Hard Drive Setup

jeffy777 · January 31st, 2006, 11:38 PM

I have 2 hard drives:

1.) 300GB w/ 16MB cache
2.) 200GB w/ only a 2MB cache

Both are 7200 RPM

My question is: How would you set them up? Would you install the OS on the less capable one and then install the important programs and games on the better one? Or something different? Where would you store achivable type stuff like vids and ISOs? I'm open to suggestions since I'm in the process of setting up this PC and I want it to be as stable as possible with these 2 drives.

Also, how would you set up the paging file?

Thanks in advance!

jayjaya29 · February 1st, 2006, 12:31 AM

In my expierence, I would install both the OS and all programs on the 16MB cache one as it will be the fastest.

All other stuff, like pictures, movies, anything of that sort should be in the other drive.

As for paging, make sure you have a paging file on each drive. Read this article.
http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/supertweaks5.htm

fluke667 · February 1st, 2006, 12:54 AM

if you have 1GB ram or more windows will run fine without paging file
at least it does here images/smilies/smile.gif

jeffy777 · February 1st, 2006, 12:55 AM

I have 1.5GB

fluke667 · February 1st, 2006, 01:04 AM

that's enough
the paging file is imho something from from the "old" days when pc's had only a few megs ram

burnsy · February 1st, 2006, 01:14 AM

yeah, i'd put the OS on the 16MB one too. you'd see a difference if you put it on the 2MB one.

jayjaya29 · February 1st, 2006, 01:32 AM

Fair enough, but its good to setup a page file anyways. It doesn't take up that much space, I mean you are going to have a combined 500gb (give or take a few) of storage. Whats a few MBs to make sure nothing overflows when you push the system a bit. It can't hurt...

jeffy777 · February 1st, 2006, 05:09 AM

Thanks for the tips guys! I had already installed XP Media Center Edition on my slower drive as a test, but I'm following your advice and going to re-format tomorrow images/smilies/smile.gif

I think I'll just keep the default XP page file settings, too.

cvrefugee · February 1st, 2006, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Can the Virtual Memory be turned off on a really large machine?

Strictly speaking Virtual Memory is always in operation and cannot be ‘turned off’. What is meant by such wording is ‘set the system to use no page file space at all’.

This would waste a lot of the RAM. The reason is that when programs ask for an allocation of Virtual memory space, they may ask for a great deal more than they ever actually bring into use - the total may easily run to hundreds of megabytes. These addresses have to be assigned to somewhere by the system. If there is a page file available, the system can assign them to it - if there is not, they have to be assigned to RAM, locking it out from any actual use.

http://www.petri.co.il/pagefile_optimization.htm

jeffy777 · February 2nd, 2006, 08:49 PM

Another Question for you guys:

For some reason my C: drive will spin down after liek 15 minutes of inactivity even though I have the power options in the control panel set to "Never" to turn off the drives.

Any ideas?

fluke667 · February 2nd, 2006, 08:52 PM

maybe some kind of powersaving options in the BIOS ?

jeffy777 · February 2nd, 2006, 09:05 PM

hmmm, don't see anything there.......

burnsy · February 2nd, 2006, 09:38 PM

what mobo do you have? i've found that the power options in windows is flaky.

jeffy777 · February 2nd, 2006, 10:02 PM

It's an MSI MS-7184 (Socket 939) with an ATI Chipset

jeffy777 · February 3rd, 2006, 08:38 PM

Any other thoughts? Should I try flashing the mobo BIOS?

burnsy · February 3rd, 2006, 08:59 PM

really, if there is no option for it in the BIOS, it might be just the hardware on the hard drive. when it turns off after the 15 min, does it turn back on when you go to use it?

jeffy777 · February 3rd, 2006, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burnsy

really, if there is no option for it in the BIOS, it might be just the hardware on the hard drive. when it turns off after the 15 min, does it turn back on when you go to use it?

Yes, it does. If I move the mouse or something, it shows me the
hourglass cursor for a second or two while I hear it come back to life.

The weird part is that I've had this hard drive for a month or two (300 GB Seagate 7200 RPM 16 MB cache) and it didn't behave like this on my other PC. It's just doing it on this new motherboard.

Other than that, the PC is rock solid. No other isssues, but this one is driving me kind of nutty because I take short breaks from my when I'm working, and I know it's not that good to have the hard drive turning off and on.

