To partition or not to

[NaveT]

Hi,

Just got a new ide 80gb HD, and was wondering if I should or should not partition it into a few smaller drives.

For the last few builds of pc's that I have partitioned my drive as per the following

C:\ [System]
E:\ [Applications]
F:\ [Data/Scratch]

Is there a downside to doing this?

I was thinking this time probably just to go with

C:\[System and Applications] - 20gb
F:\[Data\Scratch] - 80gb

Any pros and cons would be appreciated...

A bit more info - Running XP and the hd will be ntfs

Cheers

 

[Testin da Cable]

on windows I tend to put swap into it's own partition and give it a fixed size but why I do that only god knows

 

[Embattle]

Its not really worth doing that unless you actually have two physical drives

 

[Quige]

Originally posted by Embattle
Its not really worth doing that unless you actually have two physical drives

Not from a performance perspective, no, but I certainly find it helps keeping my data on a separate partition when it comes time to reinstall my OS ... I can happily zap the OS partition and reinstall into the empty space.

I've probably got too many partitions at the moment but that comes from scavenging hdd's from one machine to another.

C:\ (OS)
D:\ (APPS)
E:\ (DATA)
F:\ (EXTRA)
J:\ (MORE EXTRA)

Anther thing I find when reinstalling my OS is that having most of my apps on a D partition it helps with reinstalling them too ... as I can look at the dir structure and remember all those'little' handy progs you install over time, and then either clean the files out and reinstall, or install over the top.

(On the other hand you could argue that if you can't remember to install it you probably don't need it installed!)

 

[Embattle]

Thats is true but I can never be bothered with all the different drives as I end up with another three via Combo drive, Card reader in printer and Digi camera

BTW I reckon you have too many

 

[Quige]

Originally posted by Embattle
BTW I reckon you have too many

gosh, I'd better not mention;
G:\ (CDR)
H:\ (DVD)
I:\ (Removable)
K:\ (Removable (photosmart 130))
X:\ (mapped drive)
Y:\ (mapped drive)

yeah .. it is getting a bit much ... maybe next rebuild it'll be back down to a more managable number

 

[kameleon]

partitiions are for win95 users

 

[xane]

Partitions have only one real purpose within the same (Windows) OS, and that is for defragmentation purposes. By limiting fragmentation of files into specific partitions you minimise its effect and speed up defragging.

Fragmentation is caused either by repeated file extensions, or the deletion and (re)creation of lots of small files.

There are four basic partitions you need:

(a) one for (static) system files and program files
(b) one for (dynamic) data
(c) one for temporary
(d) one for ripping

The "static" area is little used, therefore it only needs defragging every few months or if you have recently deinstalled or reinstalled a load of apps.

The "dynamic" area is for data that is changed or appended to a lot, like windows user settings, e-mail files, backups for PDA, logfiles, etc. Try to adjust the applications to redirect files here. Personal data files (documents, etc) can also be lumped into (b), but a separate disk is better. This area needs defragging weekly.

The temporary partition is for the TEMP area, Temporary Internet Files, and the swapfile(s). This area does not need defragging, it is pointless doing so, the only important file is the swapfile and that is normally created contiguous anyway.

The ripping partition is to ensure you have a clean contiguous space for creating CD, DVD, etc files, to improve speed. Defrags are not necessary as it normally cleaned out after use.

Often I have a fifth one for games, as this is a mixture of static and dynamic files that cannot be separated, and gets defragged every week.

 

[Jonty]

lol! The only time my hard drive gets even close to being defragged is when I format it hee hee. That said, xane is right, defragging will help improve performance, though by how much is debatable.

Speaking of partioning (very off topic) I believe you can even partion these USB flash drives (a.k.a. usb pen drives a.k.a. usb memory sticks ), which could have its uses, especially when you can boot from them.

Kind Regards

 

[Embattle]

Hmm, booting from a USB device would be interesting if not very hard

 

[Jonty]

Originally posted by Embattle
Hmm, booting from a USB device would be interesting if not very hard

hehe I can't say I've tried it with my beloved pen drive (these things are very cool ) but they are suposed to be able to do it. This would be especially handy for things like the Windows XP bootdisk, which weighs in at a floppy-defying 4Mb.

Kind Regards