Author Topic: Dedicated OS disk (Read 2334 times)

Slysoft · « **on:** October 23, 2009, 12:05:00 AM »

I'm currently looking at buying one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822135106 to act as a dedicated OS disk. My only question is, what are the problems, if any, that result from installed ALL applications on a seperate drive? I'm planning on keeping only the OS on this drive, so that I can simply reformat it every two months and not have to worry about reinstalling everything. Would this work out?

Thanks.

Klocknov · « **Reply #1 on:** October 23, 2009, 12:12:57 AM »

Depending on the apps will depend on how well that will work. Also why do you want to re-install every two months is another question that should be asked.

Another note, why such a shit drive if your going to run your OS on it??

Slysoft · « **Reply #2 on:** October 23, 2009, 12:15:20 AM »

Well, after a few months my internet connection starts to lag terribly in any online game, and the problem is always gone when I reformat and install. I have no idea why this happens, but if spending $35 dollars makes it an easier install, then oh well.

Also it's the only cheap drive I can find, that's why.

Fak3d · « **Reply #3 on:** October 23, 2009, 12:18:32 AM »

lol umm not really well at least if your using windows, as there is much more to those programs them meets the eye when they are installed, there is still the registry which would need to be backed up. Also you would need to redo the whole start menu with all the shortcuts and what if there is stuff in the system 32 directory or dlls that are needed, then again if you back those up and know what you are doing then yes in theory you could do all that. To be honest instead of going through a reinstall all the time have you thought about using something like Norton ghost and making a ghost of your fresh install that you could put back on your pc at any time.

Drew · « **Reply #4 on:** October 23, 2009, 12:21:24 AM »

A lot of apps, if you're reformatting your main OS drive, won't work anymore. Most things use registry entries and such which are wiped when you reformat your OS. You really don't need to reformat that often, and even if you do, a lot of viruses and malware (things that you're trying to get rid of by reformatting, I would imagine) hide in program files too. You're better off getting a browser that isn't plagued with security holes (Firefox is a solid choice) and running AdAware, SpyBot S&D, and Windows Defender on a regular basis.

If you insist on getting a single drive just for your OS, though, I'd go with a small SSD. They're fairly cheap at low capacities and are way better performance wise.

sdedalus83 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 23, 2009, 12:22:58 AM »

You don't need a new hard drive. Set up your page file on a separate partition, defrag every couple of weeks, and don't download torrents to the same partition on which your OS and applications are installed.

Klocknov · « **Reply #6 on:** October 23, 2009, 12:24:44 AM »

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136098
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136113

Those both have free shipping so that could be worth the extra to go that route, all depends on how much shipping the hard-drive will be to where you live. I find that I would go the little bit up since I normally get hit with 5-7 on shipping. Though have you checked your NIC drivers and made sure they were up to date or if they were up to date tried rolling them back one or two sets? I know I had to get mine all the way up to date to fix a random drop problem I had.

kureshii · « **Reply #7 on:** October 23, 2009, 12:27:01 AM »

Unless your application is portable (keeps settings in a file, doesn't write to registry, doesn't need system-specific libraries, runs on any other system with the same OS without reconfiguration), it might not work again after a reformat. Backing it up doesn't guarantee it'll work.

Consider replacing the apps you use with portable versions, and reformatting should be much less of a pain.

Also, reformatting should not be used as a regular system cleanup measure; it would be best if you can figure out what's causing the issue. I would be curious about why your internet connection gets laggy every few months... are you sure it's your connection being laggy, or is it your system?

Quote from: Drew on October 23, 2009, 12:21:24 AM

If you insist on getting a single drive just for your OS, though, I'd go with a small SSD. They're fairly cheap at low capacities and are way better performance wise.

LMAO... he's going for the cheapest drive he can find, and you're recommending an SSD?

The ones that are cheaper than hard drives are not faster than hard drives, sadly... the cheapest small SSD I would recommend would be something like the OCZ 30GB Vertex (or an equivalent drive using Indilinx firmware).

For a small budget I'd go for a decent-sized WD Black, and keep documents (large video files, images), as well as the pagefile and temp folder, on the old hard disk. It might bump up the budget a bit since the smallest Black is 500GB, but if that's still too pricey, the Blues are decent performers for the price as well.

Quote from: sdedalus83

You don't need a new hard drive. Set up your page file on a separate partition, defrag every couple of weeks, and don't download torrents to the same partition on which your OS and applications are installed.

+1

Klocknov · « **Reply #8 on:** October 23, 2009, 12:28:55 AM »

Quote from: kureshii on October 23, 2009, 12:27:01 AM

Unless your application is portable (keeps settings in a file, doesn't write to registry, doesn't need system-specific files), it might not work again after a reformat. Backing it up doesn't guarantee it'll work.

