Should I partition?

[robx46]

Have 2 seagate 320gb drives in a raid0 configuration. Which makes 640gb (although I only really have 600gb according to vista).
Before formatting and installing vista, I researched a bit about partitioning. I didn't achieve any decisions, I just got more confused about what to do and how to do it. So I just didn't partition. I just have one big partition.

Should I partition? What kind of impact will it have on performance? Do I need to partition before installing anything or can I partition now with vista and all my other data installed?
Then with putting vista on its own partition, I have no idea how much size it needs (and don't you need an undetermined amount of space for future updates?)?

I just don't know what to do. If I should partition, is it safe to do this without losing data? And how do I isolate vista, my page file, or whatever else I might want on a separate partition? Is vista just whatever is in my c:windows folder?
I have a feeling I'm making it out to be more complex than it should be. Although I have read up on this and looked at the vista and some 3rd party partitioning programs, yet I still don't feel confident about commiting to using them.

I've known about partitioning forever. I've just been ignoring it for years now, but if it really does offer a performance increase, I'll give it a shot. Unless of course I do need to wipe my hard drives clean. In that case, I can wait!

 

[paq7512]

First off, the reason it shows as 600gb in Vista is because Microsoft does 1024mb=1gb, seagate and others hard drive makers do 1000mb=1gb. As far as partitioning one advantage is if you have to reinstall you won't have to wipe your backup partition and just the os partition. Make sure you defrag your entire hdd if you do decide to partition.

 

[quatra]

Partitioning your drive will take less time to defrag the drive where your OS is, which will fragment most.
Partitions where you have your MP3s and Docs will frag very little.
Partitioning will also allow you to organize your hard disk the way you want it as each partition has a didderent drive letter asigned.
The Elder Geek http://www.theeldergeek.com/ has some additional thoughts on partitioning and it's advantages. Good reading there.

 

[StevieD]

Partitioning can be great for information management, backups and restoration.

In the past partitioning was done specifically for speed or performance. While there are still some solid performance benefits to partitioning specific data or functions from each other, the cost of single drives has reached the point were it is usually more beneficial to just buy another drive than trying to maximize the performance of the single drive. One must remember that most partitioning strategies were written in a period of slower HD's when access times on the drives could actually impact CPU performance. The modern HD is fast enough to offset most partitioning strategies for the average user.

While partitioning can be great for data management on a single drive, the use of multiple drives will have a bigger and more positive impact. Keeping the OS on one drive, programs on another, and data on a third drive will yield the fastest access times and less wear on the individual drives while allowing the OS and/or programs to be re-installed at will without risking data. RAID does allow dual drives to improve access times, but RAID also can have problems with a single drive failure causing the entire RAID system to fail.

PS: Remember to always keep backups of your data on an external drive or optical discs.

 

[robx46]

Well, since I don't partition, one thing I do is use diskeeper and I have that running full time. It is set to run in the background and is not a problem at all. It is pretty intelligent in that when I'm running something intensive, it will back off and take up hardly any cpu usage or memory, but when I'm idle it will do its magic.

So I'm always well defragmented. I was thinking or hoping that doing this was a good alternative, performance wise, to not partitioning. I definitely understand why I would want to keep my OS separate. However, when I need to, I seem to be able to do repair installs without problems. And with fresh installs, they aren't a huge issue. Most of my programs are on disc or its easy to get them. And I do keep my data backed up, and back up the newer stuff when I'm about to do a new fresh install.
Given that I only do wipe everything out and reinstall maybe once or twice a year, it isn't too big of a deal.

I've never had a hard drive crash on me, ever. But even if my Raid config did go down, all it would really mean is probably a day of getting my stuff back on there.
Still, I think I would like to partition my OS at the very least, but like I said I just don't know how to do it.
Do I just simply partition everything in the "c:\windows" folder? Is that my whole OS?
Otherwise, I have no clue how to round up the contents of only the OS and get them partitioned. Nor do I know how much space I will need to partition, especially given that I'm assuming you need space for future updates.

Quite honestly I just never found good enough guides to do any partitioning. Like actual step by step guides for total noobs. It is strange that I am very good with every aspect of computers, but I guess since I never did partition, I have to learn at some point. I guess it is just one of those things that I never felt I needed to do since I do backup my data and never had a hard drive crash. Other than that, my hard drive performance seems to always be good enough, even better now with the Raid setup. More than anything, I guess that since I never did partition, I'm way overdue and curious to see what it can do for me.