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Partioning ???

RedTail

RedTail

Member
Greetings,
I am getting a 750 gig sata hdd tommorow. How would you partition? I was thinking about one partition for the OS and the rest for programs. Would you partion it 3 times? Whether it be 2 x's or 3x's ... Keeping the OS partition in mind....How much space would you allocate for all three or just two?
Also, Im a noob.....would you do this thru the XP install?
Thanks,
RedTail
 
50 gigs for the OS (but you'll have to be carefull, as most programs will try to install to the C:\Programs folder. You have to choose custom install from the install menues and specify your programs directory.
Just a hint...put all your programs into a "programs" folder on the other partition. Then you only have to change a single letter (the drive letter) when you do installs. Don't use something like "My Programs" for your program install folder because you'll have to use the drop down folder choice or type the path you want to use everytine you install something. Just makes life a little easier!

When you do the Windows install, you have to specify the size of the install partition, then, after the install, use Disk Manager (or any other partitioning program) to format the remaining unalocated space. You could use Fdisk to set up your partitions before the Windows install though.

Of course you could also make a third 'data" partition too and even move "My Documents" there. That would make backups a lot easier.

And don't be to concerned about the size and number of partitions. You can always change that later when you see how things are working out.
 
There's nothing sadder than having a 750 GB hard drive that's out of space because of a too-small System partition. I see this problem all the time on Servers.

First, I wouldn't initially do more than two partitions. You can always break up the second partition if you really want to.

Second, make that System partition "plenty big". If you are going to have free space on your drive, have it on your System partition. You can always save data on the System partition, if necessary, so the space isn't wasted. I suggest 100 GB.
 
I've grown to hate partitioning a drive for my system drive.

The first time (during the PIII days) I figured well 25GB ought to be plenty big for a system drive.. Then once the software started rolling in, I got stuck.
New hard drive, repartition it, 40GB ought to be enough this time!
...not really. Same issue, ran out of space.

New PC time - got myself a Raptor 74GB. Said screw it, I'm not partitioning anymore, I'll use the whole 74GB for the system drive.
Worked well for about 2 years... then program and game file sizes started jumping up massively. Remember when software was ~50MB and Games were 200-600MB? Nope, not anymore - even games from a few years ago started using 1.2GB, 2GB, 4GB, 6GB, 8GB, 10GB (!!) EACH.

Now I've got a Raptor 150 sitting as the lone system drive, and I've set my page file on the old Raptor 74GB to free up another few GB on it - just sitting now waiting for the next "**** I'm out of space" moment.

Moral of the story: If you're going to partition, seriously plan out how much space you're going to need. If you're just going to install a few software applications on it for a workstation, a few GB is fine. If you're going to be gaming on this machine, unless you enjoy playing only 1-2 games at a time and/or uninstalling games constantly to make room for new ones, make it as large as you can possibly afford it to be. Being that they're still physically on the same drive, I don't believe there are many benefits and in fact, I believe there are several shortcomings instead.
 
The whole idea is to put only Windows and maybe drivers on the "system" partition. Put programs and everything else on the rest.
You con't "have to" install programs to the default location. How does the programmer know where you want them? C:\Program Files is just easier for the author.........
 
I've always had about 17gb for C and never used it all or even come close. All installs go to D except windows or a/v
 
Sorry for the off topic, but are there any benefits to putting programs on a second partition? I currently have my 250GB split into 3 partitions. Each partition is 78GB big, with the exception of the 3rd partition being 76GB big.

My OS, programs, games, music, and drivers are stored in C drive. D drive stores my movies, anime, etc. E drive stores my Ghost image and program installations.

I've never run out of space on my hard drive though.

BTW, I just saw your link myocardia and it seems to explain the question I had in my post. However, is the performance increase noticeable?
 
Originally posted by: geokilla
Sorry for the off topic, but are there any benefits to putting programs on a second partition?
Click to expand...
I don't think so. Personally, I NEVER sub-partition hard drives anymore.

The only time it would be an advantage would be if you make ongoing full backups of your System partition AND if you have a disaster on that single partition and if the entire drive didn't go south. In that case, it'll be quicker to restore only the OS partition. Bear in mind that any programs installed after the last backup will have to be re-installed.

But if the System gets "slowly corrupted", or if you don't keep System backups at all, or if the hard drive shows signs of failure, then there's no advantage. You'll have to re-install ALL of your programs to get your PC back working anyway. When you do a fresh install of Windows, you lost all your program references in the Registry, so you'll have to re-install both the OS and the programs.

Putting DATA on a second partition could speed up the restoration process, since you only have to re-install the OS and programs and don't need to restore the data. But, again, this is only an advantage if the entire drive hasn't become corrupted. Most of the time, a problem with the drive requires its replacement, losing any advantage of maintaining multiple partitions.
 
With HDs so cheap, partitioning is just a hassle. Like RebateMonger said, if the HD goes south all is lost anyway.
About the only time I do it is to create a smaller partion on the outer edge of the platters for my OS and apps.
 
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