Recommended SSD/HDD configuration?

[jefjaksdj]

I just bought a 500 GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD and I'm trying to figure out how to best use it with Reaper. I also have a 1 TB 7200 RPM internal HDD and a 2 TB 5400 RPM internal HDD. My motherboard is an older Asus P5E3 Deluxe with 3 Gb/s SATA II rather than the newer 6 Gb/s SATA III. It has 8 GB of RAM installed, (the max it supports) along with a Q9650 Core 2 Quad CPU.

I'm a newbie who intends on using this computer for composing and mixing instrumental electronic music. It won't be used for recording singers or analog instruments, or to perform for a live audience. I'll be using Reaper with VST softsynths/effects and a standalone Kontakt-like software sampler to build songs by myself in my home studio, one element at a time, out of my own performances on a piano-style MIDI controller, by improvising over elements I've already laid down. I want to make sophisticated, production-heavy stuff, so I need to be able to use a lot of plugins and a lot of tracks.

My main priority is responsiveness: I want minimal delay between the time I hit a key on the MIDI keyboard and the time I hear a sound, even if a lot of other tracks are playing in the background at the same time. I want the DAW, VSTs, and sampler to respond quickly to parameter changes made via MIDI or mouse/keyboard. I want samples to load quickly and to play back without appreciable delay. And I want all this to happen with no glitches or dropouts.

I understand there are three categories of files whose drive location must be considered: the OS and installed software (executables and VSTs), the project files (in my case I believe this would be MIDI created during performance and audio generated by rendering/freezing tracks), and sample libraries.

Right now I am leaning toward partitioning the SSD in two, with the smaller part dedicated to the OS and installed software, and the larger part to project files. (I want to partition the SSD so the OS and software can be backed up to a reasonably-sized Acronis image and quickly restored at any time without affecting the project files.) I am thinking of using the 1 TB 7200 RPM drive for sample libraries, and the 2 TB 5400 RPM drive for backing up and archiving project files and software installers.

Does this seem like a good way to distribute resources across these drives?

[JimFichs]

The issue of responsiveness/lag has more to do with your audio interface and drivers, I believe. Faster HDDs/SSDs are great for loading sample libraries, but if you're running a standard, non-ASIO sound card, you'll still get brutal lag.

I'm also not big on partitioning drives, but that's more of a personal preference and I don't know if that will impact your performance.