Second Hard Drive: What Goes Where?

[Muz]

When I put my current desktop machine together a while ago, I, like a buffoon, did not partition the hard drive to separate the operating system from the rest, so now if something heinous happens that requires me to reinstall Windows, I may lose all my data, too. A recent virus scare has reminded me of how unwise this is, so, rather than backing up my data, wiping the drive clean, repartitioning it, and reinstalling everything, I'm just going to install another hard drive and use that for my data. (The sucker is twice the size of my original, and costs $10 less now. :smallbiggrin: )

So my question is this: is it safe/recommended/wise/whatever to put my non-OS applications (i.e. Steam, games, anti-virus, firewall, Word, etc.) onto the new drive as well as the data, or is it smarter to keep those on the C: drive with Windows? How else would those in the know suggest I divide it up?

I suspect I should also create some sort of emergency bootable doowhatsit (Pardon my lack of proper terminology; I'm a techno-bard, in the AD&D sense. :smallwink:) on the new drive, in case the primary Windows install fails at some point, but I'm not entirely sure how this should be done, so suggestions are welcome, too.

Please note that, while I have nothing against Linux, I do not plan to install it or wish to mess with it--just to head off suggestions in that area. (Though I appreciate the thought.) :smallwink:

[Tyndmyr]

A great deal of apps tend to stick junk in the OS/registry anyway. So, with a few exceptions, a reloaded OS'll mean reinstalling the app regardless. No real gain from putting it with your data.

That said, I don't bother to partition. I prefer an entirely secondary drive array for data. If you can afford it, grab a raid controller and an identical hard drive and go raid 1 to mirror it.

[Obrysii]

I would keep the games and such on the primary drive, since it'll be faster that way.

Linux does have one use for you: if you do have a major virus that compromises your Windows install, you can use a Linux live CD to access that hard drive to make emergency backups.

[Miklus]

I also has my apps and games on the first disk. But importaint things like save games and excel documents go in the second HD. I keep a full back-up of the first disk on the second. It takes up 17GB! But the second disk is huge, so what the hell. Note that the second disk is physically a second disk, not just a partition.

If windows screws up (and it has), or the first disk kicks the bucket (and it has), I can re-install from a bootable CD and use the back-up on the second disk to get back to normal.

If a document is really important, I keep a copy on both drives.

[Muz]

Thanks to all so far!


I also has my apps and games on the first disk. But importaint things like save games and excel documents go in the second HD. I keep a full back-up of the first disk on the second. It takes up 17GB! But the second disk is huge, so what the hell. Note that the second disk is physically a second disk, not just a partition.

If windows screws up (and it has), or the first disk kicks the bucket (and it has), I can re-install from a bootable CD and use the back-up on the second disk to get back to normal.

If a document is really important, I keep a copy on both drives.

What do you use to back up the first disk onto the second? Just a manual copy/paste, or is there a utility you'd recommend?

I also just read elsewhere that games/apps tend to run faster if on the primary drive, so based on advice here and that, it looks like I'll be keeping that on the primary.

[factotum]

I always have several partitions on a drive--one for OS, one for documents, one for games, and one for temporary files (since those get created and destroyed a lot it tends to fragment your OS partition if you leave them on there). That's largely just personal preference, though.

However, your new drive being twice as large as the old one also probably means it'll be quicker; and any speed disadvantage between primary and secondary drives disappeared when we started using SATA, because you no longer have both drives on the same cable. There are therefore possibly gains to be had by putting stuff you access a lot on that second drive.

[Flickerdart]

If you do end up having to reinstall before you get a second drive, it might be worth getting an SSD for the system files (for considerably faster boot times and extra insurance in case of physical damage).

[Muz]

I always have several partitions on a drive--one for OS, one for documents, one for games, and one for temporary files (since those get created and destroyed a lot it tends to fragment your OS partition if you leave them on there). That's largely just personal preference, though.

However, your new drive being twice as large as the old one also probably means it'll be quicker; and any speed disadvantage between primary and secondary drives disappeared when we started using SATA, because you no longer have both drives on the same cable. There are therefore possibly gains to be had by putting stuff you access a lot on that second drive.

I assume there's a way to reassign the location of the temp drive? (I think I know where to look, and expect I can find it, but I'm not on my home computer right now.)

The specs on both drives, aside from the storage capacity, are identical (same manufacturer, rpm, cache size...), so I don't think the new drive will be faster, just bigger. :smallsmile:

[nedz]

Why not have a boot segment on the second drive ? You'll hopefully never need it, but it will save you from having to scrabble around for a CD if you do suffer a crash.
It used to be a good idea to spread your swap files aver multiple hard drives, but I'm not sure there's much point these days; assuming you have a reasonable amount of RAM.

[factotum]

The specs on both drives, aside from the storage capacity, are identical (same manufacturer, rpm, cache size...), so I don't think the new drive will be faster, just bigger. :smallsmile:

The drive is the same physical size--for it to have twice the capacity the data must also be more tightly packed (or it has more platters, allowing for more parallel data reads at the same time); either way, performance should be better with a larger drive, all other things being equal.

As for temporary files, you generally have to fiddle around with a couple of settings. The TEMP and TMP environment variables are the main ones, but stuff like browser cache has to be set separately.