hard drive set up

[seanzx7r]

hi every one hard drive set up .
what way could be best ?
at the mo i have
1 x samsung ssd 250gb 840evo with my os on it
1 x samsong ssd 250gb with my games on it
1 x wd black 1tb for back up internal
2 x 2tb external hd and 1 x 1tb hd and these are for music, films and docs.
my question is should how should i set these up for best performance .
should i put the ssd's in raid and what one ?
and would it speed up my start up ? or
should i put them in mirror so if one gos down the i should have the other one ? thats if it works that way not sure on that one .
so how would you set these up
thanks every one
sean

 

[blobbyblarker]

put the 2 samsung ssd's in raid 0 http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2127439/set-ssds-raid-windows-installed.html

 

[USAFRet]

Noooo...No RAID 0 for the SSD's.
Read this all the way through before you go down that road:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485.html

You get zero performance increase, and will get greater fail potential.

The way you have it is just fine.
Maybe designate one of the spinning drive for backup purposes. But not 'mirroring'.

 

[mcnumpty23]

depending on your motherboard raid may not have trim support

i have 2 samsung ssds and a load of mechanical drives for storage etc

i have first ssd as my every day drive

the second ssd with a clean install of windows with absolutely no extra programs installed

i only use that for games and as a back up should my first ssd be unbootable for whatever reason

 

[blobbyblarker]

Noooo...No RAID 0 for the SSD's.
Read this all the way through before you go down that road:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485.html

You get zero performance increase, and will get greater fail potential.

The way you have it is just fine.
Maybe designate one of the spinning drive for backup purposes. But not 'mirroring'.

whats the raid for ssd's where you get double the performance and capacity

 

[mcnumpty23]

and the only reason i see for raid 0 with ssds is to double your size

have tried it and quite honestly couldnt tell it was faster than a single ssd

unless you had 2 raid 0 ssd set up and were copying loads of files from one to the other i see no great benefit in raid 0 with ssds

 

[mcnumpty23]

Noooo...No RAID 0 for the SSD's.
Read this all the way through before you go down that road:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485.html

You get zero performance increase, and will get greater fail potential.

The way you have it is just fine.
Maybe designate one of the spinning drive for backup purposes. But not 'mirroring'.

whats the raid for ssd's where you get double the performance and capacity

in theory raid 0 but one ssd is so fast you dont get double performance in real life use only maybe in benchmarks

 

[USAFRet]

whats the raid for ssd's where you get double the performance and capacity

You do NOT get double the performance. Read the above linked article.

Double capacity? no.
2 x 250GB drives with RAID 0 = 500GB of space.
2 x 250GB drives without RAID 0 = 500GB of space.

The only thing you gain is a single drive letter for that space. And with current software and OS, that means little.

 

[mcnumpty23]

and mirroring raid is ok in theory--but if you have problems with your windows then you are just copying the problem to the mirrored drive

 

[USAFRet]

and mirroring raid is ok in theory--but if you have problems with your windows then you are just copying the problem to the mirrored drive

RAID 1 (mirror) is only really useful in a money generating situation, where downtime = lost sales. A webstore, for instance.
It allows the system to limp along if one of the drives dies. Any reputable company that uses that also has an actual backup scenario.

 

[mcnumpty23]

i have tried most things with mine including using the second one as a clone backup--but again like mirroring any issues are cloned as well

how i have it now is in my opininon the best use

first ssd as my every day drive

the second ssd with a clean install of windows with absolutely no extra programs installed to cause conflicts etc

both installed seperately so seperate boot records

 

[mcnumpty23]

and mirroring raid is ok in theory--but if you have problems with your windows then you are just copying the problem to the mirrored drive

RAID 1 (mirror) is only really useful in a money generating situation, where downtime = lost sales. A webstore, for instance.
It allows the system to limp along if one of the drives dies. Any reputable company that uses that also has an actual backup scenario.

yes mirroring isnt a substitute for proper backup as any problems are mirrored--thought i said that before

 

[USAFRet]

and mirroring raid is ok in theory--but if you have problems with your windows then you are just copying the problem to the mirrored drive

RAID 1 (mirror) is only really useful in a money generating situation, where downtime = lost sales. A webstore, for instance.
It allows the system to limp along if one of the drives dies. Any reputable company that uses that also has an actual backup scenario.

yes mirroring isnt a substitute for proper backup as any problems are mirrored--thought i said that before

Yes. I was just expounding on the issues.

