What to do with my new monster 4TB HDD?

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Sneaky Wizard

Sneaky Wizard

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Jan 15, 2014
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Hi everybody,

My new build was finally switched on for the first time with no fires or casualties :)

I have Windows 7 installed on my 120GB SSD and now it's time to introduce the 4TB HDD into the equation...

I am under the impression that it needs partitioning and then formatting?

Does anybody have any advice on:

1) How to partition the drive - 4 x 1TB partitions? 2 x 2TB partitions? etc.

2) A particular program to use to partition and format the HDD, or will windows 7 Disk Management be ok to use?

Thanks in advance guys,
Andy
 
Solution
house70
Heh, if you go that way, you could have separate partitions for each user and even more you could encrypt yours...LOL
How you divide them is up to your preference and ease of use.

One last note: IF the HDD happens to fail (hardware failure), all the partitions will be equally (in)accessible. Something to keep in mind; I have some HDDs that I use for periodic backups via an external dock, just in case. I fire that up once in a while to redo the backups, in case the main large HDD fails at least I don't lose all the data with it.
Of course, there are professional data recovery firms that can pull it from all but destroyed HDDs, but they cost a pretty penny. If I can avoid that, I will.
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house70

house70

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Apr 21, 2010
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Disk management should first initialize (low-format) the HDD and then should be able to partition it from there.
Size of the partitions will depend on what use they'll have (large for games backup, like Steam games, etc., even larger for full HD movies if you have any), smaller than that for other media. Keep in mind that for effective disk management (occasional cleanup, defrag, etc) you need at least 15% of disk/partition free space, preferably more than that.
About defrag: you can set it up to run on a schedule for the HDD partitions, but don't do it for the SSD. It is not needed and actually will be harmful.
 
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Sneaky Wizard

Sneaky Wizard

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Jan 15, 2014
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Excellent, so 4 x 1TB partitions would be a good bet?

Is it best to keep them separate with regard to what you'll do with them? Like partition for Movies / Games / Music / Photos

Or for like users; me and my girlfriend could have 2 x 2TB partitions each for example?

Thanks for the quick reply :)
 
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house70

house70

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Apr 21, 2010
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23,460
Heh, if you go that way, you could have separate partitions for each user and even more you could encrypt yours...LOL
How you divide them is up to your preference and ease of use.

One last note: IF the HDD happens to fail (hardware failure), all the partitions will be equally (in)accessible. Something to keep in mind; I have some HDDs that I use for periodic backups via an external dock, just in case. I fire that up once in a while to redo the backups, in case the main large HDD fails at least I don't lose all the data with it.
Of course, there are professional data recovery firms that can pull it from all but destroyed HDDs, but they cost a pretty penny. If I can avoid that, I will.
 
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Solution
Sneaky Wizard

Sneaky Wizard

Honorable
Jan 15, 2014
33
0
10,530
Why on earth would I want to encrypt mine?... lol

Ok, so I was overthinking it really. Just however it suits me in cool.

Yeah I have three 500GB laptop HDDs laying around at the mo, maybe I could wipe them and use them for backup or something?

Anyway, thanks for the help, much appreciated :)
 
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house70

house70

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Any important data you consider irreplaceable should not reside solely on ONE HDD, regardless of partitions size, numbers, etc. That's why I keep these secondary backups. The HDDs used for backups should preferably be new(ish) and used sparingly.
Good luck!
 
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