SSD & HDD Partitioning - dual-boot, performance, backup considerations

[chansuresh]

I am a first-time pc builder (core i7 / Windows 7/ Ubuntu) seeking advice on the optimal setup and partitioning of a 120gb SSD and 1.5TB HDD for best performance, backup, recovery, organization.

I play no games, but will do HDV video editing and Photoshop editing, music ripping etc. plus general home office use shared between me, wife. I do regular imaging (norton ghost) of OS/Apps and data files. I understand that SSD performance is affected by free space 20%, sector alignment (W7 clean install does this automatically) and TRIM, but the partitions are logical and have no effect on performance. Hence the setup below is simply optimized for dual-boot, ease of organization and backup. I found a good article on dual-boot to share files between Ubuntu/W7, but unfortunately it was not written for SSD/HDD combo. http://lifehacker.com/5403100/dual+boot-windows-7-and-ubuntu-in-perfect-harmony

I would appreciate any feedback with logic/reasons on my proposed setup.

SSD OCZ Agility 120gb - 3 partitions
- 40gb for Windows7 & Core Windows Applications
- 15gb for Ubuntu
- 35gb for Storage / Data (Some frequently used & critical data files + Working files for video/photo editing) Should I put photo shop scratch disk here too?
- 30gb unformatted free space (used for SSD performance optimization)

HDD1 1.5TB WD - from outer disk (faster) to inner disk (slower) arrangement
- 1200gb Storage / Media (Finished work video, photo, audio, media files)
- 300gb Storage / Data (normal files, Other programs)

HDD2 - 500gb or 1TB Backup: OS/App backup (weekly); SSD data file backups (daily); HDD data/media file backup (biweekly) - considering making this internal drive since it will be faster although could also do a firewire/usb2 external drive

Separately any advice on SSD alignment for Ubuntu and Data partitions is also appreciated (since they will not be auto aligned by the W7 installer). Also I believe TRIM is only available through W7, so not sure how the Ubuntu install space is affected by this.

Thanks for your help

 

[chansuresh]

Please help with at least these 3 questions on the SSD before I start my build:
1. Should I separate the Windows 7 OS and Applications in 2 partitions or leave as one?
2. Do I need a separate partition for pagefile / scratch disk (I have 6gb RAM) on the SSD or is this better in the HDD?
3. Is leaving unformatted space of 25% a good idea or a waste of space?

Thanks

 

[fire400]

from 2009? 8 months and no answer.

 

[FishAk]

I'm too late for the OP, but if someone else stumbles here...


1- A separate partition for OS and Apps is a very bad idea floating around the internet. Not knowing any better I took the advice and it was a bad mistake. Keeping both together allows you to image the OS partition at different intervals, and then restore to a good state when something goes wrong- retaining some or all your program and OS setting, depending on how recent the snapshot was that doesn't include the original problem.


2- Without an SSD, keeping the pagefile on it's own partition prevents fragmentation of the OS partition. But an SSD won't fragment, so it doesn't need it's own partition like on a HDD. However, the size of the pagefile should be constrained to the amount actually used, or it will waste SSD space. The SSD is the best place for any paging or cacheing (is that a word) due to it's speed.


3- Ya, for that older Agility, you should leave around 25% unallocated. But for the newer Agility 2, there is already a bunch of space the controller won't let you use, so you're free to use all you can see.