IDE partitions: what did I do wrong the first time? (I'm asking you...I've no idea!)

[MichaelD]

Again, I try to cover everything BEFORE it blows up in my face. I am going to try an IDE RAID 0 array with 64k stripes. Based on the size of the two drives, I'll wind up with an 80 gig (40+40) virtual drive. Damn. I remember 500mb Hard Drives. Sadness.

The first time I tried to partition, I did follow the advice I got here. Small partition just for OS, rest for storage, but it got screwed up with my games. Currently, I load all my games into
C:/games but for some reason, with the C/D partition scheme, part of my game loaded into d:/games and part of the game loaded into C:/program files. I have no idea why this happened. I'm not a programmer, but I'm not a crack-pipe-toting-hyperactive chimp either. LOL! That's funny! Anyway, you get my drift. Was this a case of PEBKAC (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair) Tell me if I did something wrong, please. I want to get this RAID array correct from the get-go, this way I can determine if it's for me or not. Thank you very much.

 

[MCS]

Which games? Some do use Program Files whether you point them to another partition or not, EA especially. As long as the bulk of the game is on your game partition?

 

[MichaelD]

Hey MCS, good morning. Back then, I only tried Half Life, UT & DeusEX. None of them worked. I had made a 5Gig partition (C for the OS (Win98SE) and a 38gig partition (D for everything else.

The Program Files Directory stays with the OS, on the C: drive. I made a /Games directory on the D: drive and installed all the games to it. I put a shortcut to the .exe file on my desktop. When I'd click it, I'd get an error message about corrupted file, nonexistent directory, all kinds of bad stuff. I never did mess w/it after that. I got pissed and wiped the drive and started over. It takes longer to install all my benchmarking and monitoring programs, patches, filters and all that junk than it does to install the OS! Argh.

Any light you could shed would be greatly appreciated. I'll most probably be doing the RAID thing Friday or Saturday of this week, so I've got a few days. Either here, for all to see, or via PM. Thanks buddy. Have a good day.

 

[Dug]

Just curious, why do you have a small partition for the o/s? The only way that the you will notice any difference at all in speed, is if you have the o/s on a seperate drive all together, not a seperate partition, and that's only noticable if you are using scsi drives.

If you are installing to the C drive, there is no way a game should be crossing over. I mean what would the program do if your D was a cdrom? I would check all of your programs first to isolate the problem at the software level and not the hardware.

If it is the software, then I would suspect it's only 1 or 2 programs. In that case you could change your D drive to have D:/games1 instead of D:/games. That way there wouldn't be any connection with naming on the C: drive


I just read your updated post? I'm really confused now. Why are you using a 5g partition for the o/s and 38g for the rest? What are you doing with the other 37g? 5+38+37=80

In my experience, if you are trying to set the size to 64k you should seriously consider going down to 32k, unless you are doing photo or video work. Second recommendation is to run your o/s and apps on the same partition, and make the second partition for backup only.
So for example your c: drive would be 40g and your d: would be 40g.

 

[MichaelD]

Hi Dug. I made a small partition for the OS because that's what was recommended to me. As a rule, I never partition anything (that's what folders are for) I also dont' dual/triple boot.

But, I figured I'd give it a try. I'm a little confused by your reply...bear w/me please.

Are you saying that I should've installed the games on the c: drive, so that Windows knew where to look for it? I really am confused. Can U tell I don't partition much?

 

[bigbootydaddy]

<< Just curious, why do you have a small partition for the o/s? The only way that the you will notice any difference at all in speed, is if you have the o/s on a seperate drive all together, not a seperate partition, and that's only noticable if you are using scsi drives. >>


?? What he is doing is VERY good, when and if he has to format to fresh install drivers, etc, he only deletes the partition, not the entire HD.

oh big whoop he loses like 100 benchmark points or 3 fps...its worth not going thru the hassel later, especially if you lose mp3s, movies, pr0n, etc.

 

[Dug]

<< Are you saying that I should've installed the games on the c: drive, so that Windows knew where to look for it? >>


No, I'm just saying you probably don't want a &quot;c:/games&quot; and a &quot;d:/games&quot;. Technically there should be no problem doing that, but technically none of us should have any problems with computers at all. So take it as a recommendation only.

And don't try to isolate your o/s into a small partition. It just doesn't do you any good. Like I said earlier, you would need the o/s on a seperate scsi drive to make that set up effective.

 

[MichaelD]

No, no. I never had a c/games. I partitioned into two drives, C and D. I only had the OS on the C drive. I installed all the games into a directory d:/games. When I tried to run them, they wouldn't run. Appreciate the help.

 

[Dug]

<< ?? What he is doing is VERY good, when and if he has to format to fresh install drivers, etc, he only deletes the partition, not the entire HD. >>



If you have to format, you will have to reinstall your programs anyway, so why would you make a small partition for the o/s?
All I'm saying is that there is no need to make a small partition. He should create a partition for backup as big as he will need, and leave the rest for the o/s and the apps. Plus making a small partition on that size hard drive will create a different cluster size than the rest of the drive when you format.

 

[Dug]

<< Currently, I load all my games into C:/games >>

Sorry, that statement in your first post got me confused.

 

[bigbootydaddy]

<< If you have to format, you will have to reinstall your programs anyway, so why would you make a small partition for the o/s?
All I'm saying is that there is no need to make a small partition. He should create a partition for backup as big as he will need, and leave the rest for the o/s and the apps. Plus making a small partition on that size hard drive will create a different cluster size than the rest of the drive when you format. >>


that is NOT 100% true, yes you do have to reinstall appz and games, BUT, you do keep all your setups, (ex: in Q3, you keep your profiles) and if there are MP3's and movies, well obviosly they WONT get deleted if they are on a seperate partition.

i recommend a good 8 gigs for the system, but yes, it would be more effective performance-wise on a SCSI, but as for ease a paritition for the OS is something to think about.

like i said, with todays HDD, the cluster size effect will barely be noticed.

