Partitioning a large hard drive

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Willi

I'm building a new computer with a 160GB SATA hard drive. (I have an
external USB hard drive I'll use for backup)

What are your thoughts about the advantages and disadvantages of
partitioning it into separate drives or just using it as a single drive?

If you suggest partitioning it, how many partitions and what sizes do
you recommend?

Willi
 
Willi said:
I'm building a new computer with a 160GB SATA hard drive. (I have an
external USB hard drive I'll use for backup)

What are your thoughts about the advantages and disadvantages of
partitioning it into separate drives or just using it as a single drive?

If you suggest partitioning it, how many partitions and what sizes do
you recommend?

Willi
Click to expand...

My thoughts are that it depends what you want to do with your machine as to
how you set it up. Personally I'm a fan of running the one partition in my
machine and using folders to divide things into relevant sections. That's
the simplest way. Is there any reason why you need to have more than one
partition show up in windows explorer (assuming you're using Windows XP or
2000 and not 9.x/ME)?

Paul
 
Willi said:
I'm building a new computer with a 160GB SATA hard drive. (I have an
external USB hard drive I'll use for backup)

What are your thoughts about the advantages and disadvantages of
partitioning it into separate drives or just using it as a single
drive?
If you suggest partitioning it, how many partitions and what sizes do
you recommend?
Click to expand...



Give the following article a read:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/hard_drives_02.htm

Then decide for yourself.


For my needs I'd partition the hard drive something like this:

20GB Windows 40GB Data 40GB Downloads 60GB unpartitioned

This scheme allows for the creation of additional partitions and logical
drives, without using third party tools like Partition Magic8.
 
Willi said:
I'm building a new computer with a 160GB SATA hard drive. (I have an
external USB hard drive I'll use for backup)

What are your thoughts about the advantages and disadvantages of
partitioning it into separate drives or just using it as a single drive?

If you suggest partitioning it, how many partitions and what sizes do
you recommend?
Click to expand...

If it's your only drive, I would suggest at least two partitions -- one
for your system and programs, and one for your data. That makes wiping
the system fairly easy. Just be sure that you keep your address book,
mailbox, etc. on the data partition.
 
IMO partitions are a pita. If one gets full you end up shuffling stuff around. You have no way to know how big you will need each
partition to be ahead of time. It's much easier just to have one partition and use directories to seperate stuff, they are
affectively autosizing partitions.
 
Willi said:
I'm building a new computer with a 160GB SATA hard drive. (I have an external USB hard drive I'll use for backup)

What are your thoughts about the advantages and disadvantages of partitioning it into separate drives or just using it as a
single drive?

If you suggest partitioning it, how many partitions and what sizes do you recommend?
Click to expand...

3 Partitions: one for the OS, one for programs and one for data/swap.
Keep the first 2 small as you need, perhaps 4 GB for the OS and 12 GB
for programs and the rest for your data/swap. Then when you defrag, it
won't take as long because the entire disk doesn't get mucked up so
much: the data drive is the most volatile. I defrag once a week all partitions
and also when a major OS patch or program is installed (before and
after installation). I usually make D: the data drive. I
have a feeling that the ordering of partitions has negligible effect on
performance, but am not sure. Another benefit of partitioning is that you
will be able to reinstall your OS without affecting your data (it should be
backed up though) should you need to.

Notes:

You will have to do an unattended install of WinXP to move the Program
Files and Docs-and-settings folders (other moving methods may exist).

Some disaster recovery programs won't install if you have more than 3
partitions because they create a hidden partition to restore from, be aware.

OS created folders on the data drive may not survive OS reinstallation intact.

Intel Matrix RAID would probably be setup differently than the 3 partitions
scheme.

AJ
 
In my opinion (which is probably the minority view), there is no real
advantage to partitions, because of two things:

1. Documents and Settings folder is stored with the OS.
2. Most apps store valuable data right in with the application.
3. Hard drives are ultra cheap now, use 2 drives, maybe on a raid system!