TechZ · February 4th, 2006, 08:18 AM

Check the BIOS, I'm sure its something there, look for something that says PNP OS too. I was searching and read something about that.

Maybe the drive/mboard arent 100% compatable..as you can even firmware upgrade HD's now, check out the manuacturer site

zenkidori · February 4th, 2006, 09:18 AM

Even if you have large memory capacity and no page file, your OS has to load from somewhere at startup.

Oh also, windows can't run 100% from memory, that's why you can't put it on read only ROM without INTESNIVE modification.

jeffy777 · February 4th, 2006, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TechZ

Check the BIOS, I'm sure its something there, look for something that says PNP OS too. I was searching and read something about that.

Maybe the drive/mboard arent 100% compatable..as you can even firmware upgrade HD's now, check out the manuacturer site

Can you upgrade the firmware on a seagate drive? I can't seem to find it on their site.

I'll check BIOS here again shortly. Do you suggest disabling PNP OS if I have that option?

thanks for your help everyone images/smilies/smile.gif

January 31st, 2006, 11:38 PM	#1
jeffy777 Joined: Feb 8th, 2005 Last Online: Yesterday Location: US Age: 27 Posts: 5,662 Car: '04 Toyota Sienna, crippled people like vans.... Rep Power: 53	Hard Drive Setup I have 2 hard drives: 1.) 300GB w/ 16MB cache 2.) 200GB w/ only a 2MB cache Both are 7200 RPM My question is: How would you set them up? Would you install the OS on the less capable one and then install the important programs and games on the better one? Or something different? Where would you store achivable type stuff like vids and ISOs? I'm open to suggestions since I'm in the process of setting up this PC and I want it to be as stable as possible with these 2 drives. Also, how would you set up the paging file? Thanks in advance!

February 1st, 2006, 12:31 AM	#2
jayjaya29 Joined: Mar 18th, 2005 Last Online: January 6th, 2009 Location: Lindenhurst, NY Age: 20 Posts: 4,850 Car: 2000 Nissan Altima Rep Power: 20	In my expierence, I would install both the OS and all programs on the 16MB cache one as it will be the fastest. All other stuff, like pictures, movies, anything of that sort should be in the other drive. As for paging, make sure you have a paging file on each drive. Read this article. http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/supertweaks5.htm __________________ Check out my Gallery. Check out my Car.

February 1st, 2006, 12:54 AM	#3
fluke667 Joined: Nov 1st, 2004 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Stuttgart - Germany Age: 34 Posts: 823 Rep Power: 31	if you have 1GB ram or more windows will run fine without paging file at least it does here __________________

February 1st, 2006, 12:55 AM	#4
jeffy777 Joined: Feb 8th, 2005 Last Online: Yesterday Location: US Age: 27 Posts: 5,662 Car: '04 Toyota Sienna, crippled people like vans.... Rep Power: 53	I have 1.5GB __________________ A man named Jeffy once said, "If laziness is craziness, then I've lost my marbles...and I don't feel like trying to find them."

February 1st, 2006, 01:04 AM	#5
fluke667 Joined: Nov 1st, 2004 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Stuttgart - Germany Age: 34 Posts: 823 Rep Power: 31	that's enough the paging file is imho something from from the "old" days when pc's had only a few megs ram __________________

February 1st, 2006, 01:14 AM	#6
burnsy Joined: Mar 25th, 2005 Last Online: 12:33 AM Location: Indiana, USA Age: 26 Posts: 647 Car: 2006 Ford Ranger FX4 LFS Status: Rep Power: 16	yeah, i'd put the OS on the 16MB one too. you'd see a difference if you put it on the 2MB one. __________________ Top Gear Episode Guide & More \| Top Gear DVDs Team FinalGear.com \| CoRe Racing

February 1st, 2006, 01:32 AM	#7
jayjaya29 Joined: Mar 18th, 2005 Last Online: January 6th, 2009 Location: Lindenhurst, NY Age: 20 Posts: 4,850 Car: 2000 Nissan Altima Rep Power: 20	Fair enough, but its good to setup a page file anyways. It doesn't take up that much space, I mean you are going to have a combined 500gb (give or take a few) of storage. Whats a few MBs to make sure nothing overflows when you push the system a bit. It can't hurt... __________________ Check out my Gallery. Check out my Car.