 

[bigbootydaddy]

hey michael, i see you are mixing CAS2 with CAS3 ram, has that gone well for you cuz im about to go the same route.

 

[MCS]

Hmmmm. I am still a little lost about what you mean, but here is my drive layout if it helps you:

C: Windows 98SE
D: Windows 2000
E: Games
F: Files
G: Music

I have another drive too but thats mainly used for backup purposes.

When I install a game I change its install path to E:\. (eg E:\Quake3).

The game installs. It puts itself in the Start Menu and on the desktop, as normal. That's it. All it's reg entries point to E:\ also.

Just in case I added to the confusion, what I said before about some games using the Program Files folder on C: still I was referring to a handful of games, mainly EA who install &quot;generic&quot; on-line utils, connection clients etc on C:.

I am not sure why you are having trouble there buddy. I'll help if I can...

 

[MCS]

Oh as a side note about reinstalling Windows meaning you have to reinstall your games - rubbish.

I have reinstalled Windows many times and 99% of my games still run without a reinstall because they re-create their reg entries.

 

[bigbootydaddy]

Yeah a registry problem is what i had in mind..

but no idea how or what could have cost that

my setup:

c: win2k @ 10k rpm scsi (9.1 gb)
d: apps &amp; games (40gig)
e: media (40gig)

3 different HDs, but i used to do: (before i added scsi)

c: win2k (on 40 gig hard drive,8 gb partition)
d: apps &amp; games (on same 40 gig hd as above, 32 gb partition)
e: media (all alone on my other 40 gig hd)

 

[MichaelD]

MCS &amp; BigBootyDaddy,

Thanks guys; telling me how you've set your stuff up helps me out a lot. It really helps when I have an example to go by. Cool. When I do this RAID array, I think I may keep the cloned drive in there (slave on the same channel that my CD Rom is on, probably) this way I can image straight to it. I won't have to worry about much. That drive is only 20Gig though. I guess I can always compress the image if need be. If I ever figure out how to work Norton Ghost. I have another thread out there on that. I'm just a posting fool. A knowledge sponge, if you will. OK, I'm a sad sack and need your help desparately!

BBD,
The mixing CAS 2/3 has gone very, very well. The first stick I had in my KT7R was a 256mb stick of Infineon 7.5ns. It's a brand called &quot;Atlas&quot; sold thru PCBoost.com. It's actually pretty well put together; 6-layer pcb, blah, blah. I've not only run it at CAS2 from the beginning, but w/all the 4-way interleaving AND overclocked to 140MHz. Not a big OC, but look what I'm getting from a CAS3 stick! I got really lucky with it.


The second stick I got was a 256mb stick of CAS2 Crucial. The good stuff! I've got the Crucial in DIMM 0 and the Infineon in DIMM 1. Running it all at CAS2, full 4-way, memory timing set to &quot;FAST&quot;, at 140MHz. Stable as a rock. My SANDRA memory benchies are pretty decent. The bottom row of the results (I forget what it's called...it's always a higher number than the top row.) wavers between 595-603. Pretty decent from what I've seen.

I know that I got luck w/that CAS3 stick. It won't OC much past 140, but that's OK by me.

 

[MichaelD]

Got another question for you gusy. Things like Winzip (who can live w/o it?), SANDRA, 3DMark, HDTach, WCPUID, CTSPD, where do you put those? With the OS or in a separate partition?

 

[bigbootydaddy]

my rule of thumb was if it starts at startup (AIM,ICQ,various software to run hardware etc) or runs with the system at all times (norton stuff, office) put it with the c partition, otherwise, diablo2, photoshop, winzip, winrar, basically anything i have to eventually close goes on the other partition.

edit: examples added

 

[MCS]

With the OS, on C: (or D: if its Win2K). The original files for all these apps go on F: (see above) and are also backed up on my Slave HD, and also onto my second PC (I like to play it safe!).

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks. You guys are great. I'll be PMing you when I screw all this up, this weekend!

 

[MichaelD]

Hmm. OK. Now, how do you guys feel about partitioning a RAID 0 array? Or should I just have one big*ss 80gig partition? I know I'm probably getting in over my head, but hey, we've all gotta learn sometime, right? This is the sole reason I'm making a copy of my current HD; so if I mess this up big-time, I can just stick the other HD in there, surf, research, whatever until I get it right. Whew.

 

[bigbootydaddy]

80 gig raid 0??

man, i would leave it as a 80 giger just for the show off factor (3 roommates who drool at my comp)

 

[MichaelD]

Yeah, I've got big plans. I want to put most of my CD collection on there. I have more than 200 CDs. I know I won't fit them all, but, if I could get all my favorites (that's about 150 CDs!) I'd be happy.

I like making &quot;greatest hits&quot; or &quot;compilation to fit the mood&quot; CD's. It's so much easier ripping them from the HD to the burner, than having to mess with finding the CD, loading the CD, picking the songs...you know how it goes. Click and drag, baby!

I know that for surfing and small spreadsheets, the raid won't make a diff, but for moving around large files it will. I'm looking forward to playing w/it...wait, that didn't sound right! You get the idea....

 

[MCS]

I take it you are referring to MP3s! 200 x 74MB = 14,800MB

 

[MichaelD]

Nope. Not MP3's. CD's, copied directly to the HD. I use WMP 7.1 for my audio/video stuff and Easy CD Creator for burning. No coasters yet.