I am getting a new system and I am trying to figure out which hdds I should get. I want to have two drives pretty big. I was thinking something like 160GB + 160GB. Or something like that. I don't know what type to get though. I would prefer to go with Western Digital because I have never had a problem with them..but should I go with IDE or SATA? I won't have a RAID configuration...It will just be two drives. Thanks in advance.
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Need help choosing drives for new system
- Thread starter Nathan D.
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2002
- Location
- Greensboro NC
Welcome to the Forums!
IDE or SATA is personal preference. The differences between them are very slight. For future compatibility, SATA may have a slight advantage.
On the drives themselves, here are some comparisons of the current fast drives from a couple of manufacturers:
http://storagereview.com/php/benchm...&devID_2=257&devID_3=260&devID_4=218&devCnt=5
The high end Hitachi's have a decent advantage over the rest in disk access time, but the WD 2500JD is not a bad choice either. The 160GB variant will most likely have slightly decreased STR, but will not greatly affect performance.
IDE or SATA is personal preference. The differences between them are very slight. For future compatibility, SATA may have a slight advantage.
On the drives themselves, here are some comparisons of the current fast drives from a couple of manufacturers:
http://storagereview.com/php/benchm...&devID_2=257&devID_3=260&devID_4=218&devCnt=5
The high end Hitachi's have a decent advantage over the rest in disk access time, but the WD 2500JD is not a bad choice either. The 160GB variant will most likely have slightly decreased STR, but will not greatly affect performance.
- Thread Starter
- #3
OK now I am thinking about getting a Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JD 250GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive as my main drive and a Western Digital WD Caviar WD800JD 80GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer as basically my OS drive...What do you think about that?
I would want to have the bigger, non-OS drive mounted as C: and have the smaller, non-OS drive mounted as D:. How would I make Windows XP install on D: and not C:?
I would want to have the bigger, non-OS drive mounted as C: and have the smaller, non-OS drive mounted as D:. How would I make Windows XP install on D: and not C:?
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2002
- Location
- Greensboro NC
You can choose that in setup, but it's best to only have the OS drive in the system when installing. Windows has a bad habit of placing it's boot files on the first drive it finds, regardless of install location and this is normally on an PATA IDE drive.
If the second drive is merely for data storage, you could probably get away with a slower large capacity drive, unless you are using it for high bandwidth tasks like video editing.
For better speed an OS responsiveness, either a 36 or 74 GB WD Raptor for the OS drive and then the 250 for storage would be an excellent combination, but is more expensive.
If the second drive is merely for data storage, you could probably get away with a slower large capacity drive, unless you are using it for high bandwidth tasks like video editing.
For better speed an OS responsiveness, either a 36 or 74 GB WD Raptor for the OS drive and then the 250 for storage would be an excellent combination, but is more expensive.
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2004
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- The Netherlands
If noise is an important factor, i would definatly recommend the seagate 7200.7 in my sig, theyre extremely silent.
Not to mention they come close to raptor performance even when used as single drives (non-RAID), and they feature a 5 year warranty
Not to mention they come close to raptor performance even when used as single drives (non-RAID), and they feature a 5 year warranty
- Thread Starter
- #6
The 250GB drive will be all of my programs and files (mainly storage). I do not video edit but I want it to run good..I don't want anything slow. For the OS, I was thinking about the 10K RPM 36GB drive and I think I may go with that.
Noise is not a factor. Noise should NEVER be a problem when it comes to a computer. Who wants something they can't hear (non-retorical question)? I want to hear my computer.
OK, so a WD 36GB 10K RPM SATA drive for the OS. And a WD 250GB 7.2K RPM SATA drive for all files.
So during OS installation, only have the OS drive in the system. After the OS is done installing, how do I go about adding the other drive and mounting it as C:?
Noise is not a factor. Noise should NEVER be a problem when it comes to a computer. Who wants something they can't hear (non-retorical question)? I want to hear my computer.
OK, so a WD 36GB 10K RPM SATA drive for the OS. And a WD 250GB 7.2K RPM SATA drive for all files.
So during OS installation, only have the OS drive in the system. After the OS is done installing, how do I go about adding the other drive and mounting it as C:?
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- Apr 26, 2004
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Nathan D. said:
You can just build in the drives, run the OS install and select it to install on the raptor, then when in windows the other drive will likely show up as D:
- Thread Starter
- #8
I want the OS drive to be installed on D: and the storage drive to be on C:. Do I have both drives in during the install or do I just put the OS drive in to install and install to D: then shut off the system and add the other drive? Don't I have to format to other drive C: and stuff..How do I go about doing that? How would I format it and etc and mount it as C:?
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2002
- Location
- Greensboro NC
Let me repeat, if you have both IDE and SATA drives while installing windows, the boot files will often install to the IDE drive. This will make the IDE drive C: and the OS drive as D: This will cause problems if you need to remove the IDE drive in the future.
Install with only the OS drive in the system.
To configure other drives after installation, shut down, attach the drives, boot up and go to computer management. Select the Disk Management tab and you can initialize, partition and format drives there.
EDIT: Are you doing this for a multiboot configuration? That's one of the reasons I've seen this done, but the installation order can greatly vary depending on which OS you will be using.
Install with only the OS drive in the system.
To configure other drives after installation, shut down, attach the drives, boot up and go to computer management. Select the Disk Management tab and you can initialize, partition and format drives there.
EDIT: Are you doing this for a multiboot configuration? That's one of the reasons I've seen this done, but the installation order can greatly vary depending on which OS you will be using.
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I once managed to install winXP on E: (big drive with 3 partitions) but that was by mistake and i had to format and repartition to fix it. Why do you want the OS on D: so bad?
- Thread Starter
- #12
I wasn't thinking correctly...Here is what I know I want to do...
I will have two drives. a WD 74GB 10K RPM SATA and a WD 120-250GB 7.2K RPM SATA drive. The 74GB drive will be the OS/program files/everything drive. The 120-250GB drive will be for files/movies/videos/music/etc... With this new plan, the OS/everything will be mounted at C: as usual and the files drive will be mounted else where.
I will have two drives. a WD 74GB 10K RPM SATA and a WD 120-250GB 7.2K RPM SATA drive. The 74GB drive will be the OS/program files/everything drive. The 120-250GB drive will be for files/movies/videos/music/etc... With this new plan, the OS/everything will be mounted at C: as usual and the files drive will be mounted else where.
Where is "computer management"? Would that be the BIOS? If so, I went into my BIOS a few minutes ago and didn't see anything about partioning or formatting..If that is it, do you only see the partioning/formating options after you put in the new drive(s)?
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2004
- Location
- The Netherlands
control panel -> system management tools* -> computer management -> disk management
There you can make, edit or delete partitions
* = not sure if thats the right english title for it.
There you can make, edit or delete partitions
* = not sure if thats the right english title for it.
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2004
- Location
- The Netherlands
have fun with it 
i lke it better then partition magic, its easy, fast, integrated but not many people know about it
i lke it better then partition magic, its easy, fast, integrated but not many people know about it
