Question Separate disks for OS and gaming

[Cagster]

Hello everyone, I hope you're doing well.
I'm putting together a new gaming PC and need your advice regarding storage setup.
I'm torn between these two options:

1. two separate NVMe disks, one for the OS and program files, and one just for gaming
2. one NVMe disk that I will split into 2 drives (one for the OS, one for gaming).

In both cases, I will have an equal capacity (about 4 TB).
I know that in the past it was recommended to physically separate SATA disks: one for the OS and one for gaming so that the OS and the game wouldn't "fight" over access to the SATA disk at the same time.
My friend tells me that today with NVMe disks this is no longer relevant, i.e., it is not felt in the performance, so it is perfectly fine to have everything on the same NVMe disk (which is divided into 2 drives for simplicity).

So, is this true, what are your experiences?

(There will certainly be a third disk, probably a regular 3.5" HDD, for backup and storage, but that's not relevant for my dilemma.)

Thank you.

 

[lvt]

I'm afraid that the complexity of using a second drive doesn't justify the performance you might have gained.

 

[SkyNetRising]

so that the OS and the game wouldn't "fight" over access to the SATA disk at the same time.

The same thing goes for any drive. Be it SATA or NVME.

So, is this true, what are your experiences?

I'd go with smaller NVME for OS - 250GB or 500GB.
And a larger SSD 2TB or 4TB (NVME or SATA) for game library.

I'm afraid that the complexity of using a second drive doesn't justify the performance you might have gained.

There is no added complexity.
Just make sure, only OS drive is connected, while installing windows.

 

[Cagster]

Just make sure, only OS drive is connected, while installing windows.

Ok, didn't know that. Why is this important?

 

[DSzymborski]

I'm a believer in using the simplest tool that properly accomplishes the necessary task. You don't need a flamethrower to light a candle.

In the use case you're describing, I don't see the point in making additional partitions where a simple, logical organizing/naming would do just as well. You get no less organizational benefit from having a folder called Games (or whatever) rather than having all the games on a separate partition. The real benefit would come from having them on separate physical disks.

 

[DSzymborski]

Ok, didn't know that. Why is this important?

Windows has a knack for putting files on those secondary drives during install, meaning if that secondary drive is removed, you either can no longer start Windows or give yourself a pretty good headache resolving the issue.

 

[Cagster]

Windows has a knack for putting files on those secondary drives during install, meaning if that secondary drive is removed, you either can no longer start Windows or give yourself a pretty good headache resolving the issue.

Thanks.
So, I can probably disable that other NVMe in BIOS before Win install? No need to disconnect it from MBO?

 

[SkyNetRising]

So, I can probably disable that other NVMe in BIOS before Win install? No need to disconnect it from MBO?

There probably will not be such option in BIOS.

 

[TerryLaze]

Windows has a knack for putting files on those secondary drives during install, meaning if that secondary drive is removed, you either can no longer start Windows or give yourself a pretty good headache resolving the issue.

Windows puts the boot files on the first disk that the bios has on its boot list, if that happens to be a secondary drive then yes.
Since most people can't be bothered with figuring out which one is which, it's recommended to only have one drive in the system, that way at least all files are on that one drive.
Then afterwards if the secondary drive gets into a lower port on the mobo when it gets put in the system it will also not boot and you will still have a headache trying to figure out what's happening.


The only reason I would (and do) go for a separate partition for the OS is that you can easily nuke that partition and do a fresh install or whatever you want without having to worry about losing all of your game files and having to re download or backup terabytes of data.
Also having the page file on a completely different physical drive from the game will prevent the occasional hiccup, although that was much more of a concern back in the days.

 

[USAFRet]

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

How To - Windows 11 clean install tutorial

Windows 11 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows 11, version 23H2 or newer but can be equally applied to earlier versions which may have some basic differences in the screens you see but will largely remain similar in...

forums.tomshardware.com