2xWD2500JB

JayisunJ

n00b
Joined
Jan 23, 2005
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This is possibly a n00b question, but here it goes: for the last ten years, I have used only single hardrive configurations in my computers and have never used a petition either. Building my new system, I decided (b/c of recommendation from dfi-street.com) to get 2 WD2500JB hardrives and set up RAID 0 on my DFI Lanparty UT Ultra-D. People at dfi-street.com are absolutely convinced that the benchmark increases shown in RAID 0 (as compared to a single drive of same type) translate to real-world performance increases in Windows and games, but I am wholly underwhelmed with my RAID 0 performance.

Windows does not seem any snappier when compared to a single drive (2500JB) configuration. It's the same story with gaming. There is no noticible difference. I do not do any video editing or use Adobe Photoshop (I've heard these are the type of tasks where RAID 0 shines). So, knowing that I am using this machine for gaming and will most often just be in Windows browsing the internet and such:

1. What would be my best option assuming I destroy the RAID array and start from scratch?
2. Would it be best to install Windows on the main (C) drive, then put all my programs and games onto the second drive?
3. Would this increase performance of Windows?
4. Would this increase performance of games?
5. When installing all my games/programs to the second HD, is there a way to set the default installation directory to the second HD so that I don't have to reassign it for every program/game I install?

Also, I have 2GB of RAM, so am not too concerned about the Windows pagefile location (or should I be?). Thank you for your advice in advance! ;)
 
We would have saved you a lot of trouble by telling you to not fool with RAID-0. The crew at DFI street aren't exactly sotrage wizards :rolleyes:

Are any of you guys who complained about my "crusade" against RAID-0 listening? This is precisely the garbage that I'm trying to keep people from believing :mad:

Now for the OP's questions:

1) One drive for Windows and media, the other for games if you want shortest game laoding times possible. Otherwise, put Windows and the games together, then store media and image/backup of your OS on the other.

2) Depends on your goals.

3) Yes, having multiple spindles working independently on seperate tasks will increase the responsiveness of your system.

4) See 3

5) If you want to do this, it's possible and I've done it before. Copy the contents C:\Program Files\ to the folder you will install stuff too. Open the Registry Editor, navigate to HKeyLocalMachine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion, find the 'ProgramFilesDir' string value, and change its value to the path of the folder you designated for your new programs folders. For an example, if you created a folder called Programs on D:, you would change the value of that registry key to 'D:\Programs' After you make this change, any setup program you start will read this key, and 'C:\Program Files' will be replaced with the value you specified, 'D:\Programs' in our example.
 
DougLite said:
5) If you want to do this, it's possible and I've done it before. Copy the contents C:\Program Files\ to the folder you will install stuff too. Open the Registry Editor, navigate to HKeyLocalMachine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion, find the 'ProgramFilesDir' string value, and change its value to the path of the folder you designated for your new programs folders. For an example, if you created a folder called Programs on D:, you would change the value of that registry key to 'D:\Programs' After you make this change, any setup program you start will read this key, and 'C:\Program Files' will be replaced with the value you specified, 'D:\Programs' in our example.

Crazy, thanks that helped me :D.
 
DougLite said:
We would have saved you a lot of trouble by telling you to not fool with RAID-0. The crew at DFI street aren't exactly sotrage wizards :rolleyes:

Are any of you guys who complained about my "crusade" against RAID-0 listening? This is precisely the garbage that I'm trying to keep people from believing :mad:

Now for the OP's questions:

1) One drive for Windows and media, the other for games if you want shortest game laoding times possible. Otherwise, put Windows and the games together, then store media and image/backup of your OS on the other.

2) Depends on your goals.

3) Yes, having multiple spindles working independently on seperate tasks will increase the responsiveness of your system.

4) See 3

5) If you want to do this, it's possible and I've done it before. Copy the contents C:\Program Files\ to the folder you will install stuff too. Open the Registry Editor, navigate to HKeyLocalMachine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion, find the 'ProgramFilesDir' string value, and change its value to the path of the folder you designated for your new programs folders. For an example, if you created a folder called Programs on D:, you would change the value of that registry key to 'D:\Programs' After you make this change, any setup program you start will read this key, and 'C:\Program Files' will be replaced with the value you specified, 'D:\Programs' in our example.
Wonderful! Thank you. You answered every question I had and even some I hadn't thought of yet. I will test all this out when my processor has dual primed for 24 hrs. Thanks again.
 
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