best way to partiton a 40 gb harddrive

[timu]

please suggest a best way to partition a 40gb harddrive.
i use windows xp professional

 

[Lord Evermore]

One partition, using NTFS. Very very little reason to do otherwise. You could make one 10GB partition for the OS and applications to be installed to, and use the other 30GB as storage space for downloaded files or data files you make yourself, if you expect to have a lot of files. Or make 2 partitions of 20GB if you expect to install many large apps or games. This just makes it a little easier if you were to hose your XP install and want to wipe the OS out and reinstall. But that shouldn't happen often.

 

[timu]

whats the benifit of ntfs? is there any limitation of ntfs? do all programs and games support it?

 

[alkemyst]

Yeah 1 partition of NTFS. If you want to test an OS or do a dual boot, I'd do it with another drive.

I am running 120GB as 1 partition and used my old (1 year old) IBM 60GXP 60GB drive as a 512MB swap file for windows, and to hold my Tempory Internet Files....as well as swap for Photoshop and any other program that needs swap space.

 

[0roo0roo]

one os partition one data partition. easier to make ghost images for easy recovery.

 

[Hanzou]

Right now I just have my 40GB split into two 20GB partitions. One has the OS, Games and Apps while the other holds all my random files and stuff.

 

[timu]

if the os partition is ntfs..........then is there any problem playing old games or running any software?

 

[Spudd]

I believe you won't be able to read data that's in Fat32 format. So, if your friend has Win98 and saves a file onto a floppy for you that you need, I don't think an NTFS formatted HDD can read that data at all.

 

[alkemyst]

The benefits of ntfs far outwiegh any possible disadvantages....but you will need to determine that for yourself with some research....there is a lot of variables (search google or here for ntfs vs fat32).

The O/S and Program interaction determine if it will run or not....if it runs on the O/S it will run regardless of ntfs, fat16, or fat32 (at least in everything I have seen).

The biggest disadvantage ntfs has is in mixed FAT and NTFS environments, but those disadvantages didn't apply to me so it's not a problem.

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: timu
if the os partition is ntfs..........then is there any problem playing old games or running any software?

no problems. NTFS is a file system. It doesn't matter to the games if it's NTFS or Fat32. NTFS is just more efficient at keeping data in clusters, less fragmentation.

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
one os partition one data partition. easier to make ghost images for easy recovery.

:beer:

I have my 40gb in 4 partitions for some reason.

I pretty much use them as folders instead of drives

Dan

 

[Lord Evermore]

Where did this sudden myth of "you can't read FAT32 if you use NTFS" come from?

The type of file system you use doesn't affect what other file systems can be read. Windows 2000 and Windows XP can read FAT12 (floppy format), FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS in its various versions. You can install it to anything except FAT12. You can read any of the other types no matter what you use for installation.

Windows 9x versions can't read NTFS though, because the OS itself doesn't support it, not due to using FAT32, and I presume that this issue has become corrupted into the idea that NTFS stops you from reading FAT.

NTFS is overall a more efficient file system, and provides more reliability and features, such as encryption of personal files.

http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.html?i=63

Just make sure that any utilities you have such as disk defragmenters or partition managers are compatible, because the version of NTFS used in XP is different from the one used in WinNT and Win2k.

 

[almawy]

USe partition magic

http://www.partition-magic-download.com/

Good luck
Robert_

 

[Vinny N]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
Where did this sudden myth of "you can't read FAT32 if you use NTFS" come from?

I'd guess it stems from some old complaints about Windows NT4 being unable to read FAT32 without some sort of driver.

 

[alkemyst]

Also another thing with ntfs is you lose a little control supposedly outside the o/s...but with the windows xp cd or a ntfs boot disk I never had anything I couldn't do...so maybe that is rumor now too.

 

[MajinWade]

With my 40GB, after much experimentation, I discovered I like 10/30. It keeps things nicely seperated this way, which I prefer. I store media files on D and regular data, programs, and os goes on C.

If I gamed, I would go with a 40 or at least 20/20.

I think it all comes down to preference. Whatever works best for you.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Lose control? The only loss of control is if you use an OS that doesn't support read/write for the NTFS version used. That applies to any file system. If you tried to read a FAT32 drive with a MacOS 8 system, you wouldn't be able to read it either. Or Windows95a with FAT32. Or WinXP with HPFS.

 

[SUOrangeman]

A few thoughts on partitioning

-SUO

 

[S0me1X]

How you partition you hard drive depends on what you want to achieve.

When I used a 40GB hard drive, my windows xp partition was 6 gigs, the 2nd partition contains all my media and games.