I use two SATA 80GB fast drives for my system. All system files (program files, Window$, etc.) must be located on the C drive and I put all my data files on the second drive (D), especially including SW files. I have a freeware backup program called SyncBack that backs up important files on each drive to the other drive (very handy program--works well overnight each night).
I can set up a mirror drive with the SATA units, but would rather have the additional space and separation of system files from data files. (Anyone running Window$ should do so.)
So I'm not quite clear on what you mean by a dedicated drive for SolidWorks--you would necessarily need a C drive--meaning all your registry and lots of other junk will be on your primary drive even if you install SW to a dedicated drive. Maybe someone else will ellaborate on why this would be an improvement.
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I always use a drive with at least 7,200 RPM. I've used one of the faster 9,600 RPM (and smaller) drives and really didn't notice much difference, except that 36GB is too small these days for a system drive.
Check out the links CorBlimeyLimey posted and be very careful with RAID settings--be sure you understand what each configuration is really doing. Some configs can toast all your data with a single drive failure (RAID 0, I think), but give tremendous speed. In my experience, the drive hasn't slowed my performance in SW anyway, and is mostly needed for cramming huge amounts of data onto a drive in a very short time (like video capture).
Make sure you have sufficient RAM and the pagefile issues won't be as prevalent.
I mean for performance gains in SW and in conjunction with SmarTeam. I have been given a hardware std calling for a 3 drive RAID setup, and dual processors that seems quite exspensive.
Is there any real benifet to SW/SmarTeam performance (other than the RAID backup aspect)in a multi drive system compared to 1 good drive?
I think I would get a second opinion... or your not telling us all what you plan to run on this machine besides Smarteam and and Solidworks to need dual processors and 3 drives.
We would have some engineers running FEA or Catia, that would utilize the dual processors. But I'm arguing that we need different levels of workstations vs this one broad standard. The counter to that argument has been the 3 drive system would benifit SolidWorks. I thought I saw an article on this once, but can't find any info now.
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