New
#1
About to set-up new PC. HDD partitioning and organizing help needed.
Hey sevenforums people! Long-time lurker, but now finally need to seek your advice.
I was donated a PC, and am working on making it my PC. It is still a little dated, but I'm not bothered by it.
Specs:
MoBo: XFX680i LT SLI
RAM: Corsair 1024MB 800Mhz X4
HDDs (here are the passmark pages for them)
http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hd...000AACS&id=422
http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hd...D3200KS&id=963
http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hd...62+0AS&id=2115
CPU: Xeon X3220 SLACT (G0 stepping model - Q6600 equivalent)
Graphics - Came with 8500GTs in SLI. I'm not worried about upgrading these
So - my primary focus is making music on my DAW, Reaper (which is like Pro-tools). So plenty of audio processing.
When I game, I play FSX, Medieval II Total War and The Sims 3.
So, I know I should have a 64-bit install, and I have Windows 7.
Compatibly is important to me. I have some old programs that I use in DOSbox, and other old things outside of DOSbox. I have used Vista 64 on a friends PC, and it wouldn't run a lot of things I tried because of it being 64-bit, I believe.
So my first question is, do I need to have a multi-boot setup, with 7 in 32-bit, and maybe even one with XP? I have heard that Windows 7 has an "XP" mode. How does that work? Is it like a multi-boot, or can you run it from inside of 7? If so, does it make 7 as compatible with old stuff as XP is?
My second question is hard drive configuration. I have the 3 listed, and intend on using them simultaneously.
I know to have the OS running as fast as possible, It needs to be the first thing on your fastest HDD. Is it recommended to partition that hard drive, and shrink the C: drive? What would be the optimal size?
Also, what would you use the rest of that hard drive for? If you run other programs on it (like a DAW, or a game or Photoshop)? Would multi-tasking on the OS drive effect the performance?
Sorry, I feel a little noobish about that question, but I'm hoping somebody could give me a good roadmap for setting them up for optimal performance.
Would I use the fastest for OS (then a lot of space left over?), the next best for programs, and the last for storage?
Thanks in advance!