Does partitioning a HD slow it down? Just curious....

[codeyf]

Does it affect performance in anyway?

 

[Zap Brannigan]

If your OS is XP it sure does becuase it (WinXP) book ends the drive.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: Zap Brannigan
If your OS is XP it sure does becuase it (WinXP) book ends the drive.

Got a link that verifies this? I don't believe that.

Using multiple partitions instead of one huge one might slow the drive down a very small amount, but nothing you'd notice. I'd much rather have multiple partitions on my drive and not have to backup anything when I format, than have that 0.1% of performance loss back.

 

[Zap Brannigan]

I don't have a link but trust me, it's true. I remember reading it multiple times in multiple places. If you defrag your drive with diskeeper you can even see that it works from the outside in.

Windows runs at it's fastest on a single partition. A couple years ago I made a partition on my old computer that was running Win98 to dual boot with Win2K on the other sector. It ran fine but was not an optimal configuration.

 

[akira34]

I know it doesn't improve performance in the least bit. I'm not certain if it actually harms it or not. Since there's 0 gain, why bother?? You're much better off getting a second drive if you want to keep things split.

BTW, remember, if your drive fails, it doesn't matter how many partitions you have, it's still dead and you're [possibly] boned.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: akira34
I know it doesn't improve performance in the least bit. I'm not certain if it actually harms it or not. Since there's 0 gain, why bother?? You're much better off getting a second drive if you want to keep things split.

BTW, remember, if your drive fails, it doesn't matter how many partitions you have, it's still dead and you're [possibly] boned.

Why bother? That's easy. When I feel the need to reformat, I don't have to worry about backing up saved games, 20gb of MP3s, 5gb of work related files, My Documents, 500mb of digital pictures, 5gb of game files/patches, etc., because they are all on drives D: and E:.

Your're exactly right about the drive failing, though. That's what my secondary and external drives are for.

 

[akira34]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel

Originally posted by: akira34
I know it doesn't improve performance in the least bit. I'm not certain if it actually harms it or not. Since there's 0 gain, why bother?? You're much better off getting a second drive if you want to keep things split.

BTW, remember, if your drive fails, it doesn't matter how many partitions you have, it's still dead and you're [possibly] boned.

Why bother? That's easy. When I feel the need to reformat, I don't have to worry about backing up saved games, 20gb of MP3s, 5gb of work related files, My Documents, 500mb of digital pictures, 5gb of game files/patches, etc., because they are all on drives D: and E:.

Your're exactly right about the drive failing, though. That's what my secondary and external drives are for.

I keep anything that I can't live without either on the second array, dvd's or an external drive. Partitioning is too much of a pain in the balls for me to go through. Plus, if you decide you need more space for the C drive, you have to redo everything over again. Having on partition, you don't run into those headaches...

One of the people who used to work with my mother partitioned up her work computer's hard drive (using that poc partition magic). Because of that, her C drive ran out of space, and we couldn't remove enough files to make it work again (installed software needed to be kept there). She ended up having to get a new hard drive and we ended up cloning her old drive to the new one. Even then, because PM is such a bag of sheit, it made the new drive have partitions too. At least those are larger now, so she's functional at least.

That's a PERFECT example of how partitioning up a drive can royally screw you up.

 

[BlueWeasel]

You've definately got some good points there. But for hardware enthusiasts like many ATer's, the amount of space dedicated to partitions is much more than needed.

I've got 2-120gb HDs in my system and the first one is partitioned like so:

C Drive - 15gb (OS and applications)
D Drive - 25gb (games only)
E Drive - 80gb (data...MP3, documents, pictures, downloads, etc.)

Just because you don't see a need for it makes it useless. Partitioning for me just is a easy way to keep different kinds of storage separated and easy for backups. Sure, you've got the data backed up to other media (as do I), but you've still got to copy it back over in the case of a reformat and reinstall of the OS.

If you know exactly where the files are being stored, then your mother's friend example doesn't hold water. She obviously didn't anticipate future data storage when she partitioned the drive and probably used extremely small partition sizes.

 

[codeyf]

Hmmm. Well, my reasoning was covered. All my apps and OS are are on C:. Then it's just files on D:. Mp3's, pics, documents, website files, game update files/patches...and if I had any pr0n, I'd keep it there too....

 

[NumbaJuan]

Here is some good reading on a partitioned drive. Multiple partitions might make for a more responsive system.

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: NumbaJuan
Here is some good reading on a partitioned drive. Multiple partitions might make for a more responsive system.

I was going to link to that, but you beat me to it.

Anyway, that article should be required reading. Partitioning should DEFINITELY be done if you want a better responding system. My WD 120 is currently cut up like so:

1x1GB - Page File
1x9GB - OS and Programs (excluding games)
4x20GB - Games 1, 2, 3, 4
1x22GB - Data storage

The main reason I do it is to improve the responsiveness of the page file and to reduce drive wear. Remember, with a partitioned drive, the drive heads move less often if you're only reading off one part of the drive (OS/Programs, for example, if I'm web surfing...), and you can defrag a given partition instead of the whole drive if another partition has not been used much and therefore not fragmented much.

Plus, when formatting and reinstalling windows about once yearly, I don't have to make gigabyte after gigabyte of backups. While I do backup sensitive data and my large music collection on an external hard drive, when reinstalling windows, I simply format the OS/Programs partition and reinstall there - saving me the touble of reinstalling/configuring/patching games, etc.

 

[MaverickBP]

Originally posted by: Insomniak

Originally posted by: NumbaJuan
Here is some good reading on a partitioned drive. Multiple partitions might make for a more responsive system.

I was going to link to that, but you beat me to it.

Anyway, that article should be required reading. Partitioning should DEFINITELY be done if you want a better responding system. My WD 120 is currently cut up like so:

1x1GB - Page File
1x9GB - OS and Programs (excluding games)
4x20GB - Games 1, 2, 3, 4
1x22GB - Data storage


nice setup

 

[NumbersGuy]

Originally posted by: NumbaJuan
Here is some good reading on a partitioned drive. Multiple partitions might make for a more responsive system.

Good stuff.

He talks also about a "smaller" fast(er) drive forr the OS, page file and such

Any suggestions? not ther old 20G 200rpm!, but 7200 40GBs are readily available; 2 or 8 cache?

?

 

[Zap Brannigan]

That author relies far too much on his page file. His system is in need of a massive upgrade.

If he enjoys having a seperate partition for every application on his computer that is fine but to pawn off that "faster" page file access equates to a faster system than he is clearly off his proverbial rocker.