Hard drive strategy in new build.

Epirb · 10-21-2009, 12:29 PM

So, I have been getting loads of good advice here about Motherboards and processors, I think I am settled on that one, decision made.

Since you guys are involved I thought I would ask another question or two.......

I have a sizeable music collection, have a 10 megapix camera and do some video editing. I will be running windows 7.

New build hard drive and back up strategy:

I have been talked out raid array back ups as people seem to tell me that in the home environment (ie not specific pro kit) they are not that reliable.

At the moment I have instant back up to a NAS but that is pretty power hungry and a separate unit that I could do without running.

I was thinking of instant internal backups, ie two drives with a weekly back up to the NAS.

So, if fitting 2 drives making them the same seems to make sense just for symmetry's sense. For the difference in price 500Gig to 1TB, 1TB seems achievable.

But what then, how to partition? What size partition for OS? OS and documents on same partition or separate?

Or maybe smaller drive for OS, progs and docs and big one for back ups....

I look forward to words of wisdom.

Many thanks, Epirb.

**beefers1** · 10-21-2009, 01:14 PM

I keep my OS and documents on different drive partitions in case I have to format a partition. I use a great program, Acronis True Image (here's the latest version: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/) and it does everything about back-ups short of provide the hard disk space.

As for programs, they go on my OS partition since I have to re-install them anyway if something goes wrong with the OS. But I've used Acronis to make a complete, bootable image of my C drive to prevent that.

If you have so many really important docs, back them up to a separate hard drive.

**Tyree** · 10-21-2009, 03:03 PM

I also use partitions and a spare drive in some PC's.
Acronis is a excellent tool for imaging, cloning and some other uses.
There are fully functional free version for Seagate/Maxtor and Western Digital Hdd's.
Each version will ONLY work with the associated brand.

Seagate: http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...ads/discwizard

Western Digital: http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp

Maxtor: http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.js...00dd04090aRCRD

Epirb · 10-21-2009, 03:11 PM

Hi Guys,

I currently use acronis True image 8.0 and disk director 9.0, so I can chop up the hard disks and create my images.

My dilemma is how to use the space, especially with these colossal drives now available, what strategy does one look at?

I am sure that keeping back ups on a second drive in the machine is logical, so would it be OS amd pogram files one partition disk one. Another partition for docs and files disk two and then one partition on disk two for images and another one for back up videos etc?

What does anyone do?

Cheers, Epirb.

**linderman** · 10-21-2009, 04:45 PM

I have two back-up hard drives / each 750 gig

I use Shadow Protect desktop edition(best $89.00 I ever spent !!) for my drive images / like other full featured image programs you can make back-up images which are data occupied only. they are fast to restore and give you the oppurtunity to save multiple snapshots of your data contents.

Hard drives are CHEAP, never let the cost of hard drives steer you into a direction which does not redundantly back-up your data if your data has value to you.

I am not a big lover of raid nor mirroring etc .........thats a one data copy solution!

I far prefer the multi date snapshots/ example= each week I take a snapshot of each drive which contains data of value........at the end of 5 weeks I then delete the oldest of the images with a new image

this gives me 5 restorable copies of my drive contents

my critical data images are stored on two spare drives which are not powered unless involved with image execution

I am fully covered / I could have a freak power melt down which kills my system and I can be back up and running with a new hard drive in less than 30 minutes / if one back up drive dies, I resort to the other

**Tyree** · 10-21-2009, 05:05 PM

For partition size, I use 50GB for the OS (Vista or 7)and the rest is what you want or need.
I use 50GB for downloads and files and 50GB for images and other backups. I use the other 100GB for whatever.
I keep a 160GB drive for backups of images and movie storage because I do a lot of DVD burning.

