Need advice

[slenteng]

Hello, I've built simple one drive, one hdd, video card systems in the past. I have now decided to go for something far more ambitious. I'm putting together a total entertainment system and wanted to ask some advice on a a couple issues I have run into.

1)setting up the hard drives. I'm not an IT guy so as far as arranging(raid, sata, etc.) multiple drives (3 in this case) I'm totally clueless.
2)Do I need to buy multiple licenses for a multi-hdd system?



Already purchased............................................................................

OS:Windows 7-64 bit
Case: Thermaltake Armor
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H80
Motherboard: Sabertooth P67 (Rev. 3)
Memory: 32GB (4 x 8GB) Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model BLT8G3D1608ET3LX0
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon 6850 (WILL UPGRADE SOON)
Storage 1(solely for SIM racing and BF3)
Power Supply: Cooler Master RSA00-AMBAJ3-US Silent Pro M 1000W Power Supply - ATX, Modular, 1000 Watt, 80+ Bronze Certified, SLI, 135mm Ultra Silent Fan

Yet to be purchased.........................................................................

Storage 2(Solely for media and entertainment, probably the drive i use the most) OCZ Agility 4 AGT4-25SAT3-256G 256GB Internal Solid State Drive - 2.5" Form Factor, SATA III, 6Gbps, TRIM, Ndurance 2.0 Technology
Storage 3(SIMPLE data STORAGE, solely for backup and photo/video storage) Toshiba HDKPC03 DT01ACA100 1TB Hard Drive - 1TB, 7200 RPM, SATA, 3.5"
Optical Drive: LG UH12LS29 Internal Blu-Ray Drive - 12x Read Speed, Supports M-Disc, Lightscribe, 3D Playback

 

[SchizTech]

No license is needed. The license applies only the the number of copies of Windows, which is still just one since all but one drive is only used for storage. Just set up Windows on the drive you've selected as the system drive and format the other two drives; Windows should name them D: and E:. You may want to leave the other drives disconnected when you're installing Windows though to make sure the boot sector is placed on the boot drive (Windows 7/8 use a separate, small partition to store boot files)

 

[slenteng]

First let me really thank you for your response. I cannot thank you enough for your time and assistance.

Okay great. Let me make sure I have this right:

So as far as the gaming drive(2 or D) and non SSD storage drive(3 or E), i simply connect them in order after I've setup the Windows 7 on the system drive(1 or C) and format them in that order? Don't i need to load the Windows 7 on the gaming drive also since I'll be installing gaming software on it? Sorry for my ignorance I just want to get this system right the first time. I've save and wanted all year to build it.

No license is needed. The license applies only the the number of copies of Windows, which is still just one since all but one drive is only used for storage. Just set up Windows on the drive you've selected as the system drive and format the other two drives; Windows should name them D: and E:. You may want to leave the other drives disconnected when you're installing Windows though to make sure the boot sector is placed on the boot drive (Windows 7/8 use a separate, small partition to store boot files)

 

[SchizTech]

First let me really thank you for your response. I cannot thank you enough for your time and assistance.

Okay great. Let me make sure I have this right:

So as far as the gaming drive(2 or D) and non SSD storage drive(3 or E), i simply connect them in order after I've setup the Windows 7 on the system drive(1 or C) and format them in that order? Don't i need to load the Windows 7 on the gaming drive also since I'll be installing gaming software on it? Sorry for my ignorance I just want to get this system right the first time. I've save and wanted all year to build it.

Windows only needs to be loaded on one drive, then it runs all the other connected drives from the system drive. It can only run from one drive at a time anyway, but it's perfectly fine to install stuff on other drives.