How to setup ssd as OS with HDD storage/game installs...

[razer121]

As i am sure many of you will know i recently won the HTPC media center, well i've big plans for it and wanted some advice,

So it currently is in bits again as i decided to completely overhaul it due to wanting to really get the best out of this machine

Something i do want to do is throw a second HDD in there purely for installs. The main SSD drive is small, 128gb so OS ideally only! Moving music, films and pictures is easy however i'd like to be able to install games without using up the space on the SSD is there an easier way for this? will i get any kind of slow down and how would this affect the overall performance in games and video playback.

So the question is, is it worth doing? i mean i dont just want to stream stuff to this little beast as i want to be able to fully utilize it to its full potential

Cheers chaps!

p.s: i will be uploading my results on the OC, interesting indeed! just need to find the time to do the final tweeks

[AETAaAS]

You can certainly put a second drive in to install games and have movies. Game installers, Steam and Origin (main ones I know) can have their folders moved to the second drive in order to free up space on the SSD. Origin and Steam have it in the settings menus, standalone games don't tend to have moving capabilities so you have to do it in the initial install.

Only downside is longer load times. Actual ingame performance isn't affected and video playback certainly would not be hampered by a conventional magnetic. So I would certainly upgrade.

[george1979]

Yeah I have a similar set up - one 128gb SSD with two 1Tb HDDs.
I set steam to install only on one of the HDDs. Occasionally I would install a game on the SSD if I was playing it a lot - I did this with World Of Tanks for a while then took it off to make space. Honestly its really not that noticeable, load times may be a little longer but nothing to be concerned about.

[razer121]

Thanks for the input guys, i am currently in the process of doing alot of research on intels smart response..

Anyone have any input on that?

[kalniel]

Smart response is SSD caching, so you combine the SSD with the hard drive and the SSD will act as a buffer for the HDD. You only need a small SSD to get the benefit of caching, and will be wasting the capacity of a larger one.

Better to just set it up manually - put the OS and any games that you play a lot/benefit from fast loading/writing on the SSD, and other stuff on the HDD.

[SnowFox108]

I am using similar setup SSD for system drive and 1TB HDD for all application install. I have only game play everyday so installed on HDD, but will not feel slow even for those game on HDD. SSD general speed up overall system performance.

[shaithis]

I've setup a few machine like this, the way I've found best (especially if you are a bit of a serial reinstaller) is to install Steam, Origin, uPlay etc to the HDD and let them install their games under their install folders.