RAM and HDD questions...

[MASTOURA]

I have three "small" questions...

1) Up to today, I have been using generic RAM except ONCE when I bought APACER. I have been happy with them, so I wonder is branded RAM is really worth the extra $$, performance wise, and which of them are considered as "top quality". I am planning to buy 2x128MB (133mhz).

2) I will also buy a new HDD of 30 GB (7200rpm) to put in a home server. I plan to partition it, but up to now I have been using fdisk DOS command, and people suggest that I use Partition Magic. I don't know how the program works, so I was wondering if there's a link where I can read more. Is it a DOS based soft, or a Windows based? In other words, do I partition BEFORE installing Windows (like fdisk) or AFTER?

3) Finally here's the "planned" partitioning of my HDD. What do you think? Of outmost importance is the "swap drive". An asterisk (*) denotes a "shared" partition throughout the LAN. Please reccomend any changes...

HDD 30 gig (7200rpm)
C: SYSTEM DISK (windows, office, outlook, explorer) - 4 GIGA
D: PROGRAMS DISK (all other programs and applications)- 3 GIGA
E: DOWNLOADS DISK (software that I'll test, basically a "scrap" drive) - 3 GIGA
F: MUSIC DISK* (mainly mp3s, with enough space to make .wav files) - 3 GIGA
G: GAMES DISK* (only games here) - 16 GIGA
H: BACKUP DISK (documents, OS, etc.) - 1 GIGA


Thanks in advance for your precious input!

MASTOURA

[qball]

I can help a little.

Is branded RAM far superior, well, no, not really. It should be more consistent and reliable, though. It should also have no problems at its rated speed. Ask anyone who has experienced RAM problems (branded or not) and they can be insidious. RAM is fairly critical to a system. I wouldn't pay twice the price for branded RAM, but I would pay a little more.

Partition Magic comes as a DOS app, a winders app and even a linux app. It is a fantastic program and makes partitioning a snap. If the drive is already partitioned, you can actually use it before or after installing winders. If no partition info exists, you'll need to partition first (PM or fdisk).

[Axel]

When buying the drive - spend the extra $10 and make sure it has at least a 2MB swap file cache onboard - it makes a real difference in performance....

I've seen fewer conflicts when mixing SDRAM than when mixing SIMMs, but the conflicts are still there...... I typically try to get a name brand and stick with the same name, make, and model RAM in a given system - Mixing RAM causes head-aches which can be some of the hardest to track down ( try a floppy not reading because of mixed RAM - and it definitely was the RAM )

When you buy generic, you can't be sure you're getting a match regardless of what the package reads..... Sometimes you're lucky enough to get the exact same chips, but not always.....

Partition before you install windows. If you really plan to have that many partitions, I'd just buy 2 drives. I've seen too many lost partitions and crying users. Fewer partitions makes for a more stable and robust drive.

If you are real serious about back-ups, then get a PROMISE RAID 1 IDE card and 2 20GB drives and mirror them. - never have to back-up again - you'll only have to worry about viruses, spilled beverages, and lightning strikes. Also increases speed dramatically as you are reading different pieces off both drives at once..... Something to think about.