Which partition should I install applications?

[pcsql]

I have the following hard drives and they are all NTFS:

Disk0:
Partition C - 39GB (System)
Partition D - 54GB

Disk1:
Partition F - 38GB
Partition G - 38GB

Which partition should I install applications?

Thanks.

 

[PCcashCow]

Is this a fresh install? I would keep the application s on the same physical drive if I were you. What type of drives are these?

 

[hball]

I have the following hard drives and they are all NTFS:

Disk0:
Partition C - 39GB (System)
Partition D - 54GB

Disk1:
Partition F - 38GB
Partition G - 38GB

Which partition should I install applications?

Thanks.

If you want your applications to run as quickly as possible, run them in your C drive partition and your operating system in your D drive partition. Looks like you already have your operating system in your C drive . . . oh well.

hball

 

[PCcashCow]

I have the following hard drives and they are all NTFS:

Disk0:
Partition C - 39GB (System)
Partition D - 54GB

Disk1:
Partition F - 38GB
Partition G - 38GB

Which partition should I install applications?

Thanks.

What's your theory in this? Just wondering?



If you want your applications to run as quickly as possible, run them in your C drive partition and your operating system in your D drive partition. Looks like you already have your operating system in your C drive . . . oh well.

hball

 

[mdalli]

I'm going to ask the obvious question. Why, unless you have some sort of dual-operating-system thing going on, do you have multiple partitions in the first place?

It doesn't protect your data. It doesn't make your system run any faster (it could be argued that it makes things run slower). It doesn't give you any extra space.

So why do it at all?

If you are interested in better performance, go with a RAID array or upgrade your system with hard drives that have better performance.

 

[PCcashCow]

In his defense it does reduce seek times and that is well documented. But we are splitting hairs here.

 

[Kurz]

Prevents Fragmentation is the biggest reason.
Pagefile doesnt get fragmented when used on its own partition.
Organization is a nice side effect.

 

[DaddyLyuLyu]

I may not have the EXACT setup, but I have a RAID 0 array on 3 x 80GB SATA drives by HItachi (by the way, they are pretty damn fast). I have my OS, apps, etc, all on C and I've got another partition on D that just stores temporary data files until I offload them to my file server.

I know it's risky business, especially on RAID 0, but if you don't care about loosing your data, then I say get a RAID array on multiple drives (I think 3 SATA drives is an ideal number. I've ran HD tests and it seems that on a SATA 150 bus, 3 drives will almost but not quite, saturate the bandwidth....with 4 drives, the bus is filled to the brim and with 2, there is more bandwidth allowed for another drive.....)

Anyhoo, as far as performance is concerned, partitioning really won't show much difference on one drive.....just my two cents, take it or leave it.

TTFN

 

[Synergy6]

It doesn't protect your data. It doesn't make your system run any faster (it could be argued that it makes things run slower). It doesn't give you any extra space.

On space, kind of right, but the space loss is minimal, mostly just a second MFT.
As for speed, it can most definitely speed up a system. Try a bit of research before making such blanket statements.
Ronaldo38741

 

[KlaasVaak]

My system:

Raid 0, 2x 120 GB:
C: Windows XP + Apps
D: Windows XP Programming
E: Games (Links to C: )
F: Datas, any kind of data

3rd HD, 200 GB:
G: Backup HD

OS and Apps really belong with each other. If I load up C: without my Apps (if they were on a different partition and not available) I am sure I will get loads of errors. This effect will not happen with games unless you start them. Games are big these days and take up a lot of space. I do not care much about my Games partition but I do frequently backup my system (C: or D: ). Now imagine if my system (C: ) would also contain Games? That would make the backups unnecessary big. My D: partition is just and only for programming and I want to keep it clean from any kind of other sh*t. The data partition is where I place ALL my datas. An extra place to store datas is My Documents on C: or D: but in any other case the data is nicely sorted (by Directory) on the F: partition. Finally we have the G: drive/partition. If you have Raid0 this is really a must-have. On G: I store the backups from the other partitions and data that is 'not that important' or too big for F:.

My 2.0 cents.

 

[hball]

The way he has his drive partitioned, the C drive partition is located on the outer edge of the drive/platter. If the applications are on the outer edge of the platter, the heads don't have to travel as far to read the data and therefore less seek time.

Is this thinking wrong?

hball

 

[PCcashCow]

I believe it works both ways, so as long as the software is located on the same logical drive, the seek times will remain low. Drive do not default into a power position, they just stop on spin down.

 

[exenia]

I agree with KlaasVak's setup, some applications should be on your system drive and some should be separate. Save backup space.

The tradeoff is that any applications tightly integrated into Windows will be missing dll files and application data if you ever reinstall Windows. If you expect to reinstall Windows a lot, factor that in. That problem is pretty rare for games, as long as their drive letter stays the same they're happy.

I tend to reimage very frequently, so my system partition is only 5GB. That's still plenty of space for applications as long as the pagefile is somewhere else.

 

[ZOldDude]

I have the following hard drives and they are all NTFS:

Disk0:
Partition C - 39GB (System)
Partition D - 54GB

Disk1:
Partition F - 38GB
Partition G - 38GB

Which partition should I install applications?

Thanks.

Very few programs/games really need to be on the "C" drive.
In fact your OS or "C" really does not have to be over 10GB and 25GB is overkill.

Try this yourself...copy/paste a game off the "C" to any other drive and make a shortcut on your desktop.

It loaded and ran just fine did it not?

 

[ZOldDude]

less seek time

This time is in ms's....you will never be able to notice these small times as you can't even blink your eyes @ 4 ms!
4 ms or 20 ms....humans can't tell.

Data on the INSIDE or end of a near full drive will READ slower tho and it is this READ/LOAD time that people notice.