Question Dedicated Windows drive, just a partition, or no partition at all?

[Metallica93]

I currently have four storage drives:

1. Samsung 840 EVO 120 GB for Windows/programs, purchased December 2013
2. Western Digital 1 TB 7,200 rpm for data/files, purchased December 2013
3. Seagate BarraCuda 500 GB 5,400 rpm for Steam games, purchased June 2011
4. Seagate 1 TB 7,200 rpm for internal backup, unknown date (between 5 and 10+ years old)

Chiefly, I have no idea how long drives usually last for. 9-11 years seems like I'm just waiting for one to die on me, especially if solid state drives are most likely going to break sooner than a hard disk.

It looks like my X470 Gaming Plus has the capability, so the current idea was, bare minimum:

1. 2 TB PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 2280 solid state drive for Windows, programs, games, and all data/files
2. 2 TB H.D.D., probably 7,200 rpm, as my internal backup drive

I currently use ~1 TB between my three non-backup drives, so 2 TB should be more than enough for both drives, right? I feel like I'd need to replace a 4 TB backup drive long before I ever got to filling up half of that.

But mainly, what about Windows? Dedicated drive? Create a partition? No partition needed at all? Something to keep in mind: I can't move my Users or Documents folders because some older games/programs hate when they're on another drive. I assume putting those folders on a different partition is the same thing as them being on another physical drive, in the operating system's mind?

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

But mainly, what about Windows? Dedicated drive?

for the last decade or so i have always kept the OS & applications on a single drive,
games on a single drive,
all media(audio, text, images, etc) on a single drive,
and kept externals for backup & extra storage purposes(system images, large compressed files, movies, etc).

if the OS gets corrupted or drive fails then i can just reinstall, replace the drive if necessary, load my backup image, and my ~3TB of games do not have to be redownloaded/reinstalled.

you can see my drive layout in my signature.

I can't move my Users or Documents folders because some older games/programs hate when they're on another drive. I assume putting those folders on a different partition is the same thing as them being on another physical drive, in the operating system's mind?

i've been gaming with Windows OS since early 2000s and have never run into issue with User folders being on a separate drive than the OS or game installations.

wherever these folders are stored, the OS keeps the same information related to their position and points to the correct source for applications and games.
i imagine there may be some out there that just use a dedicated path regardless to the OS information but i've never run into it as a problem.
many times you can even manually edit these save locations through cfg files or registry entries to use whatever path you wish.

games that do not use the User or ProgramData folders will still store the save information in their own installation directory.

 

[USAFRet]

OS and applications on ONE drive.

Other data, including game files, elsewhere.

 

[KyaraM]

Also, no games on HDD, please. Nowadays there is absolutely no need anymore, and SSDs will make you want to pull your own hair out far less than HDDs, promise...

 

[USAFRet]

Something to keep in mind: I can't move my Users or Documents folders because some older games/programs hate when they're on another drive.

There is no need to do move those.

Windows and (most) applications have gotten really good at working with other drives.

Simply create a folder on some other drive.
MyStuff.

When you create a new file of whatever, save to that folder.
The next time that application wants to save something, it will likely default to that folder.

No need to forcibly redirect the /Users/ or Libraries.

 

[geofelt]

Quality ssd devices like samsung have a very low failure rate.

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HDD are mechanical devices so that makes sense.
The main drawback to a ssd is the cost per GB compared to a HDD.

A good 2tb ssd for windows and all else is a good idea.
Repurpose your 1tb HDD as external backup.
m.2 pcie ssd devices are now priced on a par with sata devices.
So it makes sense to use a m.2 pcie device.
But do not be seduced by glowing synthetic synthetic ssd benchmarks.
Most activity will be small random I/O, not sequential activity.
These guys could not tell the difference:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKLA7w9eeA