Which HDD to install Games???

[slapnutz]

Ok i've got 2 SATA HDD. These are NOT in any Raid configs, simply master and secondary. Basically the "C:" O/S and programs... and "D:" is pure data storage.

Does it matter which drive i should install games on?

Cheers.

(no partitions on either)

 

[Skrying]

Would games not fall under programs? The clear choice is C.

 

[Moloch]

Well I prefer installing all games on a seperate drive from my windows install for performance reasons as well as I hate having reinstall/ backup stuff for formats.
With my curent setup all I gotta do is install my mail/ office programs aswell as those pesky programs that need registry info.
I like it tho.
When I wanna format windows I take maybe 10 minutes to back stuff up and I'm set.
Though if your windows drive is much faster I'd use it.

 

[Skrying]

What exactly performance benefits would you even get? Once a game is loaded it shouldnt be hitting your hard drive, so I see none there. Loading? Very minor difference if one at all.

It reminds me of people who partition their HDs into 5 different sections for whatever mystical reasons.

 

[Moloch]

What exactly performance benefits would you even get? Once a game is loaded it shouldnt be hitting your hard drive, so I see none there. Loading? Very minor difference if one at all.

It reminds me of people who partition their HDs into 5 different sections for whatever mystical reasons.

Pagefile hits .
With the game on a seperate drive then the windows install you'll get better performance assuming he has the pagefile on his boot drive.

 

[Bludd]

On the one that doesn't contain your OS. Put the big pagefile on a separate drive from both of those, if you can.

 

[Skrying]

Pagefile hits .
With the game on a seperate drive then the windows install you'll get better performance assuming he has the pagefile on his boot drive.

Ahh, hadnt thought of that, though I do not keep my pagefile on my OS HD.

 

[Moloch]

Ahh, hadnt thought of that, though I do not keep my pagefile on my OS HD.

Well I only got 2 hdds since my other drive died a few months ago
Before that I had it on a seperate drive but since I got one drive to boot off and one drive for data storage I didn't think it made sense.
I'm gonna buy a new HDD pretty soon though, I'll wait untill I see good deal for a hdd around 160GB.
SATA too :smile:

 

[digitalwanderer]

Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3200826AS 200GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM, $75.50 shipped

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3160811AS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM, $62.63 shipped

SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series HD160JJ 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM, $60 shipped

Just a few from Newegg.com, I've been keeping my eye on storage and it's pretty f-ing reasonable right now.

I'm waiting on a memory pirice cut soon.

 

[Bludd]

Here in Norway, the HDD price/size sweetspot is 250 GB. I wouldn't buy a drive smaller than 200 GB now.

 

[Sxotty]

DW I finally bought that 500gb WD drive btw. It will be nice since I have been using only a 74gb raptor.

 

[_xxx_]

Games definitely on the other drive/partition, since after a windows reinstall you won't need to reinstall many of them (some do have additional crap in the registry or on the C drive, but that's rather an exception).

 

[Bludd]

Games definitely on the other drive/partition, since after a windows reinstall you won't need to reinstall many of them (some do have additional crap in the registry or on the C drive, but that's rather an exception).

Some game have awesome installers that don't recopy files already in place and just redo the registry/start menu stuff. FEAR Combat's installer did this and Thief 3's installer did this. I am 100% certain that FEAR Combat uses Installshield 11, can't remember what Thief 3 used but it was probably 10.

 

[_xxx_]

Some game have awesome installers that don't recopy files already in place and just redo the registry/start menu stuff. FEAR Combat's installer did this and Thief 3's installer did this. I am 100% certain that FEAR Combat uses Installshield 11, can't remember what Thief 3 used but it was probably 10.

Well that's still more work then no work at all, isn't it? I'm a lazy bastard...