How to Partition a 40Gig Drive?

[Kelemvor]

Well, I just bought a40Gig drive for my PC and am wondering the ebst way to partition it up or if there's really no need.

I'm running Win 98.

My original thought was to have a 2gig or so C drive for the OS only and have the rest as the Data area. I also thought splitting up the other 38 gigs in two for having a download drive (drivers, and other install files) and then the actual Program Files drive.

Is it worth it to do that or is there really no benefit at all? I also have another drive that I think is around 15gigs or so that I can plop in there as well.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[SnoopyDog]

Go back 3-4 years and splitting the HD up into smaller partitions was a good idea.

But now with the new HD technology I dont see any reason to devide a 40 GB HD up into smaller partitions.

Just my two cents

SnoopyDog

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: SnoopyDog
Go back 3-4 years and splitting the HD up into smaller partitions was a good idea.

But now with the new HD technology I dont see any reason to devide a 40 GB HD up into smaller partitions.

Just my two cents

SnoopyDog

Exactly,

I can see may-b splitting it into 2, but don't go cuttin it all apart now

If ya got one of those new 200Giggers now thats a different story....

Good Luck

 

[teddymines]

Agreed, partitioning makes little sense unless you're setting up a dual boot.

 

[Kelemvor]

What about just for an organizational perspective. Do I hurt anything performnace wise if I do split it up at all to make finding and backing things up easier?

 

[teddymines]

I find that organization is easier at the folder level rather than the drive level because I can rename and move them easier. Also, with partitioning you run the risk of running out of space in one while you have lots of space in another. You can always use partition magic, or you can avoid the problem all together by not partitioning at all.

Backing up a folder is just as easy as the drive, so that point is moot.

 

[VTrider]

Yeah all this partitioning pros/cons is quite interesting. I use to be partition happy, now I just mainly use folders. I am getting some new drives though and probably going to make a separate partition just for the OS. This is popular because if you ever want to re-install or re-format your OS, you can do so quickly and not worry about your other data.

The problem with that (which I just realized) is that even if you install all your apps on a seperate partition - they are still tied in very much with your OS (registry, etc.). So you would have to re-install them also, which would just lend me to reformatting the other partition as well? Hmmm, it's a no win situation I guess?

I think i'll probably still keep a small 10gig partition just for the OS though - Guess i'm anal like that, seems like it would be cleaner?

-VTrider

 

[vetteguy]

Or you could just search this forum and look for the two-dozen other threads about this exact same topic. Seriously though, I don't think partitioning makes much sense anymore either. As far as having a separate partition for files, I'd feel safer with a separate physical drive, otherwise you're still screwed if something goes wrong.

 

[Dogsbody]

I don't see any advantage to having the OS on a seperate partion, for the reasons pointed out by Vtrider. I do keep my documents on another partition, though. There have been several times where I wanted to format my active partition, and having the documents on another partition saves me some time in restoring from backups.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Id set up one partition for OS and OS-tied programs, and another partition for documents / media. As already mentioned, this is useful when reformatting - just wipe the OS/Program partition out and reinstall - all your files will still be around. You would have the best feel for how much space your OS + Programs are going to take up.

 

[Legendary]

Originally posted by: MushroomStamper
Id set up one partition for OS and OS-tied programs, and another partition for documents / media. As already mentioned, this is useful when reformatting - just wipe the OS/Program partition out and reinstall - all your files will still be around. You would have the best feel for how much space your OS + Programs are going to take up.

If I were you, and had a 40 GB HD, I'd make it 10/30...10 for the OS and OS-tied apps (as mentioned above) and 30 for music and other things.

 

[LongCoolMother]

i have a 40GB drive and i split it into 2 parts. the only reason why i do this is, i keep all my downloaded data, and personal data (documents, mp3s etc.) on my secondary partition. my programs and my OS On the other. just so if my OS is damaged permanently, i could just reinstall an operating system over it and still have my movies, mp3s, download, hmwrk, etc.

 

[VTrider]

That makes sense, I also like that idea. I have a new 40gigger also for my 2nd system and this is exactly what i'm going to do w/it - 10/30.