I currently have a triple-boot (Windows XP, 7, and 8.1) home-brew PC (Core2 Duo@ 3gHz with 8GB RAM, dual monitors) that is pretty much my workhorse for everything - music, home office, assorted other hobbies, etc.  Currently, the 8.1 partition is doing little more than taking up space, so I'm seriously considering doing a fresh install of Sonar X3 there, and dedicating that partition as my "music studio", with nothing else on it.
 
I have plenty of drive space (3 SATA drives), but I was thinking about picking up a SSD drive and moving my Win 8.1 partition to that, figuring there should be a noticeable increase in performance.  The plan is to keep all the application installs on that drive, samples / VST's on one of the SATA drives, and audio on another SATA.  With that in mind ~
 
1.) With the application files running on one SSD, would adding a 2nd SSD for the VST's & samples make a noticeable difference in load times and performance? 
 
2.) Any recommendations for reliable SSD - and perhaps more importantly, any to avoid?
 
3.) Realizing this won't be a completely isolated PC, any recommendations for security software on the 8.1 partition that should have minimal impact on DAW performance?  I'm currently running the Microsoft Security Essentials and AVG Free on my Windows 7 partition (and laptop), which seems to work fine, but have really tinkered under the Windows 8.1 world yet.
 
4.) Other than compatibility concerns with drivers and related applications, and other things I should be aware of when setting up Sonar X3 for the first time on Windows 8.1?
 
Thanks in advance for any insights or tips anyone is willing to share!
 
Randy
 

In the case of (4) you inventorise your hardware and then google for driver compatibity. 99% chance they are compatible. MS also supplies a tool that will scan your system to see if it is win8 compatible as well, although it generally isn't that accurate.

BTW I would not run AVG and security essentials at the same time, disable one of them. You can Malwarebytes alongside these scanners though.

I don't do SSD myself as I'm worried about the lifetime of these drives. Maybe another couple of years.

Cheers..

Appreciate the feedback!
 
I hear you on the SSD's.
Load time improvements would be awesome, but I'm not 100% convinced of the long-term reliability ~
But then again, I really haven't worked with them yet, I don't know much more than the price is finally starting to come down a bit!
 
Anyone have any hands-on experience and recommendations they can share?

I run Windows 8.1 and Sonar X3 on a 500GB SSD (SAMSUNG 840 EVO). My samples and audio are on separate mechanical HDs. The OS load times are significantly less than a mechanical drive. On the write-cycle question, it is true that SSDs do have a limited number of reliable write cycles. The salient point is that the threshold is higher than the average person's usage pattern over 5 - 10 years. Any HD that is 5 years old is suspect and should probably be replaced. PC Mag sums it up by saying the entire system will usually be obsolescent before the drive fails. The number of writes is the main issue with SSDs. If an SSD is used for sample playback, the main operation would be reading. I would expect that to be a plus. 
 
One tip for optimizing your Windows 8 installation is to check to be sure your hard drives are set to never turn off. This is found under Power Options --> Advanced Settings --> Hard disk. Also run your entire system in High performance (always on) mode.
 
I am running Avast AV and am moderately satisfied. I was running AVG but switched so all my PCs ran the same AV. I might go back. When working with many samples loaded, I disable the AV anyway.
 
 

Appreciate all the feedback guys -
I'm thinking Jan. '15 is going to be a busy month for hard drive upgrades and Sonar reinstall...

I use a SAMSUNG 830 EVO - and it's been running since spring 2012, without any problems yet. The Samsungs are supposed to be good for reliability - and the 840s (which you get now) are even better than the 830(s) that I have.
 
There is no more Security Essentials - is there?
I just use "Kaspersky Internet Security" on mine. It's not expensive, and I don't even bother disabling it while recording guitar anymore. It doesn't cause problems.
 
It is easier for updates etc - if you put your PC online sometimes - to download updates etc.