[SOLVED] One big hard drive or multiple smallers ones? Which should i put into new build?

[welchs101]

Hi all i have a question: Is it better to have a large single hard drive (of say 1TB) or have two small hard drives (say 2 at each 500MB). I have looked this topic online but i could not find any recent reviews. So i thought the "issues" may have changed since the larger drives now are so much more inexpensive compared to what they used to be.

For me i am trying to decide do i go with
(a)a single 1TB NVe M.2 card
(b) or a 500GB NVe M.2 card and a 500GB STATA SSD drive.

I was going to go with just option (a) and call it a day buy my wife asked if we should have two smaller ones instead of 1 big one. I thought about this and i can think of pros and cons to both.

Assume in both cases backups are done on somewhat regular basis. Since i dont understand the raid setups i just do automate backups.

I just wanted to pose this question to make sure i have thought of everything...........in my opinion.......and it may not be a goodone which is why i am posing this question.........if i am doing regular backups...........does it really matter if i have only a single drive? My answer is no not really............is this a good assumption?

 

[USAFRet]

This is 100% personal preference.

Some people like the simplicity of a single large drie.
Others, like me, have multiple drives, each with their own purpose.
OS+applications on one drive, other drives for other things.


OS and applications have gotten really good at managing multiple dries and drive letters.

 

[welchs101]

I like your OS + applications idea..........but is there some advantage to doing this? I personally have OS on one drive, applications on onedrive and "data" on another drive..........and i like this but for the computer i am building its my wifes and .......she doesnt realy care. Just trying to decide if it really matters to have multiple drives?

 

[thepersonwithaface45]

I have a 2TB M.2 drive for OS, then 2 1TB 2.5" SSDs for games and other stuff.

 

[USAFRet]

I like your OS + applications idea..........but is there some advantage to doing this? I personally have OS on one drive, applications on onedrive and "data" on another drive..........and i like this but for the computer i am building its my wifes and .......she doesnt realy care. Just trying to decide if it really matters to have multiple drives?

Applications on a second drive is mostly a waste.
In case of the OS needing to be reinstalled, the applications need to be reinstalled anyway. So, OS and applications on the same space.

Games like Steam, however, can live on other drives.
The Steam client can use multiple locations.


Performance is the same.
Simplicity favors a single large drive.