Computer issue

[pjknibbs]

I have a 500Gb SSD for system and games, and a 1Tb spinning rust for storage. Works pretty well. It does mean you have to limit how many games you install, yes, especially when monsters like FF15 for Windows weigh it at around 85Gb installed, but that's not a major issue for me because I tend to play through and finish one game before moving on to another one anyway.

[Morkonan]

I use an SSD as a system drive, because it makes the PC as a whole operate more smoothly, but I install my actual games on an HDD. It's a relatively cheap combination that gives good results, and it still leaves me the option of installing a specific game or two on the SSD if I find ones that really benefit from it.

This is the more common arrangement, these days.

It's worth noting that there is no reason why one can't have more than one SSD, either. With e-distribution being the norm, one's games are always ready to install as long as the internet is accessible.

[euclid]

Got one SSD for a single game, all other games on a 500 GB HD, the system on another 500GB HD and a 1TB HD for backup. Not optimum but it works fine. I've avoided using an SSD for anything that rewrites a lot because they used to be vulnerable to delete and overwrite (causing the SSD to fail). However, nowadays they a much more reliable in that respect.

As CBJ, Paul and Morko wrote above an SSD for the OS and then maybe a second for selected games is a good setup.

Cheers Euclid

[burger1]

I use a 200 GB ssd and a 1 tb hdd. I end up transferring some games to my ssd to get rid of intermittent lag or if it's an mmo and I want areas to load faster. Most games play fine from a hard drive. I back up most of my games on a 4 tb portable hard drive. Downloading a game takes a long time and uses up my data cap. In general if a game is larger than 10 GB then I back it up. Some of the games are 60 GB+.

Do you have an ssd currently? If so then buy the 4 tb hdd and just transfer games as needed.

Steam backups also take up less space than steam installs just an fyi. It can take days to do.

[Bishop149]

Well I went for the 4TB HDD.
All plugged in, reinstalled Steam on it and am currently re-downloading some games. . . . this is going to take a while.
Will have to come to terms with having lost my whole library / saves etc.

I already have my OS on and SSD, I will perhaps consider getting another one in future for some selected games but the cost / storage ratio just wasn't worth it this time.

Kudos once again to Scan.co.uk, they delivered within 24 hrs of my order and on a Sunday to boot, all for a few quid cheaper than Overclockers would have charged for the same product delivered tomorrow (Monday).
Oh and I got Ass Creed: Origins free as part of the deal.

[red assassin]

Well I went for the 4TB HDD.
All plugged in, reinstalled Steam on it and am currently re-downloading some games. . . . this is going to take a while.
Will have to come to terms with having lost my whole library / saves etc.

Assuming you have your documents folder on the OS SSD, you shouldn't have lost any saves or anything - games haven't stored all their save/settings data in their own folders since the XP days. Quite a few will automatically back everything up to Steam Cloud as well.

[pjknibbs]

Yeah, what red assassin said. Unless your documents folder isn't on the SSD (and why on earth would you move it somewhere else?) your saves will likely all be there, unless you have some very old games indeed.

[Alan Phipps]

... old as with X2: The Threat.

[Bishop149]

Right ok, an update.

I bought new HDD and swapped it out, and this appeared to resolve the issue new drive worked fine. Fixed methinks! That was until Saturday when the error repeated itself. . . . . . identical symptoms.
So not the HDD after all.
I swapped over the SATA cable and mobo port and that appear to resolve it. I think I should have listened to you guys more, it was a very atypical HDD error in that it caused the whole system to completely lock up, forcing a hard reset.

What do we think? Duff connector on the Mobo? I don't really see how a fault in the cable would present differently to a fault in the HDD. In both cases the HDD would just drop off the system, no?

Anyway.
Worst case: I bought an new HDD I didn't really need and wasted some money.
Best case: There's nowt wrong with the old HDD and I just got some more storage, always useful!

[Morkonan]

...What do we think? Duff connector on the Mobo? I don't really see how a fault in the cable would present differently to a fault in the HDD. In both cases the HDD would just drop off the system, no?..

There are many fault in a system that will make it lock up. BUT, there are just as many that will make it keep on running... wrongly. We're used to our computers saying "OOPS! Something is wrong and everything has shut down." They don't always say that, though...

