Sata set up, pagefile/scratch disk locations.

[shiato storm]

I'm currently running two ide drives, 160g (OS/programs + docs partitioned) and 40g (music+bits) as onthe left drop-down, but looking at getting sata for a little extra speed and more storage. I'm planning this as end result:
80GB sata - OS/Programs partitioned (15gb OS/65gb progs split).
200-250GB sata - documents (mainly pictures, may partition it?)
160GB ide - pictures
40GB ide - spare? music...?

would this layout be efficient? I would have windows on a fast, small drive and installed progs in the other half of it. I'm just wondering where to put scratch disk for Photoshop and Pagefile for windows, its best to be on a fast drive which is a different physical disk therefore use the second sata I plan to get, only they shouldn't be on the same drive (letter) due to competing together - would it work if I split the second bigger sata drive into 3; one big section, for files as planned, and two smaller 3 to 5gb sized chunks for that purpose or would that confuse the issue?
just trying to get my head round it all, I do a fair bit of photo editing, and likely to be doing lots more in the future, so need space to store Raws (doesn't need to be fast, may get a usb external at some point but not yet) and a space to put processed shots etc.

the alternative is just get 80gb sata for the improved OS/programs loading speed and a usb external hdd when the time comes to transfer raw shots? was just thinking sata is faster and would improve processing speeds of images etc. with scratchdisk/pagefile using it too.

[shiato storm]

anyone?

[dave87]

if you are going to buy 1 small (80 ish gb drive) then consider a Raptor. Otherwise that is pretty much what I have except all the drives are SATA in my setup.

Dave

[NightshadowUK]

I've been thinking of a few options...

- 36GB Raptor for Windows and the Page File, then my 250GB for games and files.

- 74Gb Raptor for Windows, the Page File, and games. The 250GB for general files.

- 80GB SATA300 drive, again for Windows, the Page File and games.

Any ideas as to which would be best?

[shiato storm]

i always figured pagefile and scratch disks best not on the same physical disk it stems from...

[NightshadowUK]

I have no idea what you're talking about...

- 36GB Raptor for Windows, then my 250GB for games, random files and the page file.

- 74Gb Raptor for Windows and games. The 250GB for general files and the page file.

- 80GB SATA300 drive, again for Windows and games.

[Butcher]

i always figured pagefile and scratch disks best not on the same physical disk it stems from...

Yes, though if you have a lot of RAM it won't matter much (unless you edit stuff for print at huge resolutions a lot).

Drive letters themselves though are irrelevant, two partitions on the same disk won't be any faster than one.

[shiato storm]

is SATA simply plug in and away you go, or do I have to tell the motherboard to use it?

[kushtibari]

is SATA simply plug in and away you go, or do I have to tell the motherboard to use it?

Plug in and go and then configure how you want it in disk management - you might have to watch that the motherboard doesn't change the boot order away from the one you want but thats about it.

[shiato storm]

righto...cheers!