M.2 disk drive and Windows

[marklcfc]

Is Windows still recommended to be seperate from other things like installed games, program files like photoshop, browser data etc.

I am wondering whether to go for a smaller M.2 drive to install windows on, or a larger M.2 drive to install windows, microsoft office, games etc.

I plan to keep storage like music files and photos on a separate 500gb ssd.

 

[ubuysa]

Is Windows still recommended to be seperate from other things like installed games, program files like photoshop, browser data etc.

I am wondering whether to go for a smaller M.2 drive to install windows on, or a larger M.2 drive to install windows, microsoft office, games etc.

I plan to keep storage like music files and photos on a separate 500gb ssd.

You want all programs on the same drive as Windows. Although I don't game, I understand that because of the large size of some games installing those to a different drive is common.

BTW. It's a waste of an SSD putting music on there, they will get zero benefit. Photos certainly will benefit from being on an SSD.

 

[marklcfc]

You want all programs on the same drive as Windows. Although I don't game, I understand that because of the large size of some games installing those to a different drive is common.

BTW. It's a waste of an SSD putting music on there, they will get zero benefit. Photos certainly will benefit from being on an SSD.

Regarding the SSD I have always kept my music, photos, general storage on a separate drive incase I had to reinstall windows.

 

[ubuysa]

Regarding the SSD I have always kept my music, photos, general storage on a separate drive incase I had to reinstall windows.

Putting data on a separate drive is extremely wise and if you only have SSD drives then obviously that's where your data goes. Music (and video) however doesn't benefit from the speed of an SSD because they are played in real time.

If you also have an HDD in your PC you'd be well advised to put music and videos on the HDD.

 

[marklcfc]

Putting data on a separate drive is extremely wise and if you only have SSD drives then obviously that's where your data goes. Music (and video) however doesn't benefit from the speed of an SSD because they are played in real time.

If you also have an HDD in your PC you'd be well advised to put music and videos on the HDD.

I've had HDD's for all my life, transferring data onto them and sometimes opening files can be sluggish. I just thought an SSD might be a better option now.

 

[ubuysa]

I've had HDD's for all my life, transferring data onto them and sometimes opening files can be sluggish. I just thought an SSD might be a better option now.

For most user data it will be, but not for music and videos because of the way they are used.

You can of course store music and videos on an SSD but it won't gain you any extra performance.

 

[marklcfc]

I also store website data like php files and .gz database files

 

[ubuysa]

I also store website data like php files and .gz database files

SSDs a great drives for anything you want to put on them, the issue is that compared to an HDD of the same size they are quite expensive, so at the moment you really only want to be paying for an SSD to store user data that will benefit from the extra speed. Of course, if the only drive(s) you have are SSDs then there is nothing to think about.

The type of user data that benefits greatly from being on an SSD is data that is in large files and which must be loaded quickly (images, large databases, spreadsheets etc.). These types of data should always be on an SSD if you have one.

Most average user data with files sizes less than about 1MB will benefit from an SSD but not massively so. If you have an SSD it's worth putting this type of data on there but it will perform almost as well on an HDD.

Music and video files are 'played' in real time and the next buffer is loaded from SSD or HDD as you're watching/listening to the first buffer. Having this data on an SSD does mean the next buffer is loaded more quickly, but because you're still watching/listening to the first buffer you don't notice. The music or video will look/sound exactly the same if the next buffer is loaded more slowly off an HDD, you'll still only be watching/listening to the first buffer. If you have an HDD in your config then this is where you should put music and video files, it's a waste of your money paying for an SSD for these types of file because the speed of the SSD buys you nothing useful.

I hope that helps?