Should I partition my storage drives?

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

My setup:

Boot drive: Raptor 74GB ADFD (2 partitions, 1 for XP, 1 for Vista)
Storage: 2x 7200.10 320gb
More storage/backup: 7200.9 250gb in 3 partitions (1 emergency OS, 2x junk storage)

So basically I guess we usually partition to divide up OS from our data. My 7200.9 has always been in a 3 partition state (well it used to be 4 when I ran 64-bit XP also and then tried Vista out later so I had 2 OS partitions, 1 game/video encoding partition, 1 media partition)

I understand why it's good to partition if you have a single drive solution like my laptop or how I used to run my system, but now that I have a pure OS drive and even an emergency OS drive, is there any need to partition my 7200.10s? I'm thinking of just plopping them in as 320gb drives. I don't see how partitioning will make my data any safer because any failure will screw those drives up, and so backup strategies are the same.

 

[Tlkki]

Originally posted by: DLeRium
I don't see how partitioning will make my data any safer because any failure will screw those drives up, and so backup strategies are the same.

This is exatly as im thinking. I have only a 30GB partition for my OS. The rest are just one partition per physical drive. NTFS has made this practice effective.

 

[corkyg]

Partitioning will not make any thing safer. The only benefit I know of is reduced time to defrag and maintain a partition as opposed to the entire drive at once.

 

[pkme2]

I personally do not like partitioning myself too. Murphy's Law, If something can go wrong, it usually does.

I use a small drive first as my main. I, next clone it and set it aside. All my programs are on my main. I've done all my configurations and that's what I've cloned. My second & third drives are for storage.

I also use mobile racks for specific purposes. The cost of harddrives are so cheap and so backups are easy.

 

[Seekermeister]

I like partitions because I prefer to have specific partitions dedicated to a specific function...i.e. download archive, files, images, audio, etc. I simply do not want to have to search a huge area of mixed items for what I want. Besides, since I multiboot with Linux, I need FAT32 partitions for anything that I want to access with Linux...at least as far as writing.

 

[jelifah]

Originally posted by: Seekermeister
I like partitions because I prefer to have specific partitions dedicated to a specific function...i.e. download archive, files, images, audio, etc. I simply do not want to have to search a huge area of mixed items for what I want.

If you don't want to search a huge area of mixed items why couldn't you just make folders for each item, i.e. download archive, files, images, audio, etc.?

IMHO Partitions are pointless. Drive Space is so huge you should have an OS drive, and a second/third/fourth drive for data

 

[Old Hippie]

is there any need to partition my 7200.10s?

No.

 

[Seekermeister]

Originally posted by: jelifah

Originally posted by: Seekermeister
I like partitions because I prefer to have specific partitions dedicated to a specific function...i.e. download archive, files, images, audio, etc. I simply do not want to have to search a huge area of mixed items for what I want.

If you don't want to search a huge area of mixed items why couldn't you just make folders for each item, i.e. download archive, files, images, audio, etc.?

IMHO Partitions are pointless. Drive Space is so huge you should have an OS drive, and a second/third/fourth drive for data

I suppose that folders would serve the purpose of organization, but another reason for partitions is that if a drive goes bad, it may not effect the entire drive, thus having partitions may make access to some of the data easier. This is only speculation, but I'm thinking back to a drive that I had a few years ago which went astray. In any case, partitions are easy to erect and easy to move, so I can't see any reason not to have them.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

There is no practicality in regards to hardware failure. However, I like to reformat relatively regularly, so having all of my data seperate from the OS is very useful. I can just slick C:, reinstall the OS and programs, and I don't have to worry about archiving and restoring data every time.

I partition my data backups just for organizational purposes... RAID 5 array of 4 400gb disks... It works for me.

 

[Old Hippie]

but another reason for partitions is that if a drive goes bad, it may not effect the entire drive, thus having partitions may make access to some of the data easier.

Your experience was wayyy different than mine. I have never had a drive with a single bad partition. You're gonna need a recovery program either way.

 

[Old Hippie]

RAID 5 array of 4 400gb disks...

Now, that's what I call recovery. :thumbsup: