Best HDDs configuration?

[Walter H.W.]

Hello guys,
 
I've got 2 HDDs, the first one(and older) is a Seagate 500Gb 7200rpm (ST3500418AS) and the other one (newer) is a WD 1Tb Caviar Green (WD10EARX).

I do not have any SSD /can't afford them.

 

Now I was wondering which would be the best way of utilizing them, I've read that people do a first partition as big as the 25% of the HDD capacity (because it's the fastest part of it) and use that for the OS, then use another HDD just for games.

 

I've always had my HDDs both partitioned in 3 parts, because I was using the old one and then I did same with newer one and only used that, but I'm building a new/better PC and I want to change this conf. 

 

I will use the PC mostly for gaming and video editing, so I'd need a partition just for videos I guess, and maybe one for downloads.

 

So the options I think I have are:

 

1. 25% of 1Tb HDD for OS, the rest for videos and downloads and 500gb HDD for games.
2. 25% of 1Tb HDD for OS,  37.5% for videos, 37.5% for downloads and 500Gb HDD for games.

I'm not sure if 500Gb are too much for games.

 

Do you guys have a better solution? (Do Not say SSD! Lol)

 

 

[Actuosity]

you should only have to use 10% of the 1TB HDD for OS, however I personally would use 100GB on the 500GB HDD for OS then us 200GB for games, (the main ones you play) put the other games on the Green drive. Use the remaining 250 -300GB of the 500GB HDD for the videos you are currently working with, and use the remainder of the 1TB drive as storage for completed videos and downloads. There is no need to keep videos you are done editing on the faster drive.

[Walter H.W.]

you should only have to use 10% of the 1TB HDD for OS, however I personally would use 100GB on the 500GB HDD for OS then us 200GB for games, (the main ones you play) put the other games on the Green drive. Use the remaining 250 -300GB of the 500GB HDD for the videos you are currently working with, and use the remainder of the 1TB drive as storage for completed videos and downloads. There is no need to keep videos you are done editing on the faster drive.

 

Is the 500Gb HDD faster than the other one? I'm actually afraid it's starting to fail or maybe the OS is kinda corrupted, that's why i'd prefer to keep the OS on the 1Tb drive, unless you tell me that the 500Gb is really faster, in that case I'd change my mind.

 

 

P.S.: I don't know if it matters but the 500Gb HDD has:

Power On Count 3781 times

Power On Time 469.5 days

[Actuosity]

a typical WD Green drive is only 5400 RPM

so the other one would be faster.

 

You can always reinstall a OS if it fails, just make an image back up on your 1TB drive

[Walter H.W.]

a typical WD Green drive is only 5400 RPM

so the other one would be faster.

 

You can always reinstall a OS if it fails, just make an image back up on your 1TB drive

 

I mistakenly thought that the WD 1Tb was 7200rpm but I checked better and yeah, they are at "IntelliPower" speed which should be 5400rpm or less, what if I use CrystalDiskMark and compare their speeds (just to verify it since the 500Gb is old)?

If the WD 1Tb proves to be slower then I'll use the 500Gb as you suggested me.

 

What about the games in another HDD thingy, do you think it's stupid?

 

As of now I could do like: 100/150Gb partition from the 500Gb drive for the OS, the rest for the videos I've to edit/record, 2 partitions on the 1Tb drive, one for games and one for completed videos and downloads.

 

What do you think about it?

[Wats]

do the 7200 rpm drive for your O/s, it'll make it all faster

 

then do daily back ups to the 1TB green. you can fit some games on there too if you run out on the 500gb

 

 

 

 

 

Get an ssd dude, even a really cheap one is better than none. aint that video editing making profit yet?

[Actuosity]

My lower end rig has a 180gb SSD for OS / some games and a 7200 RPM 1TB Seagate for storage, then I have a external 2TB Seagate for backup.

 

I use to run a 340gb 7200rpm drive for games / OS and a 1tB 5400 RPM for storage

[Walter H.W.]

