P
Pete
Is it better to have two hard disks of 40 GB each or one single hard
disk of 80 GB?
Thanks for your help.
Pete
disk of 80 GB?
Thanks for your help.
Pete
J
Jim
Is it better for me to buy two 4-door sedans, or one SUV?
Noone can answer either of our questions without context! It all depends on
what we're looking for, determining what we intend to do with these items
before anyone can even attempt to suggest "what is better". If I told you
my wife and I both need transportation, what would suggest? Suppose I added
that we both work in the same location with identical work hours, what then?
Suppose I told you we like to hit the off-road from time to time, the
"outdoorsy" type, what then? Context is EVERYTHING!
So which is better, two 40GB HDs, or one 80GB HD? Beats me, what do you
intend to do? Suppose you intend to mirror your data to protect it? Well,
I strongly suggest using two 40GB HDs since any RAID configuration requires
at least two HDs. On the other hand, if you don't need RAID, a single 80GB
HD is probably going to cost LESS than two 40GB HDs (is price a factor?).
And statistically, the more drives you have, the greater the chances for any
one of them failing. So if you intended to strip them (as in RAID-0), you
increase the chances of lost data (when one HD in a striped array fails, ALL
data on ALL drives is lost!). You may also be using an older motherboard,
perhaps limited in its ability to "see" larger HDs. If so, you'd have no
choice but to use two smaller HDs rather than one large HD (or else use a
PCI controller card, assuming you have PCI and a free slot). Or suppose you
wish to backup your HD from time to time, that's certainly not possible w/ a
single HD. Or suppose you wish to keep the OS on one, your DATA on the
other. This allows you to optimize each HD independently, which isn't a bad
idea, since the contents are quite different, and therefore require
different considerations as to partitioning (size, file system type (e.g.,
NTFS, FAT32)), type of backup, how often to backup, or whether a backup at
all(e.g., a HD with only the OS may be expendable, your data on the other HD
is NOT!). Or suppose you wish to dual boot at some point, it can make
things easier at times if you keep each OS on separate drives, perhaps
shuffling between each w/ a mobile HD rack. This is especially true if one
the OSs is Linux (which, for reasons I won't elaborate here, is a little
easier to manage when it has the HD all to itself).
So without context, without *some* idea of what you intend to do, what you
can afford, what your expectations are, there simply is no answer to either
of our questions.
HTH
Jim
Noone can answer either of our questions without context! It all depends on
what we're looking for, determining what we intend to do with these items
before anyone can even attempt to suggest "what is better". If I told you
my wife and I both need transportation, what would suggest? Suppose I added
that we both work in the same location with identical work hours, what then?
Suppose I told you we like to hit the off-road from time to time, the
"outdoorsy" type, what then? Context is EVERYTHING!
So which is better, two 40GB HDs, or one 80GB HD? Beats me, what do you
intend to do? Suppose you intend to mirror your data to protect it? Well,
I strongly suggest using two 40GB HDs since any RAID configuration requires
at least two HDs. On the other hand, if you don't need RAID, a single 80GB
HD is probably going to cost LESS than two 40GB HDs (is price a factor?).
And statistically, the more drives you have, the greater the chances for any
one of them failing. So if you intended to strip them (as in RAID-0), you
increase the chances of lost data (when one HD in a striped array fails, ALL
data on ALL drives is lost!). You may also be using an older motherboard,
perhaps limited in its ability to "see" larger HDs. If so, you'd have no
choice but to use two smaller HDs rather than one large HD (or else use a
PCI controller card, assuming you have PCI and a free slot). Or suppose you
wish to backup your HD from time to time, that's certainly not possible w/ a
single HD. Or suppose you wish to keep the OS on one, your DATA on the
other. This allows you to optimize each HD independently, which isn't a bad
idea, since the contents are quite different, and therefore require
different considerations as to partitioning (size, file system type (e.g.,
NTFS, FAT32)), type of backup, how often to backup, or whether a backup at
all(e.g., a HD with only the OS may be expendable, your data on the other HD
is NOT!). Or suppose you wish to dual boot at some point, it can make
things easier at times if you keep each OS on separate drives, perhaps
shuffling between each w/ a mobile HD rack. This is especially true if one
the OSs is Linux (which, for reasons I won't elaborate here, is a little
easier to manage when it has the HD all to itself).
So without context, without *some* idea of what you intend to do, what you
can afford, what your expectations are, there simply is no answer to either
of our questions.
HTH
Jim
P
Pat Garard
G'Day Pete,
I ALWAYS have 2 HDDs, and have had for the past
15 years or so.
I separate Programs on drive C:\ from Data on drive D:\.
I get overlapped 'seeks' on the disks, Program Paging on
drive C:\ and data Paging/Swapping on drive D:\.
I move my 'Outlook.PST' file to drive D:\.
My personal Word Templates are on drive D:\ (etc. etc.).
For backup, I back up important files on Drive D:\ to a
folder on drive C: AND to a CD-R.
When I upgrade, MOST of the data I need to transfer
is the 'content' of Drive D:\.
--
Regards,
Pat Garard
Australia
______________________________________
I ALWAYS have 2 HDDs, and have had for the past
15 years or so.
I separate Programs on drive C:\ from Data on drive D:\.
I get overlapped 'seeks' on the disks, Program Paging on
drive C:\ and data Paging/Swapping on drive D:\.
I move my 'Outlook.PST' file to drive D:\.
My personal Word Templates are on drive D:\ (etc. etc.).
For backup, I back up important files on Drive D:\ to a
folder on drive C: AND to a CD-R.
When I upgrade, MOST of the data I need to transfer
is the 'content' of Drive D:\.
--
Regards,
Pat Garard
Australia
______________________________________
M
Mike
Pete said:
Always have two HDDs.. important data and downloaded files can be saved to
the second drive where they will be safe..
C
Casey
Mike said...
.... only from the failure of the first hard drive. Not safe from theft,
fire, or wayward asteroids.
Btw, I do the "two hard disk" thing as well.
Casey
"Character is doing what is right when nobody is watching"
.... only from the failure of the first hard drive. Not safe from theft,
fire, or wayward asteroids.
Btw, I do the "two hard disk" thing as well.
Casey
"Character is doing what is right when nobody is watching"
M
Mike
Casey said:
Not too many incidents of wayward asteroids up here.. greater chance of
being hit by the noisy little flying saucer that makes periodic flights..
Mike