question about having 2 hard drives.
- Thread starter russb
- Start date
Aastii
VIP Member
You will get extra capacity, and potentially extra speed. In games, performance won't change, unless you get a faster drive, then any programs on it will load faster.
You will also have a back up. I have my main drive with my OS + games on, then 2 storage drives which have backups of programs, music, films etc on, so should anything go wrong with my main drive, the stuff that would take a long time to get again are all still there
You will also have a back up. I have my main drive with my OS + games on, then 2 storage drives which have backups of programs, music, films etc on, so should anything go wrong with my main drive, the stuff that would take a long time to get again are all still there
2048Megabytes
Active Member
Is the hard drive showing up when you pull up Windows Explorer?
Left click your Start -> My Computer and you should be able to see the new drive.
You can then open another window and drag and drop the files into the new hard drive.
Left click your Start -> My Computer and you should be able to see the new drive.
You can then open another window and drag and drop the files into the new hard drive.
The games however you'd have to uninstall and then reinstall onto the other drive. Just change the drive letter when you are prompted during the install.
2048Megabytes
Active Member
If I were you I would get another quality hard drive for storage purposes. I think every desktop should have two hard drives. It makes it very easy to back up valued data.
Yes, a second drive for backups is a very wise move. I partition my drives, setting up a partition for the OS backups, another for software backups, and various other partitions for storage. It is almost invariably the "C" drive, (where Windows resides), that gets screwed up, so I try to arrange things so that as little as possible, apart from Windows, is on "C".
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Iceyn1pples
New Member
Theres many ways a second Hard drive can be set up.
1. As additional storage - alternate to the primary HDD
2. Redundancy - If your hardrives are both Sata and you have a RAID controller, Setting up a RAID 1 (mirror) will create reduncy so that both drives contain the same data, If one dies, your other will continue on as if nothing happens. Replace the dead drive, rebuild the mirror, and your computer will enjoy continued redunancy.
3. Performance - RAID 0 (stripe) your 2 drives will act as 1, theoretically, giving you double the performance of just a single drive. Of course, now you are twice as likely to lose data because if either one dies, your SOL.
4. SSD - buy an SSD, install your games, and programs on it, turn your existing HDD into additional storage. You will enjoy a ton of everyday performance, as well as your games and programs loading MUCH FASTER! The biggest problem is that SSDs are expensive. About 100-120 for 60GB. But very worth it in my opinion.
1. As additional storage - alternate to the primary HDD
2. Redundancy - If your hardrives are both Sata and you have a RAID controller, Setting up a RAID 1 (mirror) will create reduncy so that both drives contain the same data, If one dies, your other will continue on as if nothing happens. Replace the dead drive, rebuild the mirror, and your computer will enjoy continued redunancy.
3. Performance - RAID 0 (stripe) your 2 drives will act as 1, theoretically, giving you double the performance of just a single drive. Of course, now you are twice as likely to lose data because if either one dies, your SOL.
4. SSD - buy an SSD, install your games, and programs on it, turn your existing HDD into additional storage. You will enjoy a ton of everyday performance, as well as your games and programs loading MUCH FASTER! The biggest problem is that SSDs are expensive. About 100-120 for 60GB. But very worth it in my opinion.
2048Megabytes
Active Member
Wow, you are getting 740 megabyte per second read speeds with your OCZ RevoDrive? 
And I thought 147 megabytes per second read speeds were great with my drive. Solid State Drives are the future!
And I thought 147 megabytes per second read speeds were great with my drive. Solid State Drives are the future!
Iceyn1pples
New Member
Thanks for the comment, much appreciated.
I could of Striped a few OCZ Vertex 3s, but I thought that was too excessive, plus i didnt want to use up a Sata Port. haha
I want to add more storage drives as i go.
I could of Striped a few OCZ Vertex 3s, but I thought that was too excessive, plus i didnt want to use up a Sata Port. haha
I want to add more storage drives as i go.
2048Megabytes
Active Member
How many seconds does it take for your operating system to start up after the initial RAM test with read speeds like that? Have you timed it yet?
Iceyn1pples
New Member
From the windows Load screen at boot up to usable desktop is around 10-15 seconds.
Those speeds are the max, and most benchmarks report those speeds as well. Thats why i didnt go with a Vertex 3 stripe. This is plenty fast.
Those speeds are the max, and most benchmarks report those speeds as well. Thats why i didnt go with a Vertex 3 stripe. This is plenty fast.
Iceyn1pples
New Member
OCZ Vertex 3 - is a Solid State Hard Drive.
Stripe - RAID 0 - 2 drives being read and written to simultaneously for performance. Windows only sees 1 drive.
Stripe - RAID 0 - 2 drives being read and written to simultaneously for performance. Windows only sees 1 drive.
2048Megabytes
Active Member
RAID stands for "redundant array of independent disks." It is a setup that links hard drives together either for data protection and/or to increase read and write speeds.
RAID-0 consists of an equal amount of space used on two or more hard drives up to as many as 32 hard drives. Data is written in equal blocks to each hard drive disk in the striped volume. A striped volume does not provide fault tolerance. If one hard drive in a striped volume fails all data stored on the striped volume is lost. Read and write speeds are increased by using RAID-0.
RAID-0 consists of an equal amount of space used on two or more hard drives up to as many as 32 hard drives. Data is written in equal blocks to each hard drive disk in the striped volume. A striped volume does not provide fault tolerance. If one hard drive in a striped volume fails all data stored on the striped volume is lost. Read and write speeds are increased by using RAID-0.
Benny Boy
Active Member
Load screen =,,like the Windows flag?
If you havn't already, try disabling that, using all cores to boot, and all memory.
msconfig > boot tab (load screen is GUI boot)
Sry Russ,
If you already have a back up drive,,,
This is on sale and it's a good one. Great for every day stuff. Not the latest Sata III but plenty fast.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...51311-_-EMC-051311-Index-_-SSD-_-20227550-L0A
,,,if not, perhaps the F4 320gb for C:\ etc, and your 1TB for backup?
Iceyn1pples
New Member
Careful talking about them raid array's fella's.......we have an expert on that in this thread
^ Hahaha, had to scroll up to get it. But the poster is asking for benefits of a second drive. So RAID is definately a benefit.
Hopefully this thread stays clean