1 HD versus 2 HDs : which is better?

[Stasch]

I posed the following question in a previous thread on another topic, but I think it is important enough to deserve its own thread:

If one is going to buy a computer with 200 Gigs of disk space, is it better to buy a single 200 Gig HD, or two 100 Gig HDs?

I recall seeing some suggestions regarding putting the scratch space on a HD different from the one used by the operating system. How much of a difference does that make in the performance of Flexi (or other graphics products)?

Thanks!

 

[Fred Weiss]

I can tell you from personal experience that it will make a very noticable and improved difference with Photoshop. Correct me if I'm wrong however, I don't think Flexi and most other graphics applications use a scratch disk. I would also point out that, at least in my setup, I have no data stored on the second hard drive.

 

[Firemap1]

I use two 80 gig drives with my setup. Going to new computer with twin 160's soon. Two scratch discs. Still on win 2000. Second scratch disc does make a differerence.

 

[Pro Signs & Graphix]

Techman is the best qualifies to answer, but I believe at least two would be better. There is also the issue of the windows swap file.

 

[Replicator]

I have 5 computers . . .

2 of them [the main computers] have [2] 300GB hard-drives.

The second drives are strictly for daily backup only.

 

[OldPaint]

its sorta like the GICO GEKO...would you rather save money or not.....
2 hard drives are the best way to go. load you main programs on the main one, and use the 2nd as with a back up directory for your files that you want to keep.
this will save you from LOOSING EVERYTHING if 1st h/d dies.my back diectory is CORELXX on the 2nd h/d. once a week or 2.....i will up date it with my corel files from 1st h/d. this way i got 2 copies of the info.
i also have REMOVABLE 1ST DRIVE. so if i want something on 1st h/d to transfer to other O/S h/d, i can put it on the 2nd internal h/d and its ther when i change 1st h/d.
as for using the 2nd as a swap file/stratch file, with the speed of processors and size of hard dives....it wont make that much diff today.
old days of win 3.11 it was a good idea, with the slow processors and lack of ram that you dont have today. moet today are 256 meg to 2-3 gig of ram.....compare that to old win 3.11 with 4 MEGS...and you was bad to da bone if you had 8 MEGS OF RAM!!!!
RAM is Random Access Memory......most of the " stratch file" work is there.........

 

[Techman]

Thank you pro signs..

as for using the 2nd as a swap file/stratch file, with the speed of processors and size of hard dives..

Sorry OP, photoshop and especially video capturing and DVD processing love a second drive for scratch space. In fact Pinnacle Studio requests a second drive.. That second drive prevents dropped frames and out of sync video capturing. The reason is that data is written to the second drive while the codecs operate on the main drive.

Two drives is good. Three is better. As cheap as they are now there is no reason not to have at least two. I have three. One is main drive with progams and files, Second is for swap disk and scratch disk work and backup files
The third is for redundant backups. Using Genie back software it is all automated. This third drive has a back up of every thing.

All i do is check once in a while to make sure the backup files are actually getting changed.

What to backup...
My favorites
My Documents including all sub folders.
Graphics folder has its own backup.
and any other data folder you cannot live without.
And then ,, very importnat. Get a FREE driver backup software. This searches out all your drivers,, and stores them away for you. Then if you must do a drive change all you do is restore the drivers too. This will save you HOURS.
One drive on the shelf has a ghost of the main C drive in case of catastrophic failure.

I just repaired a power jack on a lap top. This machine had a usb back up system with it. That was great. When the power jack went out it caused a corrupted data problem. That is because the cache was not flushed on shut down. The usb back system saved it all.

 

[cdiesel]

I'm having a new computer built right now, and my guy and I have been discussing different drive setups, along with the other options.

We're looking at raid 10? I believe. He said that's the best way to go for speed & redundancy, and I also requested a seperate drive for the scratch disk. Does this setup make sense, or should I just run three drives with the setup that techman has?

I'll start another thread about processors?