Solve : Hard drives & storage?

1.	Solve : Hard drives & storage?
Answer» Greetings to the Group - My system is XP Pro and used ONLY for gaming. I have another pc for everything else. So the gaming pc will be replaced shortly with a new system, probably W7 Pro 64, so I'm needing input on the hard drives configuration for this new pc. Currently the old system internal hard drives are C: 80 GB, a 320 GB partitioned for game files, and a 500 GB for other game files and some misc. My external drives are: 2 - 320 GB for back ups, 1 TB for backups, 2 - 1.5 TB for backups. All backups are backed up in case one of the external hard drives craps out. I am not interested in adding an SSD at this time as they are too small for what I need. All game files must be backed up with a backup, so I would like some ideas on which hard drives to add internally to the new pc and which ones can be kept external. The new pc will be a pretty good gaming pc with some USB3 ports too. I am looking at a Asus Sabertooth Z77 mobo, I5 Ivy Bridge, HD 7850 Graphics card, 800 W power supply, and 8GB ram. I usually only copy files to the backups monthly or less often. All input is appreciated. Jim Asus Sabertooth Z77 http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH_Z77/ Impressive! Can we assume the backup is to save game levels incrementally?It would probably be best if you could create a new post in the hardware section with more information about the parts you are looking at, I'd be happy to help you pick parts. In particular, what make/model is that 800w PSU? 800w is really overkill for that machine and PSUs vary massively in terms of quality and reliability. Also, there is no real point getting Ivy Bridge stuff now that Haswell is out, all you are doing is buying 2012 technology at a very small discount. As far as your drives go, you could either get a single drive of the size you need and backup to externals or get a pair of internal drives - One for storage, one for backups. I'd personally backup to external as in some rare cases something like a power supply issue could kill both drives that are running internally. I know you mentioned that SSDs are too small but they are really worthwhile, in that case you would get a fairly small SSD - Say 120-250gb and use that to only hold your OS, programs and some games that you play regularly, everything else such as less often played games and large video and media files would still be stored on HDD(s).Hey Geek 9 - The backups are all for original zip files that I download for my sims. I also keep the complete sim backed up. The sims are trains, planes, and various Steam games. Camerongray - thanks for your input on the processor. I will LOOK into that now. I'm just using the hardware that I bought last year for my sons computer (games) so I'm not all that up to date for my pc get. The power supply is a Civo brand which was included in my sons I7 system. As for the hard drives, I'm trying to utilize the ones I have without buying any more. I have too many now. Jim Quote from: frog on March 02, 2014, 07:58:56 PM The power supply is a Civo brand which was included in my sons I7 system. In that case I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. That sounds like a very generic, cheap power supply. People often underestimate the importance of a good unit - Cheap power supplies are inefficient, can't produce anywhere near their rated wattage and lack important safety features like short circuit protection. I'd expect your 800w unit to fail well under the 500w mark. For your build I'd RECOMMEND getting a unit AROUND the 600w mark from a brand such as Corsair, Seasonic, XFX or Antec. If your son is also using a cheap, generic branded unit I'd strongly recommend replacing this as well - If a cheap PSU fails, it's not uncommon for it to blow other, more expensive components in the process.Hey camerongray, Thanks for your input here. Sounds like good advice which I will take. I've heard of the Corsair power supply too, so that's my first choice. Jim

Answer»

Greetings to the Group - My system is XP Pro and used ONLY for gaming. I have another pc for everything else. So the gaming pc will be replaced shortly with a new system, probably W7 Pro 64, so I'm needing input on the hard drives configuration for this new pc. Currently the old system internal hard drives are C: 80 GB, a 320 GB partitioned for game files, and a 500 GB for other game files and some misc. My external drives are: 2 - 320 GB for back ups, 1 TB for backups, 2 - 1.5 TB for backups. All backups are backed up in case one of the external hard drives craps out. I am not interested in adding an SSD at this time as they are too small for what I need. All game files must be backed up with a backup, so I would like some ideas on which hard drives to add internally to the new pc and which ones can be kept external. The new pc will be a pretty good gaming pc with some USB3 ports too. I am looking at a Asus Sabertooth Z77 mobo, I5 Ivy Bridge, HD 7850 Graphics card, 800 W power supply, and 8GB ram. I usually only copy files to the backups monthly or less often. All input is appreciated.

Jim Asus Sabertooth Z77
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH_Z77/
Impressive!

Can we assume the backup is to save game levels incrementally?It would probably be best if you could create a new post in the hardware section with more information about the parts you are looking at, I'd be happy to help you pick parts.

In particular, what make/model is that 800w PSU? 800w is really overkill for that machine and PSUs vary massively in terms of quality and reliability. Also, there is no real point getting Ivy Bridge stuff now that Haswell is out, all you are doing is buying 2012 technology at a very small discount.

As far as your drives go, you could either get a single drive of the size you need and backup to externals or get a pair of internal drives - One for storage, one for backups. I'd personally backup to external as in some rare cases something like a power supply issue could kill both drives that are running internally.

I know you mentioned that SSDs are too small but they are really worthwhile, in that case you would get a fairly small SSD - Say 120-250gb and use that to only hold your OS, programs and some games that you play regularly, everything else such as less often played games and large video and media files would still be stored on HDD(s).Hey Geek 9 - The backups are all for original zip files that I download for my sims. I also keep the complete sim backed up. The sims are trains, planes, and various Steam games.

Camerongray - thanks for your input on the processor. I will LOOK into that now. I'm just using the hardware that I bought last year for my sons computer (games) so I'm not all that up to date for my pc get. The power supply is a Civo brand which was included in my sons I7 system. As for the hard drives, I'm trying to utilize the ones I have without buying any more. I have too many now.

Jim Quote from: frog on March 02, 2014, 07:58:56 PM

The power supply is a Civo brand which was included in my sons I7 system.

In that case I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. That sounds like a very generic, cheap power supply. People often underestimate the importance of a good unit - Cheap power supplies are inefficient, can't produce anywhere near their rated wattage and lack important safety features like short circuit protection. I'd expect your 800w unit to fail well under the 500w mark.

For your build I'd RECOMMEND getting a unit AROUND the 600w mark from a brand such as Corsair, Seasonic, XFX or Antec. If your son is also using a cheap, generic branded unit I'd strongly recommend replacing this as well - If a cheap PSU fails, it's not uncommon for it to blow other, more expensive components in the process.Hey camerongray, Thanks for your input here. Sounds like good advice which I will take. I've heard of the Corsair power supply too, so that's my first choice.

Jim

Solve : Hard drives & storage?

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