First post: New PC drives set up

[punkyfish]

Hi, I am going to build a new PC and want to set up the drives so that I have an OS on one so it doesn’t get corrupted, and then programs on another, and data on another I think! I want to run Cubase and photoshop and games and then have music and office. I’m sure I read somewhere that it is best to keep programs separate? If so, how do I do this and is it called RAID? I am looking at an Asus Z390 board to run an intel i7 9700k. My current system just had one HDD and I never experimented with drive set ups. Any help would be greatly appreciated thank you!

 

[USAFRet]

1. No RAID, of any type.
Put that out of your mind.

2. OS and applications on one drive, data, games, and other stuff on other drives.
It doesn't do much good to try to split out the OS and applications on different drives. If you need to reinstall the OS, you'll need to reinstall the applications anyway.

3. What drives are you looking at?
Minimum 250GB SSD for the OS and applications, other drives and sizes as fits your budget.

4. You also need to budget in some backup situation.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3383768/backup-situation-home.html

 

[punkyfish]

Hi thanks so much for the quick reply! I haven’t got as far as looking at drives yet, I have 2 externals for back up. I was thinking of an SSD for the OS (Windows 8 but was wondering if I could upgrade to 10 for free) I haven’t had one before but my understanding is they are quicker. I was looking at a small Size just for the OS and larger for the others. When you say apps on with the OS do you mean office? I need the PC to be quick for the gamers in the family. What would be the ideal set up? Thanks again!

 

[USAFRet]

"ideal setup" depends on budget and space needs.

Good quality 500GB SSDs are only ~$70 today, so no reason to go smaller.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAHY38JB7534
That would be for the OS and applications.
ALL your applications. Office, utilities, browsers, Steam client, etc, etc, etc.


For your other drive needs, you could go all SSD, like I have:

Or a large HDD or two.
HDD vs SSD doesn't impact FPS in games, but it does benefit level load times.

And for your OS, no reason not to go with Win 10.

 

[punkyfish]

Thank you so much for your help that is really useful and thanks again for the fast replies!