how should i partition my 80 gig WD hd w/ 8mb cache?

COtto1984

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Jan 16, 2003
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just wondering how yall think i should do this? should i create 2 partitions or what. also what size should i make them? im going to be running win xp pro. should i create about a 5mb partition for windows, and 20 or so for programs, and the rest for data? thanks
 

Macro2

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May 20, 2000
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If you are running NTFS file system you can make one large partition if you want. Nothing wrong with that. If you want FAT 32, XP pro won't offer to let you format a >30 gig partition in FAT 32. You'll have to make 30 gig or less partitions with XP pros setup.
If you want larger than 30 gig partitions of FAT 32 then you can use a 98se boot disk and then fdisk.
 

Ipno

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Apr 30, 2001
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One 5GB NTFS paritition for system.

All the rest of it for data.

Thats how I run anyway. The advantage being of course that filling up your data drive to the brim doesn't give your operating system greef and such.
 

resinboy

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Feb 2, 2000
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an old argument here, but you can't see ntfs in DOS if you need to access any files- I always use FAT32 for this reason.
EDIT : also, i know everyone likes NTFS for the supposed security, but a frined of mine who has been an IT guru for some major corporations for many years says it ain't all that secure.
Resinboy
 

resinboy

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Feb 2, 2000
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ever have a user hose something so bad you can't even boot into safe mode, but a repair/ cut/ paste in DOS will do the trick?
 

Ipno

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Apr 30, 2001
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I hardly think a guy setting up a computer for himself is going to worry about ghost. Besides, I've never needed a fat32 partition for that either. Other than just the boot floppy but it writes an NTFS image to the disk anyway.
 

resinboy

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Feb 2, 2000
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didn't know that :)

I'm a GHOST believer: I mirror my 3 partitions every 2 weeks, and have never been stuck since I started using it.

(sorry to hyjack the thread :) )

 

Macro2

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May 20, 2000
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I've run into situations where I had to delete files in dos to get rid of them because of long file name tricks someone was doing. This was in FAT 32.
Can you do this in NTFS somehow?
 

Ipno

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Apr 30, 2001
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Absolutely. Aside from being able to use the recovery console for just about anything there are several third party utilities that let you boot from a floppy and access your NTFS partition.

The few benefits one may get from using FAT32 are outweighed heavily by the befefits you get from using NTFS.
 

mbuf

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Nov 11, 2001
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Originally posted by: Macro2
If you are running NTFS file system you can make one large partition if you want. Nothing wrong with that. If you want FAT 32, XP pro won't offer to let you format a >30 gig partition in FAT 32. You'll have to make 30 gig or less partitions with XP pros setup.
If you want larger than 30 gig partitions of FAT 32 then you can use a 98se boot disk and then fdisk.

Partitoning with DOS fdisk is a bad idea IMO, way too slow for large partitions, many hard drives come with utilities (Data Lifeguard for WD) that can quickly create and format FAT32/NTFS partitions upto 100% of capacity (limited by filesystem spec).

 

Macro2

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May 20, 2000
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RE:"Partitoning with DOS fdisk is a bad idea IMO, way too slow for large partitions, many hard drives come with utilities (Data Lifeguard for WD) that can quickly create and format FAT32/NTFS partitions upto 100% of capacity (limited by filesystem spec"

Agreed
 

SOSTrooper

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Dec 27, 2001
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I do 40/40. 40GB for WinXP and all the programs, and the other 40GB for data (mp3s, movies, porn...) That's what I did.
 

ShowdOWN

Golden Member
Sep 25, 2002
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whatever you do, do not partition it as one drive. you will regret it if you ever have to reinstall windows.
make 1 partition for windows, 1 for the programs, and the rest for whatever you desire. and in NTFS of course.

then grab a copy of ghost like everyone else recommends.