Recommended Partition size for boot drive

[ChalPhut]

I currently have an unpartitioned 500GB boot drive loaded with all my stuff and would like to partition it into two.

• What size would you recommend for the partitions?

• What software would you recommend I use to partition it?

Thanks.

 

[Elixer]

Use the one that comes with windows.
I would split it up with the OS as having 20-30GB.
Then the rest for another partition.

Then you could install all programs to the 2nd partition, and then backup the OS partition quite easily.

 

[dunkster]

The larger your C partiton is, the farther your HD read/write heads have to travel to reach the first track of the D partition. Shorter head-seek travel should produce slightly faster seek times - but current HDs are so fast you may not even notice the difference.

A safe minimum size would be twice the size of the 'used' portion of the partition. For example, if your OS uses 7GB actual space, 15GB should be a safe minimum.

I use Paragon HD Manager 2009, a suite combining full partition-management functions with full image backup/restore functions.

Hope this helps!

 

[ChalPhut]

Thanks all.

 

[Dorkenstein]

Sorry to butt in, I was wondering what a good partition size is for Vista 64?

 

[Elixer]

For Vista 64, I would give it another 5 GB.
The main point of having a smaller OS partition (where it *just* has the OS installed) is, easy to backup, and easy to reinstall the OS via a wipe of the partition.

 

[kmmatney]

For me, I usually set aside at least 40 GB for the OS drive, and install the OS and all non-gaming applications on that drive. With Office and several programming environments, you can fill quite a bit of space on the OS partition. I think it;'s best to install games on another paritition, but all other apps on the same partition of the hard drive, so you can restore the OS and Apps all at once.

 

[Tweakin]

Running a small "boot" partition is great, performance may go up depending on which drive you have compared to the newer drives. I usually look at my current needs, double that and add in 25%. Remember, a drive over 50% will frag much more often.

I like to do the following:
c: System Drive - OS and applicable updates. 125 GB
d: Data Drive - This is on a spereate SATA channel to lower the saturation of the SATA0. I have found some easy speed as the os looks at the other SATA Channel...seems as though the buffers don't saturate.
M: Music Partition - Keep all my iTumes in here. No MP3 or WMA files. For this I do load iTunes on the primary partition to keep the channels seperated. 250GB.
P: Pictures. This is more of an archieve. remaining 3rd partition on the second drive.
S: This is the remainder of the primary drive for storage purposes.

Hope this helps.