 

Get an ssd dude, even a really cheap one is better than none. aint that video editing making profit yet?

 

Nope man, it's more like an hobby and I don't have a job, lol.

I've just bought everything to build a new pc and I had no budget to get an ssd, I already spent more than I planned and I don't want to spend more, even though i know it makes a big difference, maybe I'll get one in some months.

[Walter H.W.]

My lower end rig has a 180gb SSD for OS / some games and a 7200 RPM 1TB Seagate for storage, then I have a external 2TB Seagate for backup.

 

I use to run a 340gb 7200rpm drive for games / OS and a 1tB 5400 RPM for storage

 

What about the last setup I wrote you?

 

100/150Gb partition from the 500Gb drive for the OS, the rest for the videos I've to edit/record, 2 partitions on the 1Tb drive, one for games and one for completed videos and downloads.

[Blade of Grass]

Why do you want to partition your drives?

[MoonSpot]

WD green as your storage non OS Drive.  That is what they were designed for.  Each Green's drives speed is different because of the balancing done in their manufacturing process, some are surprisingly fast.  However they'll fail in short order if you're using it for paging and other constant/rapid reads & writes an OS drive does.  Or so that was the case when they first came out and I looked into them, may have changed in the last 2-3 years.

[Walter H.W.]

Why do you want to partition your drives?

 

Because they run faster, or at least it's what I've read, mostly for the OS a 100Gb partition will run faster than no partition at all.

 

WD green as you storage non OS Drive.  That is what they were designed for.  Each Green's drives speed is different because of the balancing done in their manufacturing process, some are surprisingly fast.  However they'll fail in short order if you're using it for paging and other constant/rapid reads & writes an OS drive does.  Or so that was the case when they first came out and I looking into them, may have changed in the last 2-3 years.

 

I didn't worry about that when I bought it, it was like $20 (refurbished) so I took it and used it as my main drive for 1 year now, never had a problem, but yeah, you could be right.

[Blade of Grass]

Because they run faster, or at least it's what I've read, mostly for the OS a 100Gb partition will run faster than no partition at all.

I didn't worry about that when I bought it, it was like $20 (refurbished) so I took it and used it as my main drive for 1 year now, never had a problem, but yeah, you could be right.

I'm doubtfully that it makes a big difference, I'd suggest making partitions just for organizing files, and keeping your harddrive defragged.

[MoonSpot]

I didn't worry about that when I bought it, it was like $20 (refurbished) so I took it and used it as my main drive for 1 year now, never had a problem, but yeah, you could be right.

Wait, what? Aside from using a power saving WD Green as your primary... You put your OS on a 20 dollar refurb HDD? That sound like Russian roulette to me. I'Ve never had good luck with refurbished electronics (tried so many times too ).

I suddenly feel as though I've been living a very sheltered life.

What happens when you move large data from 1 partition on the WDgreen to another partition on the same drive?

[Walter H.W.]

Wait, what? Aside from using a power saving WD Green as your primary... You put your OS on a 20 dollar refurb HDD? That sound like Russian roulette to me. I'Ve never had good luck with refurbished electronics (tried so many times too ).

I suddenly feel as though I've been living a very sheltered and charmed life.

What happens when you move large data from 1 partition on the WDgreen to another partition on the same drive?

Well, i guess it simply does it, I don't remember any particular case but I've never had any problems, I thought it was noisy but then I checked and the noise was from the PSU.

Btw I don't know why but when I start playing with HDDs they break, lol. It's like they feel I'm gonna do something, I think I almost broke the 500gb yesterday, maybe cable was loose, but I was close to rage on it, right now I'm formatting it and installing windows 7, no reason to install windows 8 right?

P. S.: it was 20$ but I think it was a mistake, I bought it with a GPU so they "had" to give it to me (afraid of losing the order?) so yeah, I got lucky, I even returned the GPU later because they sent me the wrong one, TWICE.