Getting the WD 120gig - How should I partition it?

StevenYoo

Diamond Member
Jul 4, 2001
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Hi all,
I got the WD 120 gig in the Hot Deals forum for $200. How should I split my partitions?

Here's what I think:
3 gigs for the OS
6 gigs for applications
111 gigs for games, mp3's and movies

How should I split the games/mp3's/movies?

How many partitions do you guys think I should have and how big should they be?

I will be running XP Pro - FAT32
 

aceO07

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2000
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Everybody is going to give you a different answer for this.. Some will say to have 1 partition, others will say several partitions.

IMHO, your current partition is fine, that's how I have it. My 30gig drive has anime and mp3. They're just in different folders instead of partitions.
 

Rabmash

Junior Member
Jul 6, 2001
13
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0
Hi there!

I have my drives as follows ( 2 x Maxtor D740X 60GB in RAID 0).

WinME - 30Gig - I use this for all gaming, Xp reliability is pants in games atm. FAT32
WinXP - 10Gig - Doesn't need too much. NTFS
Data - 36Gig - My personal data, favourite tunes, pictures etc etc FAT32
CD Images - 36Gig - Self Explainatory, storing temp cd image files and Mp3 albums to be burnt to CDR. FAT32

In short have a partition for the OS or two for two OS etc. Also have at least one data partition which you store all your personal files on. In WinXP this partition can then be encrypted if required without affecting anything in the OS partitions. If you have a major crash or something and need to reformat, you haven't lost any data files as they are on a seperate partition.
 

MrCoyote

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,001
5
81
Hey Guybrush,

When is Monkey Island 5 going to be released? :)

If you're installing WinXP, it needs at least 1.75GB space minimum. After install you can delete some things. But here is how I have my 60GB drive partitioned. There is also a limit of 4 partitions per drive.

C: PC DOS (FAT16) - 1.0GB
D: WinXP (NTFS) - 4.0GB
E: programs (NTFS) - 55GB
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126


<< How many partitions do you guys think I should have and how big should they be? >>


One reason to split up the 111 GB is the cluster size -- some games have hundreds of little files for sounds, pics, etc. and with 1 partition the per-file wasted space is doubled.

So I'd probably create a game parition under 32 GB and a MP3/movie partition using the rest.

I might also make the OS partition just a little larger (4 GB) to have plenty of room for apps from companies like Microsoft that insist on putting some of their files on C: even when you install to a different drive. also remember you'll need a big chunk of space for the swap file.



<< There is also a limit of 4 partitions per drive. >>

primary partitions yes, but you can create 3 primary plus another 20 logical drives in an extended partition if you want to. The 4-limit is only significant for how many separate OS partitions you can create if you're multi-booting different OSs
 

DocDon

Senior member
Nov 16, 1999
236
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aceO07 is right, everyone has their own opinion and they are alway right. That said what ever you think will take of your needs is fine; but consider making the C drive larger than 3 gigs -- Win XP is a hog and a lot of programs will load to C even if you don't want them there -- Also, what I try to do is get things that fragment easily on one partition -- that way won't have to bother defraging other partitions so often (the idea of keep OS and application on separate partitions is a step in the right direction).
 

Lalakai

Golden Member
Nov 30, 1999
1,634
0
76
Sounds like a common theme: split it up. Would also go with the recommendation for a larger "C". Would also include a partition for data storage (keep all word and work files here); this makes dedicated backups easier. Try and keep your C as clean as possible (no data except programs), this really helps if you have to reinstall the OS or wipe the C clean and start over (trust me, I've had to do this enough times to appreciate only have to reload the os versus the os and all saved files).
 

CSFM

Senior member
Oct 16, 2001
518
0
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Personally I don't like to partition drives... but that is my opinion. I have a file server (30 Gig) at home that stores all my music and I keep all my photo's and movies on my Work stations. The idea of splitting up drives doesn't intrest me until I get something over 100GB, such as your case... then I will cross that bridge when I come to it.