New P.C. for DAW usage Question 2 (Storage)

What has worked well for most is a 3 HD setup:
 
C Drive: OS and all software (a 250GB SSD works really well)
D Drive: Sonar Projects (a 1TB (or your size choice) 7200 RPM HD)  
E Drive: Samples  (biggest HD (3TB or more??) depending on how big your sample library collection is)
 
If you can afford it and need  it, a huge SSD samples drive will make loading sounds a breeze.
 
Of course, the above numbers are all subjective to your needs.......and that configuration has worked out well for many of us. 

Depends on how big the SSD is. If you get a large enough one then no, no issues about hoarding space. Its only an issue if you purchase a drive that is too small for you needs. And of course as Mesh noted you can (and probably should) mix SSDs and HDDs.
 
SSDs are good for things you want fast load times on like programs and samples. HDDs are good for bulk storage.
 
Personally I have an SSD for OS and apps, another for samples, and then two HDDs one for data, one for backup.
 
Basically make a list of what you want on an SSD and figure out how big it is. Add in at least 25% more for other uses and then see what you need. See if you can afford a drive of that size. You probably can, SSDs are fairly economical these days. Like you can get a Samsung 850 EVO 500GB for $180 on Newegg. That's a nice drive that'll hold a lot of samples right there.
 
Also with magnetic drives, Seagate makes something of a compromise in their SSHD line. They are magnetic drives with a bit (like 8GB) of flash on them. They use that to buffer reads and writes. It means that they handle fast multiple access more gracefully than HDDs. Still nowhere near as good as a real SSD, but if you get one for you data drive it can be a nice compromise between cost and storage.

As for HDDs I prefer drives with less platters.  The largest I have is a 2TB. 1 OS, 3 storage.  I have not filled them up to where any of them have used 75% of their capacity.  I have loops, Komplete, Kontakt, EW, VSL, Live Suite, Refills.
I have good luck with WD Blues. 1 TB are under $60. 

It isn't so much for the boot time, but the application load time, and general system responsiveness. When you have an SSD bogging down your system is hard to impossible to do. Even if multiple things are launched at once it doesn't impact your ability to use it because they service simultaneous requests much better. Likewise programs load lightning fast. I play a lot of video games and it is great not having to wait on loading screens, stuff just comes up nearly instantly.
 
Also the thing is you often have no need for the storage capacity of a magnetic drive for a boot/apps drive. 1TB is more than most people would use for that purpose. So comparing a 500GB SSD to a 1TB HDD actually makes sense since the SSD is plenty large enough. As a simple example I have a 512GB system SSD and I have only about 200GB used. On it I have my OS, Sonar, Vegas, Soundforge, associated audio plugins, Office, browsers, editors, and a number of games including Dragon Age Inquisition, Final Fantasy 13, and Shadowrun Hong Kong. I have a fair bit of stuff, and yet it all fits nicely on an SSD, and would fit fine on a 250GB SSD in fact.
 
So ya, you can get magnetic drives for less, nobody questions that, and for bulk storage SSDs are way too expensive. But OS and apps work pretty nice on a smaller SSD and then your system is just extremely zippy.

Sycraft
 .....and a number of games including Dragon Age Inquisition, Final Fantasy 13, and Shadowrun Hong Kong. I have a fair bit of stuff, and yet it all fits nicely on an SSD, and would fit fine on a 250GB SSD in fact.
 

(Sorry OP for the slight tangent)
 
Sycraft,
As far as games are concerned, I only have Steam & Origin running on my SSD drive. All my game data is on my samples/data  3TB drive. Did you install these games on the SSD drive and are the download content/updates stuff on another drive? or do you have all these games and associated data on your SSD?
 
I avoided putting all the game data on the SSD as it's only a 250GB drive and I know these games can take a HUGE amount of space. (I mostly play on Steam and the games do load very quickly......just a few secs).

Thanks Jesse......looks like I'll need to upgrade to a 512GB SSD (I have about 60GB's left on my SSD (OS/applications) drive, so.....)
What I paid for my 250GB SSD drive 2 years ago, I can get a 512GB drive now.