2 Harddrives

[wii]

I will soon have 2 harddrives in my PC, what should I do ?

1. Install Windows on 1 drive + programs and data on 2 drive.
2. Install Windows + programs on 1 drive and data on 2 drive.

Or any other suggestion you might have for best performance. The 2 drives are identical.

[Greps]

I have two 500gb hard drives. one of them is split into two equal partitions - one is for Windows and programs, another is for documents, big programs (such as Encarta, 3ds max, etc) and games. and on the second hard drive I keep all my movies.

I guess it all depends on the size of the hard drives and the stuff you keep on them

[SSSlippy]

Raid 0, however u would have to reformat.

[yellow_spider]

Or any other suggestion you might have for best performance. The 2 drives are identical.

I have two identical 80GB drives here, no raid or anything else, just a single (full size) partition on each.

C: for windows + programs etc as normal
D: for the swap file and folders for backups and also temporary things i am working on, plus a downloads folder so i can sort any downloads easily later

I found this a good idea as when i make backups (either just a zip of the docs folder or sometimes ghost image of the drive) i can have them onto D: for a bit more safety.

[Joe Gronlund]

Install Windows + programs on 1 drive and data on 2 drive.
Knowing the HD sizes would be useful

[Jerry]

Desktop is Raid 0 Raptors local server is Raid 1 Barracudas.

[wii]

They are 120GB each + 5400 RPM + 2.5"

Install Windows + programs on 1 drive and data on 2 drive.
Knowing the HD sizes would be useful

[Floris]

Raid 0, however u would have to reformat.

Raid0 adds a higher risk of failure, I recommend against it unless you have hard drives that are made to spin 24/7. Unlike most consumer drives.

I would spread the load of the OS and its data on one drive, and the programs and their data on another. And consider where you want to swap drive, and the temp directories, etc.

[Joe Gronlund]

They are 120GB each + 5400 RPM + 2.5"

I would just stick with

Install Windows + programs on 1 drive and data on 2 drive.

You cant do RAID with drives that size or speed effectively, and you really wouldnt want to partition them, unless you wanted say Windows on Partition 0 and Linux on Partition 1. Then use the second HD for DATA/Backup

As Floris said above, RAID 0 isnt very effective..

[wii]

Ok, this was my original idea too - so I have all data separate from Windows and programs.

[SSSlippy]

I never realized that the hard drives were that slow. It isnt worth it.
Ive been running 2 120 GB maxtor 7200 rpm IDE drives in raid 0 for 3 years with no issue. I recently had to break the raid due to windows corruption on an update. System then would reboot everytime windows loaded.

[Chousho]

To recommend in the best way, I'd wonder what the primary purpose of the computer would be for.

In a similar vein, I'm looking for a good ata controller card. Anyone have a recommendation?

[Wayne Luke]

Just to be different I installed Windows on Drive 2 (partition is named E: ) and have data on Drive 1 (partitions are C: and D: ). I backup data to drive 3 (partition F: mapped to //nuada/backup on my other computers). My DVD drives are Y: and Z: