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Partioning XP Pro - How many partions, how big and why?

post #1 of 36
12/9/04 at 12:31am
Thread Starter 
Just about to do a clean install of xp pro on my baby (M60) and have decided to partion my drive ... but have couple questions...

was thinking of having one partion for xp pro
and one for my data

How big should I make the partion for xp pro?
and for my data?

I assume this will give me
c:/ - xp pro
d:/ - dvd/cd rom
e:/ - data

Is there any point in having more than two partions if only got the one operting system?

Cheers.
sleepy
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post #2 of 36
12/9/04 at 12:57am
how big is your HD?

i have 30/30 on my 60g HD. the good thing is if you reformat your HD, you would not lost your data in your data partition.

btw, your partition should look like

c:/ xp
d:/ data
e:/ dvd

but anyhow, i ALWAYS have one partition for data specific.
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post #3 of 36
12/9/04 at 1:28am
Thread Starter 
thanks superfire

its 60gb

i assume your c:/ includes xp + other programs

any advantage of doing ...

c:/ xp
d:/other programs
e:/ data
f:/ dvd

or even seperate partion for movies+audio+pictures?
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post #4 of 36
12/9/04 at 1:39am
on my 60GB I run:

20gig c: partition for windows and primary programs
2gig d: partition for virtual memory
the remainder on e: for games, etc.

Then you go to windows and switch virtual memory to use D:

This will improve your performance as virtual memory has exclusive access to its own partition.
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post #5 of 36
12/9/04 at 2:17am
yeah, i like 20GB each data partition which leaves about 17-18GB for system and applications. never tried having separate partition for virtual, especially to waste 2GB on it...my vm is set at 256KB
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post #6 of 36
12/9/04 at 2:30am
I work on the KISS principle. (Keep It Simple Stupid or Keep It Stupid Simple).

One partition. Maximize space available for *anything*.

Anything that needs to be saved long-term with no risk of fraudulent loss is either put on a CD/DVD or the 200GB in the enclosure! My .02!
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post #7 of 36
12/9/04 at 3:07am
i only leave 15gb for my o/s.... the rest goes to data and such (like burning dvds)
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post #8 of 36
12/9/04 at 3:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by redgtxdi
I work on the KISS principle. (Keep It Simple Stupid or Keep It Stupid Simple).

One partition. Maximize space available for *anything*.

Anything that needs to be saved long-term with no risk of fraudulent loss is either put on a CD/DVD or the 200GB in the enclosure! My .02!
I agree with you. It is actually best if you make the whole hard drive as one partition. You don't gain any drive performance by partitioning it to C: D: and putting swap file on D: (or making D: the scratch drive). It is best to put it on a seperate "PHYSICAL" drive, not "LOGICAL" drive. So, in a notebook where you generally have one physical drive, it is best to just make the whole drive C: (for performance)

KeNg
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post #9 of 36
12/9/04 at 5:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kittiyut
I agree with you. It is actually best if you make the whole hard drive as one partition. You don't gain any drive performance by partitioning it to C: D: and putting swap file on D: (or making D: the scratch drive). It is best to put it on a seperate "PHYSICAL" drive, not "LOGICAL" drive. So, in a notebook where you generally have one physical drive, it is best to just make the whole drive C: (for performance)

KeNg
the only good thing to gain from having multiple partitions is storing the data.

for performance purpose, it makes not different as you mentioned since it is one big physical drive anyway.
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post #10 of 36
12/9/04 at 5:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by steve257
thanks superfire

its 60gb

i assume your c:/ includes xp + other programs

any advantage of doing ...

c:/ xp
d:/other programs
e:/ data
f:/ dvd

or even seperate partion for movies+audio+pictures?
i would not suggest you to have d:/ other programs. it does not make any sense thou. All the time when you install programs, it writes something to the windows system folders or stuff under windows os directory.
you will need to reinstall your apps after you reinstall your OS anyway.

i always like to have the idea of is to make a ghost image of your C drive includes all the latest patch (at the time of making the image) and drivers, and programs. whenever i want to reinstall the OS and programs, i can just reinstall it from the image.

someone might think it is waste of time and waste of CDs, but it saves me time to reinstall one by one and upgrade to the latest patch thou.

what is the purpose to have more than 2 partitions? but again, it is your call. if you like to have another drive for mp3 / movies, go for it. i just think it does not seem necessary.
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post #11 of 36
12/9/04 at 6:21am
I last did multiple partitions back in 98. I finally stopped as it really offered no advantage to an enviornment where I am doing data backups anyhow. Sure, Windows blows up, you format C: and reload. Then reload every program due to registry entries having to be present, so having programs on D: saves you nothing. Saving data there? Well, I can either boot to a BartPE disk and zap "Windows" and "Program files" and then do a reload, if I want to be certain of a clean load, or just boot to a Windows CD and watch it delete the Windows directory before installing resulting in a clean load.

If you partition for data security, well, it's not secure. Hard drive goes, you lose data.

If you partition for performance with a paging file, well, that partition is usually out on the edge of the disk where it is slowest. No benefit there from just running a 3rd party defrag program that can keep the paging file as one chunk near the front of the disk. This has the advantage of being in the faster part of the disk, and also closer to real data so the one read arm in the drive doesn't have to move as far.

