Member Avatar for rcaastro

This may be a PC 101 question, but I'm in the process of adding a second internal hard drive to my new XPS 8300, WIN 7 Pro x-64 pc. I have an external 2 TB HD that I use for backups.

I do a lot of digital photography with Photoshop Elements 8 and I'm starting to get into video processing with Photoshop Premier Elements 8 and Premier does take a lot of space. I'm wondering if I can get faster results by putting Premier Elements 8 on the new HD?

Or, should I keep the OS and all of the applications on the same HD and just put the data and files on the second HD?

Or, is there some better way to get faster results and have a more orderly work flow?

Lastly, any hard drives I should stay away from? I've read so much about so many, and if you do read enough you can find both glowing, and damning reviews on about every available HD.

Thanks for all of your thoughts and help.

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Short version: treat speed and role separately. As hinted, split responsibilities across physical disks so a failure or reformat doesn't eat your work. Take that idea further: put the operating system and installed programs on the fastest internal media available (ideally an SSD), and place active projects, scratch/cache/temp files and large media on a second physical drive. was right to stress reliable brands—also check warranty length and SMART reliability before you buy.

Practical setup and workflow you can apply right away: during an edit or heavy Photoshop session keep the current project and source files on the fast drive; point the app’s scratch/cache/temp folders to the second internal drive; render/export to the fast drive and only archive finished projects to your big external backup. This minimizes head-seeking and concurrent I/O that slows editing. Increase RAM as well (8–16+ GB for video work) and close background apps to reduce paging.

Drive selection and system notes: if you can afford an SSD, use it for Windows and programs—boot and load times improve dramatically. Use a 7200 RPM (or enterprise/NAS-rated) platter drive for bulk media/scratch; avoid low-RPM "eco" drives for heavy, sustained video/IO work. Enable AHCI in the BIOS before installing an SSD to get the best behavior (changing SATA mode afterward can cause boot problems unless handled properly). Do not defragment SSDs; do monitor HDD health with SMART tools and keep firmware up to date.

Backup and risk cautions: RAID can improve speed or redundancy but is not a substitute for backups—keep regular external images and file backups on your 2 TB external. If budget limits you to one internal drive, prioritize an SSD for OS/apps and use the external for active media when editing; otherwise two internal drives as described give the best mix of speed, reliability, and tidy workflow.

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Member Avatar for rubberman

I usually put the OS on one drive, and user data on the other. That gives you the best split of performance, and reliability. IE, you can replace the system drive if it fails without losing your data. I do the same on Linux as well, so I can boot other operating systems, and still have access to all my user data.

Member Avatar for flagstar

Any HDD would be fine... It doesn't have to be running in the same hard disk for it to run normally. Usually when you install apps on other HDD other than HDD with OS, it would be still the same since it depends on your OS and computer specs.

If you have high capacity of free space in your first HDD, just install on same drive so when the second HDD is unavailable, you can still use Adobe plus more neatly (all install apps are install inside Program Files) but might installing apps on second HDD when first one do have little capacity to compensate for your apps. (create a folder to keep your apps organize)

I'm not sure which HDD you should stay away from aside from WD, Samsung, Maxtor and some HDD which I'm familiar with. If you're paranoid about it, just choose well-known brand and it should be enough...

Member Avatar for rcaastro

Thanks for all of your thoughts. ...rcaastro

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