With two equal hard drives, what is the best (fastest) config for Solidworks? OS on C: (a given in this case). Virtual mem (scratch file) on D: ??? SWX program on C: ??? SWX part files, etc on D: ???
Thanks, Bill
Hello Bill-
I have been using this exact configuration for the past few years. I like it. I went one step further and added a third drive just for virtual memory.
Best Regards, Devon T. Sowell
I agree and also use three drives. If it is a new setup the 10K rpm drives are nice.
Maybe it me, but I've lost 2 sets of Hdrives that were in a RAID array. It get kind of expensive.
Best Regards, Devon T. Sowell
I have an old machine that has been running in RAID0 for 3 years with no problem, I did have another drive on the machine to backup data. With the current machine I decided to not have a RAID0 and just went for one 70Gb Raptor drive for OS and Current Working data and a 250Gb drive for Long term data and catalogues etc.
After working on some 600Mb+ assemblies for the last month or so I wish I had bought 2 x 70Gb Raptors and put them in RAID0.
The Raptor drive is very quick, when I compare it to my clients machines the opening time on the assemblies is about half that of my clients machines. However you just can't have too much speed when dealing with larger assemblies. If working on small assemblies or part files I would avoid RAID0, to reduce the risk of losing data.
For large assembly work RAID 0 and an internal backup drive for data is the better way to go IMHO. When I get some free time I may get around to configuring this machine in such a way.
John Layne
For me, the advantage of storing all data on a separate hard drive from the O.S. is this; if the C drive crashes, the data remains safe. You can then just remove the data drive it and install it on another computer.
Devon
"John Layne" > It get kind of expensive.
A data drive is just as likely to crash as a hard drive containing the OS.
I backup all data, PDMWorks files and my SolidWorks directory to an external harddrive every lunchtime. Using a programme called ViceVersa, which I've set to retain the last 10 versions of any file
John Layne
I think what Devon was referring to is that the Partition with the Main OS is far more likely to fail from any one of many reasons (not the least viruses or power failures, which can make a disk unreadable without special techniques when the OS gets botched), & partially because the boot partition takes the most disk activity, and thus Data Drives are statistically going to fail far less often.
Bo
John Layne wrote:
I agree Bo. Also, I use external harddrives to back up frequently.
Devon
I concede you do have point, I have been lucky and never had a mechanical hard drive failure. I have seen it happen to others though hence I constantly make backups.
The worst situation I have had is when the OS didn't boot and I didn't have time repair Windows. In that particular case the data I needed was on the same drive as the OS so I just pulled out the drive and put it in another machine as a slave and recovered the data. When I had more time I reinstalled Windows over the existing Windows OS and everything was fine all data and programs functional.
John Layne
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.