To partition or not? and how?

[gregsteg]

I'm putting together a PC for the first time in a decade. I'm pretty much following the American design for the $750 cheap computing challenge. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-undervolt-efficiency,2134.html I'