Consider replacing the apps you use with portable versions, and reformatting should be much less of a pain.

Also, reformatting should not be used as a regular system cleanup measure; it would be best if you can figure out what's causing the issue.

+1

fohfoh · « **Reply #9 on:** October 23, 2009, 12:30:49 AM »

I agree. Unless your current is a 5400 rpm drive, basic software maintenance should suffice.

Check tweakguides. It's useful.

Honestly, either it's a driver issue that occurs every few months, or you're getting viruses and stuff. Chrome is a good alternative if you think FF is too heavy. Or opera isn't bad either.

XP, starting to have issues. After Microsoft continually patched it, system now uses around 70000-80000kb instead of the original 30000-40000. Have you considered looking for/blocking optional updates that may be causing issues? like... .net?

Klocknov · « **Reply #10 on:** October 23, 2009, 12:36:52 AM »

Good ole .net frameworks, so much fun when you have programs that require 1 2 and 3.5... I really need to re-look at all the programs I am running and start getting rid of the pointless junk. Though after I get a drive to back-up my stuff on I will have this computer with a nice clean copy of linux to seed off of. (Though the fun part will be setting up my music bot for a few ventrilo's for my friends.)

Slysoft · « **Reply #11 on:** October 23, 2009, 12:38:12 AM »

It's not my internet connection as a whole, it's simply my connection to game servers. For example, last night while playing counterstrike I was having terrible rubberbanding; I couldn't even move for 30-45 seconds, but I could hear people talking over voice and chat on steam perfectly fine. It also happens often playing Aion; my ping will jump from 130 - 1000+ and go back down. Browsing the web is completely normal though. It's odd.

kureshii · « **Reply #12 on:** October 23, 2009, 12:42:19 AM »

Are you running anything that might be using the connection in the background? AV updates, Windows updates, torrents etc...

Lupin · « **Reply #13 on:** October 23, 2009, 01:04:45 AM »

Image your OS drive instead of reinstalling. Removes the hassle of reinstalling all your software.

Quote from: sdedalus83 on October 23, 2009, 12:22:58 AM

You don't need a new hard drive. Set up your page file on a separate partition, defrag every couple of weeks, and don't download torrents to the same partition on which your OS and applications are installed.

If you're running multiple harddrives, make sure the partitions containing torrent downloads are on a different disk as your OS partition is. Another good idea is to keep the swap file on a different drive.

Slykester · « **Reply #14 on:** October 23, 2009, 01:52:42 AM »

While using a dedicated drive for either the OS or pagefile will halp, it's not going to fix the problem you're describing. I doubt your problem has anything to do with I/O contention, more likely you need to stop breaking your windows with pr0n and virii.

Tatsujin · « **Reply #15 on:** October 23, 2009, 01:57:48 AM »

Quote from: Slysoft on October 23, 2009, 12:05:00 AM

I'm currently looking at buying one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822135106 to act as a dedicated OS disk. My only question is, what are the problems, if any, that result from installed ALL applications on a seperate drive? I'm planning on keeping only the OS on this drive, so that I can simply reformat it every two months and not have to worry about reinstalling everything. Would this work out?

Thanks.

grab a 200-300GB one, install all your applications on there. ONLY installed files, and just have the "installation files" on a separate partition. thats what i do. if OS gets hit, just wipe-clean and re-install your files from your installation folder.

Lupin · « **Reply #16 on:** October 23, 2009, 02:01:59 AM »

Image your OS drive after you reinstall all your software. Use the image the next time you reinstall

kostya · « **Reply #17 on:** October 27, 2009, 02:31:55 PM »

I am not sure that the constant wipes will fix things if you keep all the programs that were installed. I doubt that your OS somehow develops performance issues on its own. I would suspect that it is a build up of software that runs in the background and hogs CPU/bandwidth. The clean OS wipe gets you back to the bare essentials for software.

psyren · « **Reply #18 on:** October 27, 2009, 02:33:16 PM »

If you don't need a great deal of space, short stroke your HDD.
I've heard about it, but do some research and see if it'll work for you.

TorturdChaos · « **Reply #19 on:** October 27, 2009, 03:01:23 PM »

I have my computer setup with a 15 gig partition for windows, then the rest of the 500 gig hdd is for my my docs and program files. There are guides a plenty for changing where your my docs and program files are. Best to change everything right off the bat when you do an install, even before installing drivers or anything.

I have notices since I set my computer up like that it has been a lot more stable than any other machine I have run in the past.