10-21-2009, 12:29 PM	#1 (permalink)
Epirb Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 20 OS: XP	Hard drive strategy in new build. So, I have been getting loads of good advice here about Motherboards and processors, I think I am settled on that one, decision made. Since you guys are involved I thought I would ask another question or two....... I have a sizeable music collection, have a 10 megapix camera and do some video editing. I will be running windows 7. New build hard drive and back up strategy: I have been talked out raid array back ups as people seem to tell me that in the home environment (ie not specific pro kit) they are not that reliable. At the moment I have instant back up to a NAS but that is pretty power hungry and a separate unit that I could do without running. I was thinking of instant internal backups, ie two drives with a weekly back up to the NAS. So, if fitting 2 drives making them the same seems to make sense just for symmetry's sense. For the difference in price 500Gig to 1TB, 1TB seems achievable. But what then, how to partition? What size partition for OS? OS and documents on same partition or separate? Or maybe smaller drive for OS, progs and docs and big one for back ups.... I look forward to words of wisdom. Many thanks, Epirb.

10-21-2009, 01:14 PM	#2 (permalink)
beefers1 Below is my avatar Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Greater Vancouver area, BC, Canada Posts: 4,035 OS: Win XP Pro SP2 My System Blog Entries: 13	Re: Hard drive strategy in new build. I keep my OS and documents on different drive partitions in case I have to format a partition. I use a great program, Acronis True Image (here's the latest version: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/) and it does everything about back-ups short of provide the hard disk space. As for programs, they go on my OS partition since I have to re-install them anyway if something goes wrong with the OS. But I've used Acronis to make a complete, bootable image of my C drive to prevent that. If you have so many really important docs, back them up to a separate hard drive. __________________

10-21-2009, 03:03 PM	#3 (permalink)
Tyree Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: May 2009 Location: Illinois Posts: 5,686 OS: XP Pro-7RC-Mandriva My System	Re: Hard drive strategy in new build. I also use partitions and a spare drive in some PC's. Acronis is a excellent tool for imaging, cloning and some other uses. There are fully functional free version for Seagate/Maxtor and Western Digital Hdd's. Each version will ONLY work with the associated brand. Seagate: http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...ads/discwizard Western Digital: http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp Maxtor: http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.js...00dd04090aRCRD __________________ Posting your PC specs will help us to help you quicker and more efficiently.

10-21-2009, 03:11 PM	#4 (permalink)
Epirb Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 20 OS: XP	Re: Hard drive strategy in new build. Hi Guys, I currently use acronis True image 8.0 and disk director 9.0, so I can chop up the hard disks and create my images. My dilemma is how to use the space, especially with these colossal drives now available, what strategy does one look at? I am sure that keeping back ups on a second drive in the machine is logical, so would it be OS amd pogram files one partition disk one. Another partition for docs and files disk two and then one partition on disk two for images and another one for back up videos etc? What does anyone do? Cheers, Epirb.

10-21-2009, 04:45 PM	#5 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,440 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: Hard drive strategy in new build. I have two back-up hard drives / each 750 gig I use Shadow Protect desktop edition(best $89.00 I ever spent !!) for my drive images / like other full featured image programs you can make back-up images which are data occupied only. they are fast to restore and give you the oppurtunity to save multiple snapshots of your data contents. Hard drives are CHEAP, never let the cost of hard drives steer you into a direction which does not redundantly back-up your data if your data has value to you. I am not a big lover of raid nor mirroring etc .........thats a one data copy solution! I far prefer the multi date snapshots/ example= each week I take a snapshot of each drive which contains data of value........at the end of 5 weeks I then delete the oldest of the images with a new image this gives me 5 restorable copies of my drive contents my critical data images are stored on two spare drives which are not powered unless involved with image execution I am fully covered / I could have a freak power melt down which kills my system and I can be back up and running with a new hard drive in less than 30 minutes / if one back up drive dies, I resort to the other __________________ I still know nothing and I respect that fact, striving to improve and, along the way, help anyone that comes from the place that I used to be! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial

10-21-2009, 05:05 PM	#6 (permalink)
Tyree Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: May 2009 Location: Illinois Posts: 5,686 OS: XP Pro-7RC-Mandriva My System	Re: Hard drive strategy in new build. For partition size, I use 50GB for the OS (Vista or 7)and the rest is what you want or need. I use 50GB for downloads and files and 50GB for images and other backups. I use the other 100GB for whatever. I keep a 160GB drive for backups of images and movie storage because I do a lot of DVD burning. __________________ Posting your PC specs will help us to help you quicker and more efficiently.