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General discussion

Best use of 2 HDD's for new gaming rig?

Jan 18, 2011 10:07AM PST

Hi all,

I'm completely new to this world, but I'm building my first budget PC gaming computer anyway.
My question is, based on the components below, what would be the best use of two 500 GB hard drives for gaming?

I have:
ASUS P5G41C-M LGA 775 Intel G41 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad CPU
4 GB RAM
2 Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives
Windows 7 Home Premium

I'd like to have both Windows 7 and Ubuntu on my computer, and to be able to choose what I boot into.

I've been reading hundreds of forums that talk about the benefits/hazards of RAID (my situation calls for a software RAID if I do it), of using VMWare and of just using 2 HDD's separately.

At this point, I want something efficient and not too complicated for now. Most of my important files will probably be backed up on an external HDD.

Do I:
-Dual boot both OS's in one drive and use the second drive for data?
-RAID0 both drives?
-RAID1 both drives?
-Boot Ubuntu on one drive and Windows 7 on the other?
-Use each drive separately and partition?
-RAID AND partition?
-Use another option all together???

These questions still remain even after I've read so much! If you can help me, I would truly appreciate it.
Also, if you have a preference for any of these, could you point me in the direction of step-by-step instructions on how to do these things?

Thank you so much!
Janine

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