CDs' System Upgrade w/Step-by-Step Pics!

[sushrukh]

If one has a BD burner then no need to have any other optical.

Yes i know & I was actually going to suggest that only but i had only said that if he needs a CD to CD copy just in case.

Making a clone of a CD/DVD by Burning softwares & then writing that image/iso to a disc takes a lot of time.

[werty316]

Having two optical drives is pointless let alone a Bluray burner and DVD burner; and replacing a HDD by backing up your data on Bluray discs would be a waste of $ (unless you are rich).

I plan on replaying some old games which take up already around 25GB, and I have a plethora of games I have yet to install. So, it's possible

Install one at a time so you play one at a time. I find if I have 4-5 games installed at once I don't finish them.

+1

Ask yourself this question: Am I really going to play more than one game at a time?

[CDsDontBurn]

Fresh install is always better though. And the RAID wont be nearly as quick as the SSD but faster than a regular drive still.


Install one at a time so you play one at a time. I find if I have 4-5 games installed at once I don't finish them.

I know a fresh install is always better. But, if I can avoid it, I will.

And I agree, but some of these games I've been wanting to install for quite some time already.

Very nice pics & a very cute baby. You need an SSD ,a 1/2TB WD Caviar Black & a Blu Ray Writer since CDs no longer Burn.You can keep only a signle Blu Ray Writer & a DVD RW & you won't need that much HDDs if you do keep on backing up your HDD stuffs onto your Blu Rays since they each offer 25-50GB of write space.

Thanks

I already have a 1/2TB HDD in my system and that's already 80% full or so. I need to change that out to a 2TB or larger HDD pretty soon. Realistically though, I'd want to swap it out for 2x 2TB HDDs and set them up on a RAID 1. I'm just that paranoid about data integrity .

And a BR-RW was in my plans originally, but now not so much. A BR-R is all I really need since this system is also my HTPC.

If one has a BD burner then no need to have any other optical.

Yes i know & I was actually going to suggest that only but i had only said that if he needs a CD to CD copy just in case.

Making a clone of a CD/DVD by Burning softwares & then writing that image/iso to a disc takes a lot of time.

This. On the fly burning FTW.

Though I don't find myself burning as much anymore so I think going to a one optical drive system would be more practical now.

Ask yourself this question: Am I really going to play more than one game at a time?

Probably not. I need to have games that are more kid friendly and adult oriented installed at the same time .

[CDsDontBurn]

You guys saw this a few posts back. If you've forgotten about this, I tried to mount this directly behind my Vantec fan controller so I wouldn't be left with a gaping 5.25in hole in the front of my case.

.



I just needed to drill a couple of holes is all. Problem was, I have no drill. That was the first problem.



The second problem popped up when I started messing around with the adjustment holes of the bracket. All that messing around eventually caused one of the screw holes to strip.



So, I gave up and just stuck with the big gaping hole in the front. Personally, I'm not happy about it. I'll see if I can score a cover later down the line or something to get rid of the hole.



Test fitting my PowerJack. I wanted to use it, but I decided against it as it caused the PCB to flex upwards a bit too much even at the lowest setting. I ended up not using it because of that.

[CDsDontBurn]

I forgot to take before pictures, but it doesn't matter since the before for this is when I had the single red SATA cable going to the optical drive. You can look at the pictures in my OP if you need to refresh your memory on how that

looks.





I didn't take care of this before because it was a PITA. I didn't get it done the way I wanted thanks to my big hands, but it's close enough.





Getting ready for the first boot!



We have POST!





Fans spinning



BIOS

[CDsDontBurn]

At this point, windows and all the drivers have been installed. Here I am prepping the area where my system will be at. Look, my daughter is helping me again!



Yes, I even did cable management to my entertainment center. I did this back when I first got this setup a few months ago.



10FT of HDMI cable. Oh yea, I got this cable for $5.50



HDMI 2 ready!



HDMI cable ran through the spine.



Closeups of my cat5e wiring to my cable modem / router box.





cat5e to my system getting setup.



HDMI and cat5e test runs / drops to my system.

[CDsDontBurn]

Zip Ties!



HDMI 2 populated



Yes, I know that I need either a coffee table or a wireless KB / Mouse combo .



I rewarded my daughter with some Mickey Mouse cartoons via YouTube for helping me out so much

[sushrukh]

@ CDs :- Get an SSD as your boot drive.And get a 4TB or 2 x 2 TB WD Caviar Blacks.But you really do not need to put your storage drives on RAID.Most people I know prefers a 120-128GB as a Boot Drive & a 2-4TB as storage drives.You don't even need WD Blacks.As storage drives , even WD Greens will be good enough.Blacks are power hungry.Greens will save you a couple of $ in your power bills & will do the job fine.

Install one game at a time & all your programs on SSD.I really don't think anyone would require to put more than 100GB of data on their boot drive.Install the OS , Games & all apps on your SSD & use your Mechanical drives for storage/backup.Even a cheapest quality SSD will be much much better & faster than a RAID array.And if you install everything on the SSD , you really wouldn't require a RAID array for your backup drives.

[CDsDontBurn]

I already know what I'm doing for my setup. Thanks for your suggestions though.

[sushrukh]

I already know what I'm doing for my setup. Thanks for your suggestions though.

Ok. Is that a 26 or 32 Sammy ?

[PP Mguire]

@ CDs :- Get an SSD as your boot drive.And get a 4TB or 2 x 2 TB WD Caviar Blacks.But you really do not need to put your storage drives on RAID.Most people I know prefers a 120-128GB as a Boot Drive & a 2-4TB as storage drives.You don't even need WD Blacks.As storage drives , even WD Greens will be good enough.Blacks are power hungry.Greens will save you a couple of $ in your power bills & will do the job fine.

Install one game at a time & all your programs on SSD.I really don't think anyone would require to put more than 100GB of data on their boot drive.Install the OS , Games & all apps on your SSD & use your Mechanical drives for storage/backup.Even a cheapest quality SSD will be much much better & faster than a RAID array.And if you install everything on the SSD , you really wouldn't require a RAID array for your backup drives.

He already mentioned a 240GB SSD as his boot.

[sushrukh]

He already mentioned a 240GB SSD as his boot.

Oh.Sorry i did not notice that among so many pics.

[werty316]

Notice? It was mentioned.

[CDsDontBurn]

^^ More than once I believe

[sushrukh]

Sorry , i did not follow the entire thread in detail.Mostly viewed the pics as they are nice.