Whats the best partition size for WinXP?

[daywalker]

Im buying a new 120GB hard drive this week as my old 10GB one not only is insufficient but is also about ready to bite the dust. Im thinking on separating the new hard drive in two partitions: One for the operating system (WinXP) and the other for everything else.

My question is, how big should the WinXP partition be? A friend of mine told me that 5GB are enough but im thinking about 10GB. What do you think is best?

Thanks in advance.

 

[resinboy]

I have a crapload of proggies loaded: I originally went with 5 gig and regretted it. Definitely 10 gig!

 

[RVN]

I've been using 10 GB for my partitions for quite awhile now. I'm very comfortable with 10244 MB on five machines, it'll leave you 101 GB for storage.

Consider how much RAM you're using or might upgrade to as this will affect the size of your pagefile if it's system managed and resides on your primary partition and thus, your free space.

 

[BlueWeasel]

I use 10GB partitions on my Win2K and XP primary partitions.

 

[TheCorm]

I have mine set to 5GB and I try install all my progs to other drives but stuff does end up going there, it's about 4GB full at the moment.

So if you are going to be installing programs to a seperate partition which is generally a good idea then I would say that 5GB is a minimum, if you are going to be installing progs to it then 10GB would be a good minimum.

Jamie

 

[Jeff7181]

I made mine 20, but I haven't even used 5... so I'd say 10 is a good number.

I have a lot more partitions for that though... I have a partition for my swap file so it doesn't get fragmented... I have a partition for Flight Sim 2002 cause it fragments so quickly if you put it with other things... I have a partition for the rest of my games... and I have a partition for just data, like MP3's, videos, pictures, installation programs that I've downloaded, etc.

Keeping this separate reduces fragmentation.

 

[RalfHutter]

I vote for 10GB too. I've got some that are 7GB but they tend to get fairly full if you have a lot pf programs installed. 10GB gives you enough breathing room so you won't have to worry about filling it up.

 

[daywalker]

Lets say i make:

C:10GB for WinXP and some programs
D:110GB for games mostly

Will i have any fragmentation problems on either of them?

 

[Corsairpro]

how about for someone that has a lowly 40GB hdd like me?

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: daywalker
Lets say i make:

C:10GB for WinXP and some programs
D:110GB for games mostly

Will i have any fragmentation problems on either of them?

You'll always have fragmentation on the Windows partition because Windows is constantly changing stuff. And that's where your temp. internet files are stored by default.
I wouldn't recommend a 110 GB partition though... I suggest you split it up like I have mine... doesn't have to be exactly like mine, but one big partition is like putting all your eggs in one basket.

 

[PuterRookie]

Originally posted by: Corsairpro
how about for someone that has a lowly 40GB hdd like me?

Ditto. Looking for advice on how to split up a 40 gig hdd.

 

[sak]

yeah use 10GB also..i only install small programs on the Windows XP program files. and leave the big one's for my others partitions.


this has worked out great for me

 

[isaacmacdonald]

wow. I've always gone much lower. My system partition is only 3 gb. So far I haven't had any problems. I install all progs to a different partition and don't use a pagefile.

 

[BmXStuD]

FULL! b/c after u get done installing the patches and sp's u be outta 100 gigs ;0 hehe