2nd HDD or partition?

[BFR]

It has come to that time of year where for some unknown reason I have an urge to mess around with my PC. This normally results in a lot of swearing and blue screens!

This time, I'm getting prepared properly. I need some considered opinions on the benefits, pros and cons of either partitioning my existing HDD or getting and installing a smaller 2nd HDD.

Currently, I have an IBM 120GB HDD running Win XP home and the usual glut of progs. I have read somewhere, as one does, that there may be some benefit of placing the OS and Apps onto a different HDD to the one which stores your data.

So, here's the question. Is there any considerable benefit from installing a small HDD (20GB seems to be the smallest going) to run XP and my apps leaving the 120GB free for my data? Also, what difference does this make from partitioning my existing HDD (apart from the additional space).

I hope this makes sense, thanks for reading

 

[gotrootdude]

Unless you're separating the OS from the applications for the purpose of imaging or faster backups, or you plan on formating the OS partition as fat32 for a tiny bit of increased speed, there really is no benefit to separating the two....

The one thing I would be concerned with is what rpm and cache is on the 20gig, if the 120gig is a 7200rpm and the 20gig is 5400rpm, then use the 120gig for both and forget about the 20gig unless you just need a little extra storage. There's a big difference in a good 7200rpm drive and a 5400rpm drive..

 

[BFR]

The current HDD is 7200 RPM so any subsequent HDD needs to be at least that speed.

I was a little unsure about the second drive to be honest, unless I go for another big drive and leave that as a data store and carry on using the original HDD as the one for the OS, Apps and current data.

I'm more drawn to the idea of a partition on the existing disk to separate XP from everything else in case I needs to re-install.

 

[gotrootdude]

It can be a 5400rpm if your useing it for storage. But I wouldn't store anything I used frequently on it.

The reason to seperate the OS in case of reinstall is to make easier imageing, such as useing powerquest driveimage, or norton ghost..

 

[LONGHAIR]

The second drive is a fine place to store the "Images" of your C drive, but if your 120 gig main drive is all one partition now, you should look into doing both.

 

[crjdriver]

I would partition the 120 into at least two partitions; the drive will be easier to defrag with a smaller partition. I would make a 20 gig or so partition for the os and installed apps like Office, Photoshop, etc. Install games to the larger partition. You can image your C drive to either the other partition or another drive. You can store an image on the second partition of the drive, however if the drive dies you are out of luck. I like having a separate drive to hold images. I back that up with a dvd burner once in a while. It only takes loosing important financial records once to make you paranoid about backing stuff up.

 

[MustBNuts]

The one big benefit I've had with keeping my data on a completely separate hdd is mobility. I do a lot of video editing, where files can get very large, and the beauty of a separate hdd is that you can move the whole thing and pop it into any other computer to work with files.

Also, if you had a hard drive failure, this could affect your partitions, but not necessarily your second hdd.

Just my two cents,

MBN