Question Is it good enough to get a SATA HDD with 10TB space versus the low space that SSD offers for steam games and video editing ?

[Notmiserable]

This is kind of a recommendation thread. As I want to know what people have with their setups.

I know most steam games can range from 70 to 120 GB per game. And that's not really good enough for the standard that they use. They sell solid state drives NVMe that are really fast I admit. And they got the size down really good.

But the problem is. First of all for my setup. I have a partitioned OS that is near 570GB for the NVme hard drive. Or near 1 TB for the operating system. But that doesn't seem to be enough these days for hard drive storage. So I'm assuming most people use a secondary hard drive on their computer. I don't know if they use the NVMe SSD as their secondary drive, and that's good enough for them. But when I type in hard drive 10TB, I get results on amazon for 8TB Sata that are Sata for a good average price, I believe in my opinion.

The stats for that drive are this:

"Seagate BarraCuda 8TB Internal Hard Drive HDD – 3.5 Inch Sata 6 Gb/s 5400 RPM 256MB"

Is this fast enough for games and video editing?

Or do most people sacrifice the space for a Solid State Drive and get something that is 1 to 2TB only for games and video editing? It seems you would only have room for 10 games.

I do think capacity is more important. It just seems getting a Sata that isn't solid state as a secondary hard drive. It feels a bit outdated to still have a platter internal hard drive.

Although, they did manage to make the size of the hard drive really small. They didn't really perfect the overall average size of the drive to meet the demands of how space we need for the NVme type hard drives. I'm kind of new to NVme drives. They could have increased size to match the cost and the capacity.

What is your setup that you guys use and your recommendation?

I have also looked into the USB external drives. I heard they are unrealiable and prone to damage and problems of it disconnecting and reconnecting and not properly operating in USB 3.0 mode.

And another odd thing is. I'm lucky because I got the case that supports it. They have 3.5 inch drive bays in. Although when I put hard drive bay enclosure cover on it. It doesn't close properly and that's how you break a SATA connector on a hard drive. So it's kind of hanging there. I can probably find a custom solution for that later. My case is Fractal Design Focus G Mid-Tower Case.


What I'm really asking is what is your setup. And is the "Seagate BarraCuda 8TB Internal Hard Drive HDD – 3.5 Inch Sata 6 Gb/s 5400 RPM 256MB" good enough for transfer speeds for video editing and possible gaming? I mean it still has platters in it.


Just in case it matters my specs are this:
Gigabyte B650M Gaming Plus wifi.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU
Memory: 32GB T-Force RGB DDR5

1TB Kingston NV3 SSD. OS drive.

 

[USAFRet]

1. There is nothing wrong with multiple drives, for multiple uses. HDD + SSD is a very common config.
SSD for OS and applications. Maybe your most played couple of games.
Other games can live on the HDD.

2. You don't want a 5400RPM HDD for your video editing. Loading the vid files will be slooooow.

 

[Notmiserable]

1. There is nothing wrong with multiple drives, for multiple uses. HDD + SSD is a very common config.
SSD for OS and applications. Maybe your most played couple of games.
Other games can live on the HDD.

2. You don't want a 5400RPM HDD for your video editing. Loading the vid files will be slooooow.

You don't mean playback? Or do you mean playback on an uncompressed video?

 

[USAFRet]

You don't mean playback? Or do you mean playback on an uncompressed video?

Playback is irrelevant.
I meant reading that file for 'editing'.

 

[Notmiserable]

Playback is irrelevant.
I meant reading that file for 'editing'.

Is 7200RPM slow for video editing? If so maybe I would have to spend the extra $75.

 

[USAFRet]

But the problem is. First of all for my setup. I have a partitioned OS that is near 570GB for the NVme hard drive. Or near 1 TB for the operating system. But that doesn't seem to be enough these days for hard drive storage.

Lets back up a bit.

You have a 1TB NVMe?
And 570 GB consumed on it?
What is taking up that space?

