couple of hard drive questions.

J

Jason88

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I have a 64gig ssd and a samsung f3, if I put the os on the ssd and all my games on the f3 if I format and reinstall windows, will the games still run or would I have to reinstall the games. I'm thinking of just using the f3 for windows and the games on another partition, would the same apply for just formating c, and the games would still run on d.
Thank you
 
no, games need reg files to run, some games run like that, but most wont

Now, if you have steam, yes, your games will run after a format once you run steam.exe it will install it's self again and off you go.

partitioning wont give you any performance gain FYI.
 
MrGuvernment, ghost6303 thank you for the infomation. As far as partitioning, in the past I would put my os and app's on a 75gig par, then maybe 300gig for games (my thought was that the games partition would not get fragmented as much) and the remainder for downloads, unraring, seemed pretty fast. Thank you guys for the info
 
Well, for the most part, reinstalling Windoz necessitates reinstalling apps. Unless this is something you are contemplating on doing every 3 months or so, the performance increase you will be well worth the pain of going through this process. Just make sure any data that you need is backed up before you start.

I have been running SSD's with a conventional data drive for a couple of years now and would not run any other way now.

Your original question is a bit confusing. You will want to backup your save games before you start, but after that, just install windows to the SSD, and install the games to the F3, restore your saved games and you are set. If you want to decrease complexity by putting everything on the F3, you will still be in the same boat if you are looking to reinstall windows or moving programs between partitions.

Don
 
DonDon thanks. Yeah so bottom line is I would have to reinstall the games if there were a need to format the os drive or partition, thanks for pointing out the game saves.
 
Couple more questions before I format. So in the past I've had a wd 640 partitioned, 75 gig for windows, 400 gig for games, and the remainder as temp partition for downloading and such. So my new setup will be, 64 gig ssd for windows, 1tb samsung f3 (should I keep it at full capacity even though I may have 200 gig for steam and games max, or partition it for whatever reason) and put in my old 640 as a huge temp drive. I also have an older 1tb wd that has all my music, and storage of stuff from the years. I know I'm over thinking this, but does this sound like a setup that make sense. One thing about multiple drives is that you have that big? lag when they spin down and have to access them, but that life of using several hdds. Thank you
 
I'm a fan of keeping things relatively simple.

I would make a 100 gig partition at the start of the F3 for your temp drive. A second 200 gig partition or so for Steam and games. The rest for music or videos, long term storage that does not need to be too fast. And stuff the 640 in an external enclosure for a backup of the important stuff on the F3.

Don
 
I wouldn't even divide the 1TB drive into partitions. The problem I had with multiple partitions is that I always ended up running out of room on one, or not using enough space on another. With mechanical drives only, I still would create a separate partition for the OS and apps so that you can just reformat it when needed (make sure you store files you want to keep on another drive). But with a SSD handling that by itself, there's no need for multiple partitions on one drive.

Of course, you don't have enough room for things like games on the SSD, so create a Games folder on the 1TB drive and install Steam under that (i.e., D:\Games\Steam). Create a Temp folder for the temp files on either the 1TB drive or the 640GB drive.

Depending on what you use, some large apps may have to be installed on the 1TB drive as well. Just be sure to include on the SSD everything that's essentially an extension of the OS, like drivers and their control apps, antivirus, anything that starts up automatically. A web browser is another must for the SSD given how much you'll use it. Don't try to move Program Files or anything; just set a different folder when you install a game or large app.
 
DonDon, Drexl, thank you guys very much for the suggestions, it really gives me some direction.
 
If you are going Win7 on the box you can always image the drive and create the restore CD from the Win7 Backup and Restore menu...

If the intent is to create a BU for 'just in case' the image is good to go, and built into the OS.

If you like to *whack* and reinstall for 'ultimate drive speed' this will still work.

As for partitioning, why not just 'partition' by directory? No need to build in space issues, just use some file management! That way, when you fill the drive, you will need another one for sure. But until that happens, you won't have to fight partition limitations that you actually created!!! Just name directories accordingly, and stick to it.

Make sense?
 
Pierre said:
If you are going Win7 on the box you can always image the drive and create the restore CD from the Win7 Backup and Restore menu...

If the intent is to create a BU for 'just in case' the image is good to go, and built into the OS.

If you like to *whack* and reinstall for 'ultimate drive speed' this will still work.

As for partitioning, why not just 'partition' by directory? No need to build in space issues, just use some file management! That way, when you fill the drive, you will need another one for sure. But until that happens, you won't have to fight partition limitations that you actually created!!! Just name directories accordingly, and stick to it.

Make sense?
Click to expand...

It does make sense. I didn't mind formating and reinstalling everything back in the windows 98 day, but it takes waaaay longer now with the size and the time it takes to install large game files. So advice well taken, just treat folders like of partitions as you and others have stated, thank you.
 
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