How to setup my SSDs and HDD

[omalley]

Once the last few parts arrive, i will be setting up my new rig. It will have 3 different drives in it though and im curious on how to properly set everything up within windows. I will be using a 512GB M.2 SSD (Samsung 950 Pro), a 1TB Sata3 SSD (Samsung 850 Evo), and lastly a 6TB Sata3 HDD (Western Digital Black).

As of right now, I plan to use the M.2 drive as my main drive. It will have my OS (Windows 10) along with all the drivers for everything and all my programs and software. I will then use the 1TB SSD to store all my long load time games and all the games I mod (Fallout 3, NV, and 4. Skyrim. Oblivion. Morrowind. And The Witcher 3 along with anything else I mod.) Then i will use the 6TB HDD to store any leftover games along with storing all my downloads, pictures, music, videos, and documents.

Pretty much i want to make sure that everything that has to do with a game is not stored on the OS drive, because i read on the steam forums about how having like skyrim or fallout installed on the OS drive can cause issues once you get heavily into modding it. Please correct me if im wrong. But with that being said, should i have like Steam, Origin, Nexus Mod Manger, ect. installed on the OS drive or on one of the other drives?

And please let me know if their is anything else i should have on one of the specific drives, or stored somewhered, or installed somehwere, because im wanting to have like the best optimization and performance among everything that i can.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, @omalley!

Good job with the upgrade, pretty impressive! I'd recommend you follow the detailed step-by-step instructions in this Windows Install & Optimization guide for SSDs & HDDs. It definitely will give you the guidelines on how to optimize your storage to the maximum.
I believe it's going to be best to store all your high-end games on either one of the solid-state drives. However, I personally would use the 1 TB SSD for that. As for any secondary and personal data, you can simply relocate it to the WD Black, indeed.
My additional recommendation would be to think of a backup location (off-site) where you can store the backup of all your important files. Having one sole copy of your files and keeping it on internal HDD alone is not a backup solution, so always make sure you have a duplicate somewhere else. This is the surest way to avoid any potential data loss. Better safe than sorry, right?

I hope I was helpful. Let me know if you have any additional questions!
Best of luck with your upgraded rig!
Cheers,
SuperSoph_WD