 

[bill001g]

How fast is your internet connection. You really shouldn't design your storage around steam games. How many do you actually play at the same time. Is it really worth spend more money rather than just wait a bit to redown a game.

For a most games you are going to want to copy it from whatever disk drive you have onto a SSD whenever you want to play it. Some game runs much better on a SSD that a hard drive. You have to look it up. Some games that have huge disk requirement for cinematic video clips do ok running from a hard drive. Ones that are constantly loading textures perform better on SSD.
So if you are playing from the SSD anyway then the speed of the hard drive does not matter.

A similar situation with video editing. If you move your current project to the SSD then the hard drive speed doesn't matter. If the files you are processing are so large that you can not move them to the SSD then I guess the details of what software package and what function will determine how fast a hard drive you need.

 

[Notmiserable]

Lets back up a bit.

You have a 1TB NVMe?
And 570 GB consumed on it?
What is taking up that space?

Nothing at the moment. I'm still preparing this is a new computer.

1TB Kingston NV3 SSD.

No no no, I don't have 570GB consumed on it. That's the size of the partition. I plan the rest for Oracle Vbox setups just in case I need to.

 

[USAFRet]

Nothing at the moment. I'm still preparing this is a new computer.

1TB Kingston NV3 SSD.

No no no, I don't have 570GB consumed on it. That's the size of the partition. I plan the rest for Oracle Vbox setups just in case I need to.

OK....

1TB for OS, applications, a couple of games. Other parts of the 1TB for VMs.
Large HDD for all other stuff.

With Steam, you can move games back and forth between drives easily.
Same with video editing. Movie playback does not matter.

 

[Notmiserable]

How fast is your internet connection. You really shouldn't design your storage around steam games. How many do you actually play at the same time. Is it really worth spend more money rather than just wait a bit to redown a game.

For a most games you are going to want to copy it from whatever disk drive you have onto a SSD whenever you want to play it. Some game runs much better on a SSD that a hard drive. You have to look it up. Some games that have huge disk requirement for cinematic video clips do ok running from a hard drive. Ones that are constantly loading textures perform better on SSD.
So if you are playing from the SSD anyway then the speed of the hard drive does not matter.

A similar situation with video editing. If you move your current project to the SSD then the hard drive speed doesn't matter. If the files you are processing are so large that you can not move them to the SSD then I guess the details of what software package and what function will determine how fast a hard drive you need.

So you are saying essentially I would have a temp folder on my solid state for editing. Then I store completed file on the secondary internal hard drive. Yes, that makes sense.

Video editing is the priority not exactly games. But I just want to keep my options open. I just don't believe buying a secondary solid state drive that only has 1 to 2 TB is enough. As I got to transfer files from my old secondary hard drive (that has 2TB). I only have 211 GB free on 2TB on the win7 pc I'm using now.

 

[Notmiserable]

OK....

1TB for OS, applications, a couple of games. Other parts of the 1TB for VMs.
Large HDD for all other stuff.

With Steam, you can move games back and forth between drives easily.
Same with video editing. Movie playback does not matter.

Okay so it's not a big deal to get the

"Seagate BarraCuda 8TB Internal Hard Drive HDD – 3.5 Inch Sata 6 Gb/s 5400 RPM 256MB"

I just use the main Solid State hard drive and the remaining space to do the video editing work. And the steam games I just what do what the other bull001g said. You just redownload them. And some can work on the secondary hard drive. And some work better on the solid state. That's all I needed to know. I still think I am making a slight mistake getting the 5400 RPM speed. Isn't the 6 Gb/s dictate the speed?

I'll see if I can get a 7200 RPM. The significant speed of 7200 RPM and 5400 RPM doesn't mean much right?

Thank you for the fast replies LOL.

 

[USAFRet]

I still think I am making a slight mistake getting the 5400 RPM speed. Isn't the 6 Gb/s dictate the speed?

