Isolate OS w/ SATA I or stick with only SATA II?

**ThePistonDoctor** · 03-22-2009, 04:19 PM

Hello. I have what I hope will be a simple question:

Here's what I have so far:

Intel D945GCLF2 Motherboard
Intel Atom 330 1.6ghz processor
2GB Crucial RAM (one stick)
Fujitsu 320GB SATA II 7200rpm 2.5" HDD
M4ATX 250W Intelligent DC-DC PSU
Xenarc 705TSV screen
A bunch of audio equipment

My questions are about hard drives/CDROM drives. I will be running dual boot WinXP/Ubuntu Linux, and I have a second SATA II header I could use for another HDD that would be dedicated to the OSes. A SSD is a bit too expensive at $120 for a small 16 gig, and also will have a limited number of writes available and this is a long term project. I don't want a SSD. So I was looking online for a small 20 gig HDD that I could install the OSes on, so that if I need to wipe/reformat down the road, I don't have to worry about transferring all my data off and saving it (since it will be on the other HDD).

The problem I ran into is that the only HDDs I can find that are that small are 4200RPM and 5200RPM and SATA I. Would it slow down the booting process and cause a performance drop if I ran one of these slower SATA I drives as a dedicated OS drive, or would I not notice a difference? I can't find any 7200rpm SATA II drives that are smaller than like 60 gig and I just don't need that much space to install Windows and Ubuntu. In fact, I don't even need 20 gigs. What would you guys do?

My second question is about installing the OSes themselves. I have an old ATAPI DVD/CDRW from a compaq laptop that I was hoping I could use but I can't figure out how to hook it up. Should I just get an external USB one or something? Obviously I need to have a CD rom so I can install the OSes and various drivers and such.

Thanks so much for your help on both of these!

**2k1Toaster** · 03-22-2009, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by ThePistonDoctor

Hello. I have what I hope will be a simple question:

Here's what I have so far:

Intel D945GCLF2 Motherboard
Intel Atom 330 1.6ghz processor
2GB Crucial RAM (one stick)
Fujitsu 320GB SATA II 7200rpm 2.5" HDD
M4ATX 250W Intelligent DC-DC PSU
Xenarc 705TSV screen
A bunch of audio equipment

My questions are about hard drives/CDROM drives. I will be running dual boot WinXP/Ubuntu Linux, and I have a second SATA II header I could use for another HDD that would be dedicated to the OSes. A SSD is a bit too expensive at $120 for a small 16 gig, and also will have a limited number of writes available and this is a long term project. I don't want a SSD. So I was looking online for a small 20 gig HDD that I could install the OSes on, so that if I need to wipe/reformat down the road, I don't have to worry about transferring all my data off and saving it (since it will be on the other HDD).

The problem I ran into is that the only HDDs I can find that are that small are 4200RPM and 5200RPM and SATA I. Would it slow down the booting process and cause a performance drop if I ran one of these slower SATA I drives as a dedicated OS drive, or would I not notice a difference? I can't find any 7200rpm SATA II drives that are smaller than like 60 gig and I just don't need that much space to install Windows and Ubuntu. In fact, I don't even need 20 gigs. What would you guys do?

My second question is about installing the OSes themselves. I have an old ATAPI DVD/CDRW from a compaq laptop that I was hoping I could use but I can't figure out how to hook it up. Should I just get an external USB one or something? Obviously I need to have a CD rom so I can install the OSes and various drivers and such.

Thanks so much for your help on both of these!

Use the 1 primary drive and partition it. Does the same thing for free. If the OS image dies, just clone it back over