- Sep 16, 2007
- 6
- 0
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Hi, great site here thought Id avail myself of some of your knowledge if thats ok 
I want to install XP and the following on a single 320gb HDD, the 2nd 500gb HDD will be for occasional backups and not live in the case.
They are both same spec but 320gb has 2 platters, the 500gb has 3. I heard bigger HDDs are a bit quicker due to data being nearer the edge for seeks but as the platters are the same size for both HDDs Im not sure this matters?
Id really like to use the 320gb as its quieter and cooler, assuming performance is pretty much the same as 500gb.
I definitely want a separate data partition for music and movies but (heres where Im unsure) Id ideally like a separate games partition so I can reinstall windows by itself if needed.
However will this noticeably affect game load times by not being on the first partition?
Also will it increase fragmentation by having 2 smaller partitions instead of a bigger C:? If I used the 500gb I could of course have bigger partitions if that improves performance and fragmentation.
So does fragmentation increase the less free space you have , or only once you reach the 15% threshold?
Also I have a ton of ISOs, .daa's etc (backups actually, nothing dodgy) and keep them on the HDD permanently but are they just as liable to fragment as if the mounted data was in a normal folder?
The 320gb would ideally look like:
C: XPpro + small apps 40 gb?
D: Games 80gb 100 gb?
E: Spare (maybe linux, vista or video editing) 20 gb?
F: MP3, movies, ISOs 120gb+ 160 gb?
I don't really do much video editing so thats not a biggie, however I have never used HDD imaging software like Ghost etc, and the 500gb would allow me to ghost the 40gb OS partition to the back of the drive.
Otherwise I would just ghost to the backup drive which is probably a better idea anyway.
If it was the 500gb it would look something like
C: XP + apps 40 gb
D: Games - 80gb+ 180 gb
E: Video editing and/or test Vista, Linux etc 80 gb
F: MP3, movies, ISOs - 120gb+ 200 gb
Sorry to be so verbose but basically wondering if there is a noticeable performance difference between the 2 configurations above and if its faster and more reliable (less fragmentation) to have bigger partitions and/or Games on C: with OS.
I want to install XP and the following on a single 320gb HDD, the 2nd 500gb HDD will be for occasional backups and not live in the case.
They are both same spec but 320gb has 2 platters, the 500gb has 3. I heard bigger HDDs are a bit quicker due to data being nearer the edge for seeks but as the platters are the same size for both HDDs Im not sure this matters?
Id really like to use the 320gb as its quieter and cooler, assuming performance is pretty much the same as 500gb.
I definitely want a separate data partition for music and movies but (heres where Im unsure) Id ideally like a separate games partition so I can reinstall windows by itself if needed.
However will this noticeably affect game load times by not being on the first partition?
Also will it increase fragmentation by having 2 smaller partitions instead of a bigger C:? If I used the 500gb I could of course have bigger partitions if that improves performance and fragmentation.
So does fragmentation increase the less free space you have , or only once you reach the 15% threshold?
Also I have a ton of ISOs, .daa's etc (backups actually, nothing dodgy) and keep them on the HDD permanently but are they just as liable to fragment as if the mounted data was in a normal folder?
The 320gb would ideally look like:
C: XPpro + small apps 40 gb?
D: Games 80gb 100 gb?
E: Spare (maybe linux, vista or video editing) 20 gb?
F: MP3, movies, ISOs 120gb+ 160 gb?
I don't really do much video editing so thats not a biggie, however I have never used HDD imaging software like Ghost etc, and the 500gb would allow me to ghost the 40gb OS partition to the back of the drive.
Otherwise I would just ghost to the backup drive which is probably a better idea anyway.
If it was the 500gb it would look something like
C: XP + apps 40 gb
D: Games - 80gb+ 180 gb
E: Video editing and/or test Vista, Linux etc 80 gb
F: MP3, movies, ISOs - 120gb+ 200 gb
Sorry to be so verbose but basically wondering if there is a noticeable performance difference between the 2 configurations above and if its faster and more reliable (less fragmentation) to have bigger partitions and/or Games on C: with OS.