I'm building a new PC with an AM5 motherboard and planning to install Windows 11. It's been a while since I've put together a Windows system—about 15 years! I have two SN850X M.2 SSDs: one is 1 TB and the other is 2 TB. I'm considering whether I should get a smaller drive just for the operating system since I feel like using the 1 TB might waste storage space. I could even use the 1 TB SSD in my PS5 instead. Is it a good idea to just install Windows on the 1 TB SSD, or should I keep the OS on a separate drive? Does it still matter to keep the OS separate from my other files?
2 Answers
With your two SSDs, you have a couple of solid choices:
1) You can use one drive for both the OS and your data.
2) Alternatively, partition the 1 TB drive and have the OS on one partition, while keeping the other for data. Use the 2 TB drive solely for data storage! This way, you can efficiently utilize your SSDs.
There isn't a strong reason to keep your OS on a separate drive these days. This used to be a better practice with traditional hard drives, but modern SSDs are incredibly fast. Splitting them doesn't really improve performance.
Some folks suggest keeping the C: drive clean for easier reinstalls, but you can manage that with a logical partition as well. Plus, splitting your data across drives doesn’t protect against drive failures—it's not really a backup strategy.
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