Topic: Separate Hard Drive for OS/Programmes - advice on size (and make)

[elsmandino]

Hello,

I am building a computer with the following specs:

Antec p182
4GB Corsair Memory (PC 6400)
E8400
Asus P5Q-E
750W Corsair PSU
1TB Samsung Spinpoint (for media)
Radeon4850 Graphics Card

I need a hard drive for my OS and Programmes and would like to avoid the expensive SSD and Raptor hard drives. I have looked around and it seems the best alternative would be a second 1TB Samsung Spinpoint (though Western Digital Caviar Black has been suggested as an alternative).

Do you think that 1. It would be a waste of money to buy a 1TB hard drive just for the Operating System and Programmes - I don't really play games, so much of the space is never really going to be used 2. I have heard that placing the Operating System on such a large hard drive is actually a bad idea (though am not sure why) - is this true? If so should I partition, to say leave just 100GB free for the OS and the rest for programmes?

Would be really grateful for your comments and suggestions for any alternatives.

[Simon]

I think a 1TB hard drive would be well over the top for just the OS and programs.  I use an 80gb Segate, and find that more than adequate.

Other may be along soon with more advice.  

[Sandra]

I have never heard of a drive being too big for anything or being detrimental in any way other than taking longer to scan.

I used t oalways partition a drive to have 40 gig for teh OS if on XP and 60 gig for Vista.
With programs getting so much bigger these days I think in future I will use 60 gig and 100 gig respectively as I recently had around 55 gig used on my 60 gig partition on my boot drive.

With the bigger drives giving better value £ per gig than smaller ones I would still go for a biggish drive and partition it with a good size for the OS and installed programs and use the remainder as a partition that carries a large swap file and as a working drive for programs that need a lot of space for temporary files. You could also use the extra space for duplicate files that you may be working on such as editing music, video or photos.

[Lona]

Regarding 1TB Hard drives.  My friend bought an external 1TB HD and her pc is unable to load it.

[sam]

Regarding 1TB Hard drives.  My friend bought an external 1TB HD and her pc is unable to load it.

what operating system is she using?

[Lona]

Windows XP, Sam

[sam]

hmm, xp should be able to handle 1TB drives as they can be formatted with NTFS. - home or premium (just thinking outloud really)