8 Gb of ram should be adequate. but i would not choose a 1Tb for a system drive.

a 250Gb fast drive is better, only loading OS and apps on it.

a couple of 1 Tb drives for runtimes and storage, with a couple of large externals for backup. ( only powered up when backing up files)

avoid Maxtor  drives if at all possible ( in my experience very unreliable)

think of the amount of actual work a system drive does, compared to one used for storage. it is the most likely to fail first.

partitioning a drive will not save your data from mechanical/electronic failure.