Two hard disk drives; which order?

**odiseo77** · November 16th, 2009

Hello people,

I'm using a PC with two SATA HDDs; the first one is 200 gb and the second one has 160 gb. Currently I'm using the first one for windows and linux (and some free unformatted space to play with different distros when necessary); the second disk is all dedicated to data. Since I don't need so much space for the OS's, and I prefer to have enough space for my personal data, I was thinking of changing the disk order on the motherboard (plugging the 160 gb in the first SATA slot, and the 200 gb one in the second SATA slot, so the OS's will still be in the first HDD, and the data on the second HDD; I would have reinstall windows and linux, of course, and move my data to the 200 gb HDD, but that's no problem). My question is: is it relevant the fact that the first HDD is the smaller one and the second is the biggest? Would it affect the general functioning of my system? I'm prone to think it's not important, but I once heard someone saying it could affect the system functioning, so I'm not completely sure.

Greetings, and thanks in advance.

**sandy8925** · November 17th, 2009

No it won't affect how the system functions (or shouldn't generally).

**odiseo77** · November 17th, 2009

Ok, that's what I thought, but I was not sure. Thanks for clarifying my doubt

Greetings!

**megamania** · November 17th, 2009

Why don't you run a speed test on both hard disks to see which one is faster?

I strongly suggest to keep the operating systems on the faster hard disk, regardless of the size.

**odiseo77** · November 17th, 2009

Well, I just checked and it seems both of them work at 7200 rpm, so there's no problem at all, luckily

Again, thank you very much for your advices folks!

Greetings!

**megamania** · November 17th, 2009

Originally Posted by odiseo77

Well, I just checked and it seems both of them work at 7200 rpm, so there's no problem at all, luckily

Again, thank you very much for your advices folks!

Greetings!

RPM is only one factor influencing the actual thruput. There can be substantial differences in speed for hard disks with identical rpm.

On the other hand, it's true that a 7200 rpm disk shouldn't be too slow.