Advantages of having 2 partitions?

[edsareus]

I wonder what the advantages , and also disadvantages, is of having 2
partitions on your harddisk?

 

[Big_Al]

I wonder what the advantages , and also disadvantages, is of having 2
partitions on your harddisk?

Disadvantage: The previous question you posted is the answer to this
question. You ran out of space on C: but have space on D:. If you
had partitioned properly or none at all, you would not be out of space
on C:.

However, partitions make it easy to make images for backups.

It all depends on what you want to do.

I have a program the fragments data heavily, so I put it on a partition
by itself so the fragmentation does not hit my OS.

Mostly its a point of handling. There is no right and wrong. My
laptop has one 80 gig C:. Nothing else. If the drive goes bad, having
apps for example on a 2nd drive and OS on the C: is not going to help
you. When the OS dies, you have to reload the OS and the apps all over
again. Maybe putting photos or music on a partition is okay since a
reload does not effect those data files. But MS office would be
useless after a reload if you had it on D:.

 

[Ken Blake]

I wonder what the advantages , and also disadvantages, is of having 2
partitions on your harddisk?

For more information to help you decide how to partition/organize your
drive,
read this article I recently wrote: "Understanding Disk Partitioning"
at http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=326

 

[Twayne]

For more information to help you decide how to partition/organize your
drive,
read this article I recently wrote: "Understanding Disk Partitioning"
at http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=326

Pretty decent article, Ken.
One thing more you might include could be to use the "My Documents"
folder properly. That too can make data backups a lot easier since it's
just the one folder to target. Almost as good as using a separate
partition for data/OS separation, and most all apps already point at
least to the root of that folder.
And if you're going to archive your OS, you just get everything else
except the My Documents; again, much simpler.

My 2 ¢ anyway,

Twayne

 

[Ken Blake]

Yes I read the article too Twayne and found it to be excellent.

Thanks to both of you for the kind words.

I'm one of those with 3 partitions, C: WinXP Pro. D: Programs E: Music

When I wish to reinstall my operating system I format C: and
re-install WinXP Pro.

But do you understand that if you do this, you will also have to reinstall
almost every program? That's the main reason that separating installed
programs on a different partition or drive from Windows is usually not a
good choice.

 

[edsareus]

Yes I read the article too Twayne and found it to be excellent
although I'm one of those with 3 partitions:
C: WinXP Pro.
D: Programs
E: Music

Replying to the original poster:

When I wish to reinstall my operating system I format C: and
re-install WinXP Pro.
I move "My Documents" to D: renaming it "Archives"
I have a folder: "Attic" on D: which is where I store downloads and
all setup files that I have previously downloaded and wish to retain.

I install an antivirus and a firewall to C: including some other
spyware type programs that I don't need to backup.
I use the "XP Classic Start menu" and the only thing I need to backup
on C: is "Startup" in my profile under "Documents and Settings"
consisting mainly of folders and shortcuts I have myself created.

I always have Partition Magic available on D: & E: in the now rare
event that I need to alter the sizes of various partitions.
On D: I have Eudora for email and Opera & K-Meleon as browsers neither
of which require reinstallation.
Another valued item on D: is "Chameleon Clock" which updates the time
on my computer and gives me reminders and doesn't require
reinstallation.

Backups: I backup D: at least every second day to an external hard
drive. The few items I backup on C: are backed up to D: which in turn
is backed up on an external drive at least every second day.
Backing up Music Files on E: perhaps once a month
--

Terry Heinz.

Thanks to all of you for your information. However, I do think it seems a bit advanced for me to do something about this on my own.
Monica

 

[Olórin]

Monica

I know it's veering away from your original question, but as replies kept
touching on backups: more important than all the partitioning debate is
whether you do take regular backups of your data. If nothing else, you
should take that away from this discussion.

 

[MoiMeme]

I keep a history of what I install ro change and when.
I do c: partition images ( at least onec a month. Allways before installing
a "big" program (one that pretty much changes system), so I can revert. I
allways use install monitoring programs. And I do backups and data on
external hard drives ( 2 diccferent ones) and DVD.

When soemthing goes wrong i reload the last good image.
Then only have to re-install or re-do what i made after creating that image.

So having C: for system; d: for data including favorites, desktop, start
menu and so on), e: for programs saves me much trouble.
I don't loose data or favorites or desktop icons when I reload windows. I
keep my work environment.

Backups and images remain smaller then with a single "everything together"
partition.

But it needs some organisation of how you work, and think, and use the
programs so most ( not all are well written: some do never give opportunity
to go elsewhere than C: !) work that way. I work that way for 6 years now.
Never reinstalled windows; 3 or 4 times played an image on corrupted
Windows, with little to redo afterwards.

Just how I work. Will never work another way.

 

[Big_Al]

I keep a history of what I install ro change and when.
I do c: partition images ( at least onec a month. Allways before installing
a "big" program (one that pretty much changes system), so I can revert. I
allways use install monitoring programs. And I do backups and data on
external hard drives ( 2 diccferent ones) and DVD.

When soemthing goes wrong i reload the last good image.
Then only have to re-install or re-do what i made after creating that image.

So having C: for system; d: for data including favorites, desktop, start
menu and so on), e: for programs saves me much trouble.
I don't loose data or favorites or desktop icons when I reload windows. I
keep my work environment.

Backups and images remain smaller then with a single "everything together"
partition.

But it needs some organisation of how you work, and think, and use the
programs so most ( not all are well written: some do never give opportunity
to go elsewhere than C: !) work that way. I work that way for 6 years now.
Never reinstalled windows; 3 or 4 times played an image on corrupted
Windows, with little to redo afterwards.

Just how I work. Will never work another way.

What install monitoring program do you use?