RAID and Partitions, guidance Needed
- by beauregarde
Alright
I have a Biostar TA790GX3A2+ Mobo
2x Seagate 750Gb Hard drive (with 2 different speeds)
an X4 9750
A GeForce 9800GT
and 2GB RAM
Hardware Specs link text
I want to configure my computer with partitions in various RAID arrays.
The Partitions I know i want (disk letters are mostly for reference here)
C: XP Boot
D: XP Swap
E: XP Run
F: Games
G: Data
The Partitions I think I want (repeat caveat)
H: small FAT for Win Legacy and DOS
I: Linux
J: Linux Swap
K-?M?: Other Linux /whatever partitions
N & O: Attic for D1 and D2
What I'd like to do, is have C: written on Disk 1 (D1),.. D: on D2,.. E: and F: striped on D1 & D2,.. G: mirrored or D1 & D2,.. I: on D2 (so i can just switch disc boot priority to open in Ubuntu),.. J: on D1,.. and H: somewhere low on D1
I am inexperienced with VMs, so i am unsure as to whether those run out of XP, or whether i need to reserve a primary partition for them. However, I think they would be preferable for testing new OS's to scheduling a partition for the same purpose.
I'm also not married to XP, but -64 IS pretty important to me.
QUestion Time
1) Ignoring the irrationality of it all, is such a configuration possible? If not, can some pseudo-approximation be achieved?
2) My RAID is software, isnt it?
3) How much should I short a 750GB HD? And should i use that space for my attics, or for my attics and something else, or for something else (.iso's perhaps?)?
4) if XP is striped on D1 & D2, will that interfere egregiously with my Swap writes on D2? If so, would striping both XP and Swap relieve (or at least mitigate) that issue? Should XP and Swap just be written normally on 2 different HDs?
5) Should I keep DL's and Drivers on E: (XP Run), F: (Games), or elsewhere?
6) Is 4GB enough for C:?
7) Is 30GB enough (or too much) for E:?
8) How much to reserve for the Linux and sub-Linux partitions? Also, where on the platter do you think i should put them?
9) Am I a fool to use FAT16 instead of FAT32 for H: because I'd rather run 95 than 98SE? If not, do you think 2GB or 4GB?
10) I cant predict what my Max Commit Charge will be, so recommendations for Pagefile size? 5GB? 12GB?
11) VMs, where do I run them? do they exacerbate anything? Would it be better to just emulate Linux, 95, and DOS?
EC) What havent I considered that I really should?
Notes: computer is mostly for playing games and watching media, though I wouldnt rule out the use of particularly blah-intensive anything.
