Better to install games on same partition as OS?

Anyone have a definate answer to that question?
I have always installed games (as well as non-integral programs) on D (a seperate partition from the OS but on the same physical HD).

Where do you guys install your games? Which is better?

Edit: And what about the option of installing games on a seperate HD than the OS? I have two harddrives...

There's got to be a clear answer to which config is better...

 

It doesn't help at all to install them on a different partition, but same hard drive.

It definitely does help to install them on separate hard drives.

 

Ok. Thanks. Does everyone here agree?

Just to clear things up, this is my current setup:

Disk 1 250 Gb:
Partition 1: C- 50 Gb. Only OS and AV. Pagefile 4096 Mb
Partition 2: D- 200 Gb. Games, programs.

Disk 2 250 Gb:
Partition 1: E- 10 Gb. Just for Pagefile, which is 8192 Mb
Partition 2: F- 240 Gb. Movies, music etc..

 

I can't give you any tech advice, but I can tell you I moved my Steamapps folder and client to a new drive a few months back, and everything loads and plays just the same.

 

The advantage of having system and application files on separate partitions is so that application files and system files will not get fragmented together.

No the games will not be any faster, the only thing which will be faster is the scheduled defrag.

 

What do you mean by "faster"? Faster if you arrange it in which way relative to which way?

 

Sorry. I was referring to fast, the verb meaning acting or moving or capable of acting or moving quickly; "fast film"; "on the fast track in school"; "set a fast pace"; "a fast car".

Not to be confused with the verb fast, meaning to abstain from eating.

 

Yes, but you didn't specify faster "if you X" rather than "if you Y". You just wrote "faster". I guess you were directly answering the question as presented within the title.
Oh, and BTW, when referring to the noun "fast" as abstaining from eating, in its verbal form, one can apply the following derivatives: fasted, fasts, and fasting, but not faster.

 

I put all programs including games and OS on one partition, and the data like movies, music on another. If I need to reinstall my OS you only need to wipe one partition with games and programs which have to be reinstalled anyway. And it's easier to defragment.

 

When I said "help" I meant only loading times. That's the only difference a hard disk will give you.

 

I've never installed games on the same partition as the operating system and that policy has actually worked out well for me now I have Windows 7 installed on an SSD which has just 128 GB of space (well, actually 100 GB post-format).

I have three other hard drives (unpartitioned) and install games to my D: and E: drives in a separate Games folder. So I never use the default install path, always a custom one. If Windows needs to access files on the C: drive while I'm playing a game on D: or E: then there isn't going be any conflicts.

 

All my games are on one drive, movies on another and the OS has it's own drive too.

You want the least amount of crap on C:/ as possible.

 

HDD Gaming

Do whatever hard drive configuration you feel comfortable with/works. As far as gaming is concerned the only benefit is the actual game loading faster (start up), and maps load faster (2-3 seconds maybe) A video card is almost always a more beneficial upgrade than HDD/SSD when it comes to gaming. Just wondering has anyone successfully played games from another HDD after a reformat/system change?

Good Luck

 

Don't see much performance gain if there are any to begin with. The sole reason I install them on a separate drive is for re-installing windows and keeping my files organise.

 

I install Windows, Programs, and Games on one drive (SSD in my case) and all My Documents, Videos, Music, on a second drive. I have a third drive that backs up all my content of my data drive and images my main drive nightly.

 

Most of them will play.
Some games don't work though, as they had dependencies on the registry of the deleted OS.



I have all my games installed on a separate disk.
Mostly due to size limitation (raptor 74gb) as i don't think there are significant differences.

 

Same harddrive, different partition here. My second drive just has data (music, movies, porn, ...) and the page file. I move the page file to the harddrive (physical) that isn't running the games or programs.

 

I read that it's best to leave a pagefile the size of the physical RAM on the OS partition and another pagefile 2-3x physical RAM size on the first partition of a second drive, so the OS has the choice of using the less active one at need.

 

I have my 2x 500GB 7200RPM Seagate's short stroked to partitions of 150GB each for RAID0 (300GB total). I use that partition strictly for OS, swap, applications and games. This gives me approx 250-200 MB/s transfer rate. Quick enough to load a demanding game like Crysis or applications like After Effects fairly quick.

I uses the remainder of the storage space for HD video capturing.

Rest of my hard drives (my little Antec 300 chassis is crammed with 6 HDD's ) are used to store general data: documents, video, music, downloads. However, i made small partitions of 50GB on at the begin of my Samsung HD103SJ for 'scratch drive' in Adobe applications. Quick enough to get a sustained speed of 140-125MB/s.

I let Windows to set the swapfile size and have a 4GB USB flash stick for ReadyBoost. Hoping to reduce the need for the OS to use the swapfile.

 

I have a separate drive for Steam and Games separated and Windows by itself + programs and the rest of the files such as music, movies etc.... i have on a separated partition.