Optimize drive usage

[Loonis]

So I have the following drives installed on my PC

1. Plextor PX-128S3G
2. Kingston SUV400S37120G
3. HGST HTS541010A9E680
4. WDC WD10EZEX-21WN4A0

The first one is an M.2 SATA SSD having 128GB of space, the second one is a 2.5" SATA SSD of 120GB.

The third is a 1TB laptop drive I salvaged of my Laptop, and the fourth one is a 1TB WD Blue HDD.

 

What will be the optimal use case for my Windows install? I have all important data backed up already and am ready for a clean install.

The problem with building a bootable RAID 0 with the two SSDs is that they use different controllers and RAIDXpert2 does not let me create an array for them. Also, I cannot boot into the legacy manager by pressing Ctrl+R or Ctrl+I at POST.

I was thinking about a single drive install and then striping data among the drives, but it would be useless as the SSD would be held back by the HDD. Moreover, RAID is mostly not preferred due to software problems and increased boot times due to recalculation of array parity.

I can install my OS on one drive and use symlinks for all software I need, but that renders one SSD as redundant, and I'd really appreciate it if I had just one Volume, but am willing to compromise upto two drives (one for OS and other for applications). I use some programs that need to be installed on C drive (like VS2017, iTunes etc.)

A JBOD can be used but I still am limited by the controller on my motherboard. I'd prefer if there was no need to buy a RAID Controller as I am out of PCIe slots. I did have a license for the Enmotus FuzeDrive for AMD, but I had to refund it because SMART monitoring tools would cause Windows to crash as the virtual AHCI controller did not play well with software like HWINFO64.

 

I have attached the Driver Controller Information, if anyone requires the data.

 

TL;DR Bought a bunch of storage, have jack idea about how to use them.

Driver Controller Information.txt

[Electronics Wizardy]

Id just manually manage it with different letters. Put os on the pcie ssd, some games on the sata ssd, and other files on the hdds.

[Loonis]

7 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id just manually manage it with different letters. Put os on the pcie ssd, some games on the sata ssd, and other files on the hdds.

That would be the easiest thing I could do, but I really would like to have at most two volumes. The PC will be handled by others (admittedly not as thorough as me), and will not care where to install apps and where to put required data.

It just isn't worth the time trying to make them understand, so I'd like to manage it on my own. I'd prefer if it all was in one single volume.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, mrinmaydhar said:

That would be the easiest thing I could do, but I really would like to have at most two volumes. The PC will be handled by others (admittedly not as thorough as me), and will not care where to install apps and where to put required data.

It just isn't worth the time trying to make them understand, so I'd like to manage it on my own. I'd prefer if it all was in one single volume.

Then make a storage space volume with the hdds and the sata hdd and use the sata ssd as a fast tier.

[Loonis]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Then make a storage space volume with the hdds and the sata hdd and use the sata ssd as a fast tier.

How do I make the SSD as a fast tier? Do I add it to the pool in the beginning? Because Windows only give four RAID levels.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, mrinmaydhar said:

How do I make the SSD as a fast tier? Do I add it to the pool in the beginning? Because Windows only give four RAID levels.

you need powershell

 

https://diywhitebox.com/how-to-configure-tiered-storage-spaces-on-windows-10/

[Loonis]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

you need powershell

 

https://diywhitebox.com/how-to-configure-tiered-storage-spaces-on-windows-10/

Thanks for that.