All partitioning does is complicate a system and add hassles.
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post #12 of 36
12/9/04 at 6:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by drakino
Saving data there? Well, I can either boot to a BartPE disk and zap "Windows" and "Program files" and then do a reload
what does BartPE do?
would it be easier to use BartPE and as you said "zap windows and program files" then do a reload?
what happen to the personal data file?

used to work for consulting department in Big O and I put the MY_DATA folder in D driver. When I had to reload my OS, I just reloaded the OBI then all my personal data, project files, etc etc still remain in D drive without backing up to network drive or external drive.

i guess it comes down to the line is personal preference thou. i don't see there is any right/wrong, better or not-so-better way
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post #13 of 36
12/9/04 at 6:43am
BartPE. It uses an XP or Server 2003 CD to make a Windows Live CD. It is self contained and you can use the file manager to modify your hard drive. Theroticial situation, my Windows install is hosed, I need data off the drive then need to do a reload. I would:

1. Boot to the BartPE CD
2. Delete the Windows and Program Files folders.
3. Move all the rest of the folders including "Documents and Settings" into a new dolser called "Old"
4. Boot to the Windows XP CD and do a normal install without formatting.
5. Pull the data out of the Old folder I need then delete it when I have everything worh keeping
6. Defragment the drive, as it probably needs it at this point.

(edit with that many typos, it is time for bed)
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post #14 of 36
12/9/04 at 2:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by drakino
BartPE. It uses an XP or Server 2003 CD to make a Windows Live CD. It is self contained and you can use the file manager to modify your hard drive. Theroticial situation, my Windows install is hosed, I need data off the drive then need to do a reload. I would:

1. Boot to the BartPE CD
2. Delete the Windows and Program Files folders.
3. Move all the rest of the folders including "Documents and Settings" into a new dolser called "Old"
4. Boot to the Windows XP CD and do a normal install without formatting.
5. Pull the data out of the Old folder I need then delete it when I have everything worh keeping
6. Defragment the drive, as it probably needs it at this point.

(edit with that many typos, it is time for bed)
thanks. that is nice. i will take a look of the program.
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post #15 of 36
12/9/04 at 4:11pm
why have partitions? if you burn dvd videos, that's up to 4.7gb per disc. if you rip the file onto your c: drive, you'll have to defrag each time (assuming that you delete the ISOS soon after you rip them, due to your small HDD). also, if you format you computer often (like i do), you might want to save some of that data on a partition.
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post #16 of 36
12/9/04 at 5:51pm
Unless you have some very specific reasons for having separate partitions: One hard drive => One Partition => One Operating System.

Partitions steal some space for the file system etc, and much much more if you for some reason choose to have separate Windows installations on them. They also make for very ineffective use of the available free disk space. Consider this, you need to DL a 700MB file but have only 500MB free on C and 300MB on D. Been there so many times I've lost count... Partitions are easy to create but can be quite a hassle to get rid of later on unless you have only junk files lying on them. So, like it's been said already, keep things as simple as you can...
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post #17 of 36
12/9/04 at 6:10pm
I always recommend at least a 10GB Partition for Windows and programs. Putting your virtual memory/swap file on a different partition is pointless since it's still on the same drive. The only time when moving it makes sense is if you are moving it to it's own dedicated hard drive or at least a different drive from the one windows is installed on. You will only see a performance boost when doing this if the swap file is on a dedicated hard drive. If it's on a different parition it doesn't matter as you're still reading and writing to the same hard drive. The best you can do when limited to one drive is use a Defragging program that keeps the swap file in one chunk on the hard drive. (I use Diskeeper by Executive Software)

The only point to keeping a seperate partition for your windows installation is so you can format it and reinstall windows without losing the data on the rest of the drive. If you don't format your computer a lot then don't bother with a seperate partition...KISS and have only one parition. On the other hand if you do format at least once a year then having a small (at least 10GB) partition for Windows is very helpful.
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post #18 of 36
12/9/04 at 6:28pm
afobisme gave a good example why you would want to partition your hard drive.

Hard drive is usually the worst bottle neck in a system, and a fragmented hard drive can be many times slower than one that isn't. Here is what I do with my 60 GB drive:

20 GB C: partition for XP and applicattions.
05 GB D: partition for data that I generate (I am a programmer)
20 GB E: digital media (music, photos, etc.)
11 GB S: scratch space (download, temporary cd-rom/dvd images, etc.)

This isolate fragmentation. My C: partition where program loads from will not need defragmeted very often because there is not a lot of data added/removed from it. My D: partition which holds the most important data can be back up simply as a whole drive (not having to decide what to back up and what not). I have a large partition for my digital media which tends to take up a lot of space. And finally the most volatile partition S: can be defragged or even formated as needed when things get out of hand.

That is the method to my madness. I think the benefit far outweight a little effort.
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post #19 of 36
12/9/04 at 7:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by afobisme
also, if you format you computer often (like i do), you might want to save some of that data on a partition.
i had been formatted my HD for 5 nights straight to get the best configuration as possible before I burned the image. the 2nd last time was a total stupid. I should not install the anti-virus program before i burned the image. oh well, i get everything right and burned image and i am happy with that.
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post #20 of 36
12/9/04 at 7:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BGD
Unless you have some very specific reasons for having separate partitions: One hard drive => One Partition => One Operating System.
not sure if it is a very specific reason. as someone mentioned, i format my HD often, and i want to save my personal files in different partition so I can easily format my C drive without backup the files. of course, if it is a physical damage, it will be different story.
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