Thats just the SATA interface.
All HDDs will be the same.

5400 vs 7200RMP, that is a difference.
Also, SMR vs CMR. Don't buy an SMR.

 

[Notmiserable]

Thats just the SATA interface.
All HDDs will be the same.

5400 vs 7200RMP, that is a difference.
Also, SMR vs CMR. Don't buy an SMR.

I'm going to see if I can get 8TB hard drive with 7200 RPM just in case at the price range of this drive

"Seagate BarraCuda 8TB Internal Hard Drive HDD – 3.5 Inch Sata 6 Gb/s " which is $120.00

Thanks for the advice. It seems there is no hurry on this honestly. As I'm still researching this on various social media. It seems that you are right, there is a major difference when it comes to games. But since I'm going to do video editing on the solid state OS drive. I can wait on this. I got 200GB left on this secondary drive. I can wait.

Even though I could put steam games on solid state and move them back and forth on which the ones I play on. I still prefer the 7200RPM drive.

But quite honestly, I will be waiting a long time lol. Probably to next black friday. I can probably get away with all video editing work and games on my operating system drive for a while. And I do have an external drive that I got two years ago. I should be okay.

 

[Moonstick2]

I really wouldn't bother with an HDD for gaming based on capacity alone. If you can't afford 1 - 2 TB SSD then sure, but not because of some idea of more space = better. By the way, you keep talking about NVMe in terms of SSD but there have also always been 2.5" form-factor SSD SATA drives. They're not as benchmark-quick as NVMe but for real-world use there's not much in it. You can pick up 2 TB SATA SSDs for < $120 according to PC partpicker.

100+ GB is the very latest AAA games only. If you play nothing but that then sure, you'll 'only' fit 15 - 20 of them on a 2 TB drive. But of course massive games means massive amounts of data to read from the drive which means even longer HDD loading times vs SSD. Also a lot of people report stuttering issues running some of the newer AAA games from HDD.

If you're not fussed about the newest AAA games then you really don't need 8 TB of gaming storage.

Games can be re-downloaded in the background or while you go off and do something else, game level loading and possible stuttering is something you have to sit through. Ultimately it's your choice, but personally for a decade now I've used nothing but SSD, with HDDs for external storage only.

 

[Notmiserable]

I really wouldn't bother with an HDD for gaming based on capacity alone. If you can't afford 1 - 2 TB SSD then sure, but not because of some idea of more space = better. By the way, you keep talking about NVMe in terms of SSD but there have also always been 2.5" form-factor SSD SATA drives. They're not as benchmark-quick as NVMe but for real-world use there's not much in it. You can pick up 2 TB SATA SSDs for < $120 according to PC partpicker.

100+ GB is the very latest AAA games only. If you play nothing but that then sure, you'll 'only' fit 15 - 20 of them on a 2 TB drive. But of course massive games means massive amounts of data to read from the drive which means even longer HDD loading times vs SSD. Also a lot of people report stuttering issues running some of the newer AAA games from HDD.

If you're not fussed about the newest AAA games then you really don't need 8 TB of gaming storage.

Games can be re-downloaded in the background or while you go off and do something else, game level loading and possible stuttering is something you have to sit through. Ultimately it's your choice, but personally for a decade now I've used nothing but SSD, with HDDs for external storage only.

My idea of putting steam games on a secondary internal 7200RPM Sata HDD is not necessary then. And the video editing can be done on the SSD on a new partition.

I really struggled with what partition size I was going to use for the main OS. As I wanted to be able to back up the main OS partition with Reflect with it already encrypted. I have gotten away with 130GB sized partition for a long time on this windows 7 pc that I'm using . As I have 50GB free. And 1639GB free space allocated space that I never used. And that's a 2TB hard drive. Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM008 7200 RPM.

I use external usb drives to put the reflect image back ups on. I want to keep two back ups at all time periodically. Like every 4 months. The initial one I keep when I get all my files from Win7 OS (I think it's like 60GB I have on the desktop).