This lack of data separation makes it hard to make useful backups that can
be easily restored without losing data in the process, and it also makes it
harder to store your data on separate partitions.

However, I do usually have 2 partitions so I can format my hard drive easier
(OS partition is smaller). I like to reinstall Windows and all my apps once
a year if I have time, although Windows XP really doesn't need to be cleaned
out as much as the older versions. You don't really get much of a
performance boost by installing your OS on a separate partition. Just
defragment often. Putting the OS on a separate hard drive though, now that
would be a good option.

-Max (7yr web developer / programmer)
 
Max said:
In my opinion (which is probably the minority view), there is no
real advantage to partitions, because of two things:

1. Documents and Settings folder is stored with the OS.
Click to expand...

So change it.
2. Most apps store valuable data right in with the application.
Click to expand...

Not if the application is any good.
 
Willi said:
How do you do that?
Click to expand...

I don't know. I suspect some settings in the registry will do
it. I won't allow XP on anything I own. It could be that this is
an integral part of the OS and needs to stay on the boot
partition. If so it is another example of foolishness. Settings,
yes; Documents, no.
 
CBFalconer said:
I don't know. I suspect some settings in the registry will do
it. I won't allow XP on anything I own. It could be that this is
an integral part of the OS and needs to stay on the boot
partition. If so it is another example of foolishness. Settings,
yes; Documents, no.
Click to expand...

Right click on My Docs, goto properties, set the path, works on 2k and xp and might work on others. I know on the 9x os's you can do
it in the registry.
 
Right click on My Docs, goto properties, set the path, works on 2k and xp and might work on others. I know on the 9x os's you can do
it in the registry.
Click to expand...

IIRC, there is no need to edit anything, just cut and paste it
and windows will update that automatically, on win9x too.
 
i recenlty fell upon an MS KB that described/recommended ways to move
those special (shell?) folders. TIF, favs, mydocs, progfiles, etc. in
win9x

in many cases, just dragging the folder to where you want it .. an
windows adopts that location. other moves required reg edits.
 
Willi said:
How do you do that?
Click to expand...

You can move "My Documents" by opening up the properties for it --
either from an icon on your desktop or in your start menu. It will have
a "Move" button for Windows 2000 or better.
 
The folder is "Documents and Settings."

There is a separate "My Documents" folder for every user account, which is
located in "Documents and Settings." Applications make use of your user
account as well as a global system account (so your settings are made
available to everyone). It's just not a simple change and your done. It
takes a lot of time to make these changes to all your apps, and you'll
always end up with a few apps that don't play nice.

Also, due to user Documents and Settings having security, if you just copy
files from one hard drive to a backup USB hard drive, you'll be missing a
lot of files, like your email! I learned this the hard way.

-Max
 
The folder is "Documents and Settings."

There is a separate "My Documents" folder for every user account, which is
located in "Documents and Settings." Applications make use of your user
account as well as a global system account (so your settings are made
available to everyone). It's just not a simple change and your done. It
takes a lot of time to make these changes to all your apps, and you'll
always end up with a few apps that don't play nice.

Also, due to user Documents and Settings having security, if you just copy
files from one hard drive to a backup USB hard drive, you'll be missing a
lot of files, like your email! I learned this the hard way.

-Max
Click to expand...


Sounds like you've created your own hell, for a default install
you can just cut and paste the whole folder anywhere and it
*almost* always works fine. Don't know what to tell you about
the email since it can also be put anywhere and copied.
 
Max said:
The folder is "Documents and Settings."

There is a separate "My Documents" folder for every user account, which is
located in "Documents and Settings." Applications make use of your user
account as well as a global system account (so your settings are made
available to everyone). It's just not a simple change and your done. It
takes a lot of time to make these changes to all your apps, and you'll
always end up with a few apps that don't play nice.

Also, due to user Documents and Settings having security, if you just copy
files from one hard drive to a backup USB hard drive, you'll be missing a
lot of files, like your email! I learned this the hard way.
Click to expand...

I understand -- I just wanted to offer a way to move part of your data
to a different location.
 
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