It's either the cabling/connector or the on-board controller.

----> When you say you swapped out the "mobo port" what do you mean?

As always, even the physical action of replacing cabling can cause something to suddenly "work" as is the case, sometimes, with cracked motherboards/circuitboards. Yet, when they heat back up, the problem often reappears. If it's the on-board SATA controller, it may be possible to bypass that by getting a separate controller-card that can handle SATA. (Cost estimate $50 (USD) or less.) If it's a general fault on the motherboard, like a cracked board or some other component issue, you have to replace the whole board to fix it.

My vote is for the SATA controller or the on-board SATA connector and some crack/fault, provided there isn't any other info forthcoming.

[pjknibbs]

----> When you say you swapped out the "mobo port" what do you mean?

I assume he means he switched the hard drive from the SATA port he already had it plugged into over to a different one? Most motherboards have more than a couple of the things, after all.

I would seriously doubt the SATA controller itself is at issue here--if something like that goes wrong it almost invariably fails entirely, rather than ending up with one dodgy port and all the others working fine. This sounds like a physical fault with either the cable or the motherboard port it's plugged into.

[Bishop149]

I assume he means he switched the hard drive from the SATA port he already had it plugged into over to a different one? Most motherboards have more than a couple of the things, after all.

Yep, that's right.

I too doubt that it's the SATA controller / driver, the thought crossed my mind but I assumed that would likely cause issues in every connected device rather just one.
Its odd that the replacement of the drive initially fixed it. The new drive was initially connected to the same port, via the same cable. If the fault lay in either of them then all that change over would have achieved is to (using a technical term!) jiggle the connectors around a bit.

[Alan Phipps]

The problem with 'jiggling things' as a solution to electrical issues is that the suspect hardware or accessories always take offence at being jiggled.

As a revenge, they will appear to work just fine until they sense that you are doing something really important, really complex to set up, or just when you are getting towards the end of lengthy job. That's when they snigger at you and set up for another failure.

The moral of the story: jiggling is never a long term solution.

[CBJ]

Is there an equivalent term to "percussive maintenance" for when you jiggle things instead of hitting them?

[X2-Illuminatus]

The moral of the story: jiggling is never a long term solution.

A worthy addition to the hardware FAQ section in case we ever create one.

[Alan Phipps]

Percussive maintenance is carried out by professional engineers who are trained at length to know exactly where and how hard to hit/kick the hardware.

Jiggling (also called vibratory diagnostics) is carried out by enthusiastic amateurs seeking to avoid paying a professional engineer for percussive maintenance, or just when trying to impress someone else with their technical expertise (with at best only temporary success).

[X2-Illuminatus]

Percussive maintenance is carried out by professional engineers who are trained at length to know exactly where and how hard to hit/kick the hardware.

As shown in some visual examples here.

[Morkonan]

I assume he means he switched the hard drive from the SATA port he already had it plugged into over to a different one? Most motherboards have more than a couple of the things, after all.

Yep, that's right.

I too doubt that it's the SATA controller / driver,..

I didn't mean the driver. I meant the controller chip, itself, or the firmware getting borked.

Any BIOS updates, lately? Check the board's mfr and see if they have any BIOS flashes that have critical recommendations on them, especially for any SATA or other errors/compatibility issues. DO NOT FLASH you BIOS as a first-choice solution to anything, ever. It's a last-choice thing.

Also - For all the stuff that is said "can't be the problem" if you keep going down that line, then nothing will ever be the problem... Something's _ucky. Either it's in your box or outside of it, looking in a mirror. It's probably something to do with your computer, so that's the first place to start, right? Work the problem from there.

[pjknibbs]

Percussive maintenance is carried out by professional engineers who are trained at length to know exactly where and how hard to hit/kick the hardware.

What's the difference between a mechanic, a technician and an engineer? The mechanic knows that hitting it makes it work. The technician knows *where* to hit it to make it work. The engineer knows *why* hitting it there makes it work.

[Morkonan]

Computers are difficult to fix because it's hard to get a roll of duct tape and a can of WD40 in most cases, these days.