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Use old drive as scratch disk?
Hi guys, I’m building my first new computer in 6 years now. I’ll be adding a Spinpoint 1tb for data storage, and a crucial c300 64gb for the OS and select programs (Vegas, Photoshop, a game or two). I’m also considering using an old (from 2003) 40gb hard drive as a scratch disk for vegas and photoshop. The setup would be – Vegas on SSD, media on 1tb, scratch on old 40gb. My question is, could using such an old disk actually impair performance (as opposed to just letting the scratch operate on either my SSD or spinpoint)? Or would any scratch disk at all be a plus? Here are the details on the old drive (taken from the old product manual).
Seagate Barracuda ATA IV
Model ST340016a
40gb• 7,200-RPM spindle speed and 2-Mbyte buffer combine for superior
desktop performance
• High instantaneous (burst) data-transfer rates (up to 100 Mbytes per
second) using Ultra DMA mode 5
• Giant magnetoresistive (GMR) recording heads and EPRML technology, which provide the drives with increased areal density
• State-of-the-art cache and on-the-fly error-correction algorithms
• Full-track multiple-sector transfer capability without local processor
intervention
• Quiet operation
• 350 Gs nonoperating shock
• The innovative, shock-absorbing SeaShield®
cover protects the drive
against electrostatic discharge (ESD) and other handling damage. It
also includes installation instructions and jumper settings.
• SeaTools diagnostic software performs a drive self-test that eliminates
unnecessary drive returns.
• The 3D Defense System™, which includes Drive Defense, Data
Defense and Diagnostic Defense, offers the industry’s most comprehensive protection for disc drives.
• Support for S.M.A.R.T. drive monitoring and reporting
• Support for Read Multiple and Write Multiple commands
• Support for autodetection of master/slave drives that use cable select -
4 Replies
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As cheap as external USB 2 drives are now, I would get one for your scratch disk, as it’s new and probably faster than that old IDE drive, and you’d fill up that old 40 gig drive guick with video. Danny Hays
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Only if the external drive is esata or usb 3.0. Otherwise the interface slows it down. If you have a usb2 drive your better off taking out the drive and making it an internal drive.
Jeff
http://www.narrowroadmedia.com
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It’s always good to put your scratch *and* temp folders on a drive not your boot disk. Windows and lots of applications use the temp folder, which is the major contributor to fragmentation.
To change the temp folder location, click on ‘System’ in Control Panel. Click the ‘Advanced’ tab, and then click ‘Environment Variables’. In the User variables for user-name box, click TMP. Click the Edit button, and then enter the new data in the Variable Value box. In the System variables, find the TMP and TEMP variables and change them to your new location.
Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com -
It will certainly be slower than your other drives… the real question is the value. If you’re doing HD, 40GB is awfully small. It’s maybe useful as an output drive (eg, just used as the target of a render), to help reduce seeking on your main data drive. That’s about it.
People think of drive performance being based on rotational velocity (eg, 7200RPM), but that’s only one factor. The drive speed does affect “straight-line” performance, but a far larger contributing factor is the density of a track… how much data can be read in one rotation? As your 1TB drive is many times larger than the 40GB, even at the same speed, it’ll be dramatically faster in real terms, as it can transfer much more data before the next track-to-track seek.
Now, for anything that will fit on that drive, sure, it’s not going to have a real drag on performance, simply because you’ll never use that for a CODEC in which the data rate might actually be a large contributing factor to the render… it’s just too small. So adding that for limited use is probably better than not adding it. Adding a cheap, large, external USB drive will get you the same help, much more storage. But of course, not free.
-Dave
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