Partitioning Strategy for 2 HDDs

mcgriffo

mcgriffo

mcgriffo

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About to do a fresh install, I'm using XP SP3 with 4gb RAM (I know, overkill, but had it lying round and stuck it in anyway.

I have two HDDs - a seagate 250gb and Samsung 500gb... both similar speeds with maybe the seagate a bit faster

My idea was to partition the 250gb into about 10gb for XP, another 90gb for programs/apps and the remainder (150b) for games

THEN to do a little 3gb spot for the page file ont he 500gb and use the rest for pics/music/data

Does this sound ok? I know maybe some of it won't really improve anything, but will any of the above provide a negative aspect to performance?
 
The Samsung drive will be faster than the Seagate, I'd use that for your OS. Up to you what you do with partitioning but if you're creating an OS partition for easy reinstalls then you might as well make it bigger for applications as well since they'd mostly need reinstalling.
Page file on a different drive is wise.
 
Wow! Didn't know that...

So the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache is not as fast as the Samsung SpinPoint T HD501LJ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache?

I'm not being funny, I genuinely didn't know!
 
This is what I've read.... don't think it'll make a lightning-like difference but maybe a "subtly-perceptive" one... or will just be the placebo effect of knowing it's supposed to which can be just as good

any ideas on the samsung above being definitely faster than the seagate?

I'm installing tonight so would be a good time to know for sure.....
 
The HD501LJ is definitely the faster, and quieter drive. The 7200.10's are terrible and the HD501LJ has 166GB platters and was only just behind the WD for fastest 500GB drive.

Putting the pagefile on another drive makes a difference, just as putting games and thing would make a difference. It's not something that is always directly apparent, just like you may not quite notice a 10MB/s faster drive; but spreading things across drives is always good for performance.
 
Thanks Absence - always thought the Seagate was faster for some reason....

Ok.. in light of this I have a new dilemma - my 500gb drive is faster than my 250gb, so it seems to make sense that I put the page file and DATA on the seagate (250gb) leaving a massive 500gb for o/s, apps and games

How about:

Samsung 500gb - partitioned to 5gb for o/s, and the rest split between apps and games?

THEN the Seagate 250gb about 3gb for the page file and the rest for DATA?

ALSO, would you have the samsung on a primary SATA, my DVD on a primary SATA but the page file/DATA HDD on a SLAVE sata?
 
It really doesn't matter all that much. Personally I would just stick everything on the HD501LJ (partition or two for OS, appls, games etc) except for the pagefile, and if you download a lot then do it to the second drive.
 
And what about this whole "red / black" sata port thing on the MB?

In the P5B manual it says "red for main stuff", "black for data"

Which suggests to me it is a master / slave type arrangement like the old IDEs.

shall i just stick everything on RED (primary SATA)? My "data" disk would also have the page file on so didn't want to compromise that, I'd assume the DVD would want to be on a primary channel due to one being accessed during a game, say.
 
There is no Master/Slave stuff with SATA, each drive has its own channel.
Different colour ports are probably different controllers. Often you get the ports that are part of the chipsets southbridge then a manufacturer might add a couple more with a JMicron, Silicon Image etc chipset. It really won't make a difference which you use, just make sure you're using IDE mode on the controller/ports your SATA DVD drive is going to.
 
mcgriffo said:
How about:

Samsung 500gb - partitioned to 5gb for o/s, and the rest split between apps and games?

THEN the Seagate 250gb about 3gb for the page file and the rest for DATA?
Click to expand...
Both too small. Allow at least 16GB for XP and applications and the pagefile should really be at least the same size as the RAM. Set the pagefile's minimum and maximum sizes the same so all the space is allocated straight away and it won't get fragmented.
 
hehe interesting response for the 5gb o/s!!!!!

I was originally going to have nothing BUT the o/s on the 5gb.. think that would have fit....

Anyway.. moot point as I have partitioned off 150gb for o/s, apps and games all together now
 
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