February 1st, 2006, 05:09 AM	#8
jeffy777 Joined: Feb 8th, 2005 Last Online: Yesterday Location: US Age: 27 Posts: 5,662 Car: '04 Toyota Sienna, crippled people like vans.... Rep Power: 53	Thanks for the tips guys! I had already installed XP Media Center Edition on my slower drive as a test, but I'm following your advice and going to re-format tomorrow I think I'll just keep the default XP page file settings, too.

February 2nd, 2006, 08:49 PM	#10
jeffy777 Joined: Feb 8th, 2005 Last Online: Yesterday Location: US Age: 27 Posts: 5,662 Car: '04 Toyota Sienna, crippled people like vans.... Rep Power: 53	Another Question for you guys: For some reason my C: drive will spin down after liek 15 minutes of inactivity even though I have the power options in the control panel set to "Never" to turn off the drives. Any ideas?

February 2nd, 2006, 08:52 PM	#11
fluke667 Joined: Nov 1st, 2004 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Stuttgart - Germany Age: 34 Posts: 823 Rep Power: 31	maybe some kind of powersaving options in the BIOS ? __________________

February 2nd, 2006, 09:05 PM	#12
jeffy777 Joined: Feb 8th, 2005 Last Online: Yesterday Location: US Age: 27 Posts: 5,662 Car: '04 Toyota Sienna, crippled people like vans.... Rep Power: 53	hmmm, don't see anything there....... __________________ A man named Jeffy once said, "If laziness is craziness, then I've lost my marbles...and I don't feel like trying to find them."

February 2nd, 2006, 09:38 PM	#13
burnsy Joined: Mar 25th, 2005 Last Online: 12:33 AM Location: Indiana, USA Age: 26 Posts: 647 Car: 2006 Ford Ranger FX4 LFS Status: Rep Power: 16	what mobo do you have? i've found that the power options in windows is flaky. __________________ Top Gear Episode Guide & More \| Top Gear DVDs Team FinalGear.com \| CoRe Racing

February 2nd, 2006, 10:02 PM	#14
jeffy777 Joined: Feb 8th, 2005 Last Online: Yesterday Location: US Age: 27 Posts: 5,662 Car: '04 Toyota Sienna, crippled people like vans.... Rep Power: 53	It's an MSI MS-7184 (Socket 939) with an ATI Chipset __________________ A man named Jeffy once said, "If laziness is craziness, then I've lost my marbles...and I don't feel like trying to find them."

February 3rd, 2006, 08:38 PM	#15
jeffy777 Joined: Feb 8th, 2005 Last Online: Yesterday Location: US Age: 27 Posts: 5,662 Car: '04 Toyota Sienna, crippled people like vans.... Rep Power: 53	Any other thoughts? Should I try flashing the mobo BIOS? __________________ A man named Jeffy once said, "If laziness is craziness, then I've lost my marbles...and I don't feel like trying to find them."

February 3rd, 2006, 08:59 PM	#16
burnsy Joined: Mar 25th, 2005 Last Online: 12:33 AM Location: Indiana, USA Age: 26 Posts: 647 Car: 2006 Ford Ranger FX4 LFS Status: Rep Power: 16	really, if there is no option for it in the BIOS, it might be just the hardware on the hard drive. when it turns off after the 15 min, does it turn back on when you go to use it? __________________ Top Gear Episode Guide & More \| Top Gear DVDs Team FinalGear.com \| CoRe Racing

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February 4th, 2006, 08:18 AM	#18
TechZ Captain Internet Joined: Dec 19th, 2004 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Bahrain Age: 24 Posts: 2,425 Car: Audi TT '08 Rep Power: 164	Check the BIOS, I'm sure its something there, look for something that says PNP OS too. I was searching and read something about that. Maybe the drive/mboard arent 100% compatable..as you can even firmware upgrade HD's now, check out the manuacturer site __________________ techzonline.net

February 4th, 2006, 09:18 AM	#19
zenkidori Banned For Trolling Joined: Jun 12th, 2005 Last Online: November 15th, 2007 Location: A mile high...and then some Posts: 4,809 Car: RX-7, Jeep Cherokee Rep Power: 0	Even if you have large memory capacity and no page file, your OS has to load from somewhere at startup. Oh also, windows can't run 100% from memory, that's why you can't put it on read only ROM without INTESNIVE modification.

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