Now I'm going back in my mind and deciding maybe it's not necessary to have a 570GB partition for the main OS for Windows 10. I'm assuming I can use a really good partition tool to shrink the partition? I noticed that it obviously doesn't let you shrink the partition when you are in the main OS. But I have a old secondary sata throwaway drive configured to the new pc (500GB) that has Reflect on it (It's disconnected) when I don't need to do back ups.


So this is real question to you. Of course before I shrink the size of a partition I would do a back up. But when you shrink a partition do you get any errors whatsoever? Because I think I might obviously shrink the encrypted partition for main OS, for the back ups. Reflect will make the back up as it's encrypted. What is the best partition tool or does Windows partitioning tool in disk management do a good job with it? Is there a probability of errors with this?

My setup could be 250GB partition for the main OS Windows 10.

100 GB to 300 GB partitioned space for the video editing work (completed work would go into secondary hard drive that is a SATA mechanical drive 8 TB).

500 GB partition for steam games or any other games in general. I probably would never have that amount of games.

This should be enough space for the 1TB Nvme drive for everything I need to do.

The secondary 8TB Sata drive is for storage of movies, tv shows, edited videos, etc.

I do think this is a good setup. I just need a good partitioning software, do you have a recommendation for that? I would run that software on a throw away secondary back up hard drive that I already have Win 10 configured for my new pc.


Also, I don't think amazon has the best hard drives. I really think newegg probably has a better selection with practical prices. But I don't think having a 5400 RPM vs a 7200 RPM Sata hard drive for storage of tv shows, movies, etc. There is going to be no difference as long as I don't run steam games on it. Honestly, I think I would be alright getting the 5400 RPM drive.

What drive would you guys recommend I get for the secondary internal hard drive based on the price?

I heard amazon tries to get away will selling new drives as used (might just be third party sellers only, who knows). Which is a problem for me. Because how long a sata drive (mechanical) last is how long has it's been used. I generally believe that SATA hard drives that have platters in them do work 10 years plus.


I may want to test Reflect and make a complete image and backup and shrink the drive. And I can do it quickly because it will be operating in usb 3.0 mode.

 

[USAFRet]

I would NOT shrink that OS partition.
Your previous "130GB" is woefully small.

Leave it as is.

 

[Notmiserable]

I would NOT shrink that OS partition.
Your previous "130GB" is woefully small.

Leave it as is.

So you are saying that 570GB is alright for the main OS for Windows 10? Keep it this way? Is shrinking an OS partition risky? I would only do it for the Reflect back ups. But I think I can easily handle one back up every 4 months with 570GB. As I have a usb 3.0 external drive.

 

[USAFRet]

So you are saying that 570GB is alright for the main OS for Windows 10? Keep it this way?

Generally, yes.

Making it an arbitrarily small partition often ends up with that being TooSmall, at some point in the future.
There is little reason to force it to be smaller.

 

[Notmiserable]

Generally, yes.

Making it an arbitrarily small partition often ends up with that being TooSmall, at some point in the future.
There is little reason to force it to be smaller.

Yeah, I think it will be alright, I don't have to install steam games on another partition. I just use the main OS partition. As I don't think I'm going to have a lot of games. Like I said the only reason someone would partition a hard drive for the main OS is to do reflect back ups. But external hard drives do go up to 12TB and I actually have one of those. I have used Win7 on this computer for many years and never had a bricked OS that I had to fix. Which is a nightmare in itself when it happens as startup repair tools from Microsoft suck.

It's probably a lot of busy work to extend and shrink partitions. Just to conserve to do Reflect back ups.

 

[USAFRet]

Macrium Reflect backup Images do NOT care about the size of the Source drive or partition.
Only the actual consumed space.

My Win 11 OS is on a 1TB drive. No 'partitions', other than the needed boot, etc.
The OS and applications consume approx 240GB.
The full Macrium Image is 227GB.