Considering HDD Configuration Upgrade

[EthanBE]

So, my current setup is as follows:

Dual booting Linux Mint and Windows 7. Boot drive is a 500GB WD Blue. I have about 50GB dedicated to the windows 7 partition, and the rest dedicated to Linux.

Storage drive is a 1TB WD Blue, where I store all my games (steam, origin, and others) and also any VMs I'm playing around with at the time.

Also, any Linux games are stored on the Linux partition, and not the storage drive (I think there's some issue with the storage drive not mounting automatically in Linux).

 

This is my criteria/situation I'm planning for:

I'm quickly running out of space on the 1TB, even with just select games in my steam library installed, and am looking to upgrade my configuration.

I'm a bit of a pack-rat, in that I'd prefer to have my whole game library installed, but all the largest games are already installed, so the games not installed will NOT take up x2 space, or something ridiculous.

I intend to expand my Linux, not just my windows library, but I don't predict my Linux library becoming too big (right now, it's between 100GB and 200GB).

I also have a modest music, podcast, tv, and movie library stored on my Linux partition (like, less than 100GB, mostly SD content) which I will slowly expand over time.

I'm actually kind of selective about the 'larger' games I buy; mostly the Battlefield series, Titanfal 2, ArmA 3, R6: Siege, Wildlands, and SW: Battlefront, recently PUBG, and some Call of Dutys (maybe the new ones?).

I'll buy plenty of 'smaller' games: Indie games, other 'big-name' games but don't take up much space, but if it's not listed above, it's usually less than 20GB.

I have probably about x2 as many smaller games as larger games, but many of then are 1/2 or less in size.

 

These are my goals:

I want to try and future-proof this upgrade, otherwise I'd probably just go for a 2TB drive.

Therefore, I'm thinking about buying a 4TB drive, and using my current 1TB storage drive as my new boot drive.

As long as I'm upgrading and re-installing stuff, I was thinking I might upgrade to Windows 10. Basically, I see it as an eventuality, and I'd rather not have to re-do everything later.

 

What my plan is:

For Windows 10, that's $120, because I want to buy reputable and also get the consumer, not OEM, version.

I'm looking at a 4TB Seagate Barracuda (non-pro) drive @ 5900 rpm. From the local Micro Center, this costs about $120. This is what I'm really looking at.

OR a Seagate Barracude PRO @ 7200 rpm for about $170.

OR I could get either a 4TB WD Black drive @ 7200 rmp for about $210

 

The Problem:

Unfortunately, I'm on a budget. I'm a college student, but meal-plan, housing, just about everything, is paid for for the semester.

I'm on a $200/month budget for miscellaneous costs, of which I can save up to an estimated $50 per month, but possibly less or even nothing.

I have at least $200 spendable money right now, up to $250, divided between cash and a debit account.

The estimated cost is about $240 for W10 and Seagate (non-pro), before sales taxes, as I'd rather buy in-store.

 

My Question:

Should I upgrade to Windows 10, especially with Linux Mint as my daily driver (I'm asking practically, not if you have a beef with Microsoft about it)?

When should DX 11 vs DX 12 support start affecting this issue? I have a GTX 1060, so I'm DX 12 capable, except for that I'm not using Windows 10.

I know that the theoretical performance is something like WD Black > Barracuda Pro > Barracuda (non-pro).

But just how significant will the performance difference be, especially considering I'll have a separate boot drive?

Will the performance difference justify the increased cost?

 

NOTE: I'm NOT interested in a SSD. As someone who has never used an SSD, ignorance is bliss, especially because the price per GB is too high for my budget and my needs.