[asim]

Well the raptor is 10,000rpm, better seek times, twice the cache size and has the price tag to match. So basically you get what you pay for.

 

[Irish_Tom]

Ah i see fair enough. I might re-think my upgrade and wait until after Christmas so I can afford the difference

Cheers Asim

Panzer