2HDDs......Windows on 1 HDD.....Media and D/Ls on HDD 2

[Calpolyjb]

Will it improve my running speed if I have a HDD designated for Windows and my Programs, Then the other HDD would be for my Downloads and other media.

I was thinking a WD 74GB SATA 10000RPM for drive one
and a WD 250GB SATA 7400RPM

So....Will this combo make it go faster?????
also do more rpms help transfer rate or just how fast programs will run???
Does SATA run/transfer faster than IDE????
Does Buffer size make the drive run/transfer data quicker??? 8MBs vs 16MBs
Will a smaller HDD help windows run faster???



I know thats a lot of questions, but as you can tell i don't know a lot about hard drives, and im in the market, and i don't want to just buy the most$$$$ expensive one, just because it has the biggest numbers(ie. RPM's and Buffer)

Thanks for reading, and thanks for the help!!!!!!!

[freakitchen]

Having the raptor drive, running at 10,000 RPM, increases the read/write rate on the drive. Therefore, loading times will be reduced for applications, and any time data is accessed.

SATA, although theoretically faster than PATA (IDE), does not give noticable improvements. This is the case for both SATA I and SATA II. It makes sense to go with SATA hard drives, however, because they're newer technology, and the cables are smaller - improving case airflow.

The buffer size, or cache, does give an improvement. The 16MB cache drives have, in some cases, benchmarked with speeds approaching that of the WD Raptors, and have the added benefit of giving you much more storage for your money.

If your budget can fit the Raptor in, then get one. Personally, however, I'd go for a 300GB Seagate drive, with 16MB of Cache, and partition off 50GB for the Operating system, leaving the remainder for storage.

FK

[gumbald]

I concur FK, only if your budget allows it and you really want that edge on program performance get the Raptor, else SATA will serve you just fine.

Windows running speed should have nothing to do with the partition size, I would recommend the same setup as above, in about 50GB for C:\. This is what I have, and when my Windows partition corrupted, it was easy to wipe and reinstall without losing any of my personal data.