How would you lay out this drive structure?


Calab

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Location
Alberta, Canada
OS
Windows 11
Not directly Windows 11 related, but it does involve a Windows 11 installation...

In my PC I have the following drives:
- Crucial P2 CT500P2SSD8 500GB M.2 drive as C: with Windows 11 installed. Programs are installed here. (2300/940 MB sec.)
- Western Digital Blue WDS500G2B0C 500GB M.2 drive as D: used to hold data, Steam/EPIC games, Downloads go here and TEMP is here. (2400/1750 MB sec.)
- Western Digital WD20EARS 2TB SATA as E:, currently empty except for a Clover EFI boot loader (117/110 MB sec.)
- ADATA SX8200NP 500GB M.2 drive holding a Mint Linux install that is currently not working. (3200/1700 MB sec.)
- LG Bluray optical disk writer
- USB 3.0 hub with multicard reader.

Right now, the system uses the Clover boot loader to choose an operating system. At one time I had a Hackintosh installation and Clover was required. I no longer have that installation, and with the broken Linux install I'm thinking of reorganizing the drives. I like the look of the Clover loader, but have no real need for it.

I want to have Windows 11 and Linux running on this machine. Both have built in boot managers, but neither look very good. Would you use one of the built in boot managers, or something else? Which would you use?

It looks like I should put Windows onto the ADATA drive, since it is the fastest. This would be C:.

Linux could go onto the WD M.2 drive as it's the second fastest. Obviously no Window drive letter here.

After that I'm not sure what I should put on the Crucial M.2 drive and what I should put on the 2TB SATA drive.

I'm thinking that the Crucial M.2 drive could hold %TEMP% and my Steam/Epic gaming files, which is currently about 268GB. This would be D:.

The 2TB SATA drive could hold Downloads and any other data I may have (emulators and such), which is currently about 73GB. This would be E:. I would also have this as a writeable mounted drive in Linux so I could move files between the two operating systems.

Optical drive would be F: and card reader G through I.

Does this drive layout sound good?
 
Windows Build/Version
Current release

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    C.S.D.
    CPU
    i9-12900k
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z690 UD AX DDR4
    Memory
    32 GB DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    Strix RTX 3060
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dark Matter 48" monitor
    Screen Resolution
    5120 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    One 1tb M.2 for Windows, one 500gb M.2 for Linux, and a 8 TB HDD for data
    PSU
    850 watt
    Case
    Cougar
    Cooling
    MSI liquid cooling
    Keyboard
    Cherry Stream wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech G305
    Internet Speed
    1Gbit/100mb
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Microsoft
    Other Info
    Bluray optical writer drive
You need to consider using some kind of backup solution. The 2tb drive could hold your backups of the other drives.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.3296
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 7080
    CPU
    i9-10900 10 core 20 threads
    Motherboard
    DELL 0J37VM
    Memory
    32 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    none-Intel UHD Graphics 630
    Sound Card
    Integrated Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1tb Solidigm m.2 +256gb ssd+512 gb usb m.2 sata
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell Premium
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    so slow I'm too embarrassed to tell
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 22H2 19045.3930
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 9020
    CPU
    i7-4770
    Memory
    24 gb
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    256 gb Toshiba BG4 M.2 NVE SSB and 1 tb hdd
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell factory
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Internet Speed
    still not telling
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
You need to consider using some kind of backup solution. The 2tb drive could hold your backups of the other drives.
Oh... I definitely have a backup. Another PC on my network gets backups from my machines, and even backs itself up to a removeable drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    C.S.D.
    CPU
    i9-12900k
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z690 UD AX DDR4
    Memory
    32 GB DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    Strix RTX 3060
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dark Matter 48" monitor
    Screen Resolution
    5120 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    One 1tb M.2 for Windows, one 500gb M.2 for Linux, and a 8 TB HDD for data
    PSU
    850 watt
    Case
    Cougar
    Cooling
    MSI liquid cooling
    Keyboard
    Cherry Stream wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech G305
    Internet Speed
    1Gbit/100mb
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Microsoft
    Other Info
    Bluray optical writer drive
EasyBCD is what use on default disk with W11. It isn't classic loader, just makes BOOT menu using msconfig.
1655636409873.png
1655636465010.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W10 and Insider Dev.+ Linux Mint
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Home brewed
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 9 7900x
    Motherboard
    ASROCK b650 PRO RS
    Memory
    2x8GB Kingston 6000MHz, Cl 32 @ 6200MHz Cl30
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte Rx 6600XT Gaming OC 8G Pro
    Sound Card
    MB, Realtek Ac1220p
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3 x 27"
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    Kingston KC3000. 1TBSamsung 970 evo Plus 500GB, Crucial P1 NVMe 1TB, Lexar NVMe 2 TB, Silicon Power M.2 SATA 500GB
    PSU
    Seasonic 750W
    Case
    Custom Raidmax
    Cooling
    Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360mm
    Internet Speed
    20/19 mbps

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