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

No to raid 0 ssd or otherwise
It may be faster for HDD but it is hard to keep all user files off c:\users\username
When one disk of raid 0 dies everything on c: is lost

Having clone of boot drive is a good idea , preferably not connected so can not get zapped by dying psu

Are three external drives esata or USB 3? Or USB 2

If USB 2 considerably slower
Unfortunately many modern USB hard disks integrate sata to USB chips onto hard drive controller card so can't be upgraded to USB 3

Advantage of external disks (USB , esata etc) only applies if you keep at least one disk off site
To protect against fire , or theft

Regards
Mike Barnes

 

[mcnumpty23]

and if you have lots of drives depending on your windows version theres windows storage spaces--though havent got round to playing about with that yet

 

[seanzx7r]

thank you all for your advice . ok so taking what you all have said , can i just use one of the ssd's for windows 8.1 and the updates , then put windows on the other ssd for an os backup , and use the wd 1tb internal hd for my other programs such as printers , nero and downloads and use external hd's for my films and music and doc's and backups
btw two of my external hd are usb 3
thanks again all
sean

 

[USAFRet]

thank you all for your advice . ok so taking what you all have said , can i just use one of the ssd's for windows 8.1 and the updates , then put windows on the other ssd for an os backup , and use the wd 1tb internal hd for my other programs such as printers , nero and downloads and use external hd's for my films and music and doc's and backups
btw two of my external hd are usb 3
thanks again all
sean

A little bit off here:
You don't install another copy of the OS on the second SSD, but rather you make an image of the primary SSD, on another drive. Be it an SSD or HDD.

Your printer, and other applications should be installed on the primary drive. 250GB is plenty big enough for the OS and all applications, apart from games.
Once the system is built, windows updates installed, etc....make an Image on another drive. Update that image on a regular schedule.

Other stuff, you store on the other drives.
Downloads, Doc/Music/video/etc.
See this:
Win 7 & 8: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1834397/ssd-redirecting-static-files.html
Win 8.1: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2024314/windows-redirecting-folders-drives.html

 

[mcnumpty23]

yes you can make an image--though i have had images fail to load before when i needed them

i chose to have windows 8.1 on one ssd and windows 10 technical preview on the other--with separate boot records

should one drive go down when i need immediate pc access--which is usually when windows does muck up i can

immediately boot the second ssd and leave fixing the other windows till its more convenient

 

[mcnumpty23]

main thing is anything thats important to you should be backed up at least twice

and preferably one of those should be able to be disconnected/turned off except when needed

 

[mcnumpty23]

and the general consensus is no raid

other than that use which ever suggested set up you feel will work best for you

 

[seanzx7r]

moderator... ok i think i understand that ( yep im a bit slow here lol )
ok so new ssd ...no i havnt installed another copy of os
how do i copy the os over ?
ok on the primary ssd when i have the os and i have added all the apps like printers and such
so then one the new ssd make new folders then go back to primary and redirect docs,pics,vids to new ssd folders?
if i have got this the the primary will be the start pu disk and thats it but the new ssd will now get all the updates for windows ...?
am i close to understanding lol
thanks
sean

 

[seanzx7r]

mcnumpty23 thank you will use one of external drives for backup , i can always unplug and put in only for backups
thanks
sean

 

[USAFRet]

how do i copy the os over ?

Use one of the several 'cloning' applications.
Easus Todo, Macrium Reflect, Acronis TrueImage, Casper

That last is what I'm currently using now.

That 'redirect' is only to save space on the primary SSD. And so whenever you have to reinstall....your personal docs will not be afected.

 

[seanzx7r]

ok thank you every one
my question has been answered
thanks
sean
aka penfold lol thanks