January 31, 2013 at 3:08 am
Hi,
I'm trying to determine where I should place my data and log files for my current setup.
I have a small database (a bit under 1Gb) which is used by a transactional system, I also have a small database for my reporting solution.
The server only has 2Gb of memory and is used only for the DBs.
The C-drive is a SCSI Ultra320 15k rpm but only has about 3gb of free space and the attached D-drive has circa 160Gb of free space and is a SCSI Ultra320 10k rpm drives (so bigger but slower than C-drive).
Looking only at the performance aspects of the DB, what sounds like wisdom? should I move the DB data and log files to D-drive or leave on C-drive?
Kind regards,
B
January 31, 2013 at 3:15 am
It is recommended to leave the system drive ,so in your case place your .mdf & .ldf files in D drive.
January 31, 2013 at 4:44 am
Thanks for your answer,
Very true, which is why I wanted to move them in the first place but what prompted my questions was the difference in speed between the drives.
Are you saying that the difference in speed doesn't override the other advantages of separating OS drive from DB drive(s)?
B
January 31, 2013 at 6:09 am
By and large it's about IOPS and contention. How many operations per second can your disk do and how much is it doing. When you think about the operating system and your data, the OS includes all the work of SQL Server, page files, others. Then you have to maintain your data, plus tempdb, etc. The best thing you can do is throw spindles at the problem. While the disks may be slower, there is less contention for access to the disks, which makes things faster overall. That's why putting the OS on one disk and your data on another, even a slower, disk is a good thing. If you can throw more disks at the issue, even better. Separate tempdb to it's own disk (or disks). Separate the data and the log. Again, the more you can reduce contention, then disk speed becomes secondary. But, once you've eliminated contention, then speed is your only other option to increase performance.
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January 31, 2013 at 6:15 am
Thanks a lot for that Grant! Very clear explanation and it took away my doubts about doing the right thing, so I will proceed with moving the files at my earliest opportunity,
Kindest regards,
B
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