Suggestions for Partitioning of a Hard Drive

[robinforum]

I have a newly bought WDC Black 1TB/64mb for my new computer setup.
This is the partition I wanted:

OS
Games
Applications
Photos/Videos/Music
Important Files
Other/Temporary Files (Random items)

Will this be okay for the hard drive? I mean, is it too many..? o_o
Planning on giving the Games at least half of the hard drive's capacity..
Is that kind of partition is safe, can someone give to me estimation
of capacity for each partition?

If that kind of partition will give me problems or lower my system/hard drive speed,
will that be severe? I was thinking of buying of another hard drive, a WDC Green 640GB
for the Photos/Videos/Music and the two other Files partition but I realized that I
could also spend that budget in something else (put the budget in the GPU, 5850 to 5870).

Inputs and suggestions are welcomed

 

[sminlal]

There are people who partition the heck out of their drives, and there are people like me who avoid that extra complexity. My personal motto is "one partition per drive, and use separate drives to improve performance".

That having been said, if you can only afford one drive, the most I myself would do is to create one partition of perhaps 100MB or so for the operating system, and leave everything else in a second partition that covers the rest of the drive. The reason to do that is for administrative ease - it keeps image backups of the OS small and allows you to do OS upgrades, etc. with a bit less risk to your data.

You may get a *little* bit of a performance boost while playing games if you have them in a small partition close to the OS, but it won't be particularly noticeable and your performance will actually be worse every time you access any of the other partitions.

 

[robinforum]

These are some of the reasons why I made that kind of partition:

OS - they said it's best to have it separated from other files
Games - more organized than mixing it with Applications and other files
Applications - same reason with Games
Photos/Videos/Music - these are the files that I would usually be sharing from other people
Important Files - Stuffs I won't be sharing with other people some are school-related from several years ago. IMPORTANT
Other/Temporary Files - I usually put things in a single box then re-arrange it after a month or so

After reading this: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/192284-32-multiple-hard-drives
I'm thinking of having another partition for the swapfile.. Is it still possible / advantageous when using a
64-bit Windows 7?

@sminlal
For me, the idea for my partition is more of organizing my files but there are several things that I still do not know:
For example, if OS failed me and I have to format it, will there be any issues going to arise with my
installed Games and Applications? since they are somewhat connected to the OS right? Especially in the
registry area..

If having multiple partition will make the Hard Drive slow, up to what extent will I feel it? And
on what part during my computer session? Is it only when I open a file after another? Or any other else?

I'll really be glad if all my questions will be answered I merely get any information from other forums,
I really hope to get the questions in my mind answered.. :x

 

[mhelm1]

If you have to format a partition you will not mess up the other partitions.
Any time you reload an OS all software will lose the associations.(you have to reinstall the software) unless you use a disk image or a backup program
I'm going to agree with sminlal, keep it simple do 1 partition.
But with what your doing I'd get a couple more hard drives. If your disk fails, it is still 1 disk no matter how many partitions you have and all is lost. Also adding partitions to the drive adds 1 more thing that can go wrong. i.e. you can lose he partition info, loose data and still have a good drive.

 

[sminlal]

For me, the idea for my partition is more of organizing my files...

I've heard other people say this too, and it puzzles me because I don't see why partitions are any better at organizing files than folders are. For example, I have one place where I put all of my virtual machines. I don't have to use a separate partition (ie, "V:\") for that, I can just use a folder on an existing drive ("D:\Virtual Machines").

 

[robinforum]

looking for more information!

@sminlal
Isn't virus attacks only hit per partition? If I would follow what you just posted, then
I guess having 2 partition is still okay? OS + Games + Applications, then the other
partition would be all my other Files? or make 3 partitions: OS, Games + Applications,
and my Files?

 

[MRFS]

Definitely "short-stroke" your C: partition.

Here's why:

http://www.supremelaw.org/systems/io.tests/platter.transfer.crossover.graphs.2.png

PMR also enables tracks to be much closer together.

Note how the WD Caviar Black 2TB falls off much slower
than even the WD Raptors in the graphs above!


This phenomenon is due to the fact that modern HDDs
try to maintain the same or similar recording density
from outermost to innermost tracks: thus, buffer-to-disk
WRITE speeds are directly proportional to track circumference
= Pi x diameter.

Pi is the ratio of the circumference to the diameter
or about 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609

(it's an irrational number: can't be represented by the ratio of any 2 integers)


MRFS

 

[MRFS]

p.s. Just max out your RAM, and install RamDisk Plus for such
frequently used files as your browser cache(s):

http://www.supremelaw.org/systems/superspeed/RamDiskPlus.Review.htm

http://www.superspeed.com/desktop/ramdisk.php


MRFS

 

[sminlal]

Isn't virus attacks only hit per partition?

Not exactly sure what you're getting at but the number of partitions you have really doesn't change your chances of getting a virus. And if you get a virus it can potentially run around and damage files no matter what partition they're in.

 

[robinforum]

I'll just do 3 partitions for my WDC Black 1TB then..

I have another question though, here's a scenario:

[1st] OS
[2nd] Games & Apps
[3rd] Files

2nd partition have many stuffs already installed and 3rd partition already
have many important files. Suddenly, for some reason, I need to format
the 1st partition. So I pursued in formatting the 1st partition and re-installed
the OS.

Will the 2nd partition still be running smoothly? Why or why not?
Will there be any trouble regarding registry or any other stuff for the 2nd partition?
What about the 3rd partition?
I assume it's safe since they are just files that can be transferred any time

 

[sminlal]

You'll have no problem formatting just the OS partition. It won't affect any files in the other partitions (as long as you don't accidentally select them during the installation), but any games that are in the second partition will have to be reinstalled. Installing a program doesn't just put files on the disk, it also updates Registry entries inside the OS - so if you replace the OS then you have to rerun the installation in order to get everything properly set up again.

 

[foscooter]

The main disadvantage of partitioning up a single drive is the abuse it takes by moving the read arm all over the drive to read/write files across the whole drive.

I have actually been where you are before. I once had 6 partions on a 30GB hard drive. It just get too complicated. And like sminlal, I like the monicker K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid).

IMHO: a small hard drive for OS and Programs, a large drive for data/media, and another large drive for backup.

Now you ask what sizes?

The OS drive can be 60GB, but they aren't even out there. Get the smallest, fastest, lowest GB/$ drive you can. I'd say 160GB, 7200 RPM, and still this will be overkill. So much unused space on the drive. SSDs are prime for the OS Drive! But $$$.

The data/media drive should be 1TB, as the diffence b/t 500GB and 1TB in price is so small.

The back up drive should be at least as big as the data/media drive: 1-1.5TB.

This will result in so much space, you should never have a problem. Unless you have 1,000 movies, but you get the idea.

Now, I do realize you may not have the budgetr for this. Just FYI.




MRFS: 22/7 is close enough.

 

[robinforum]

Best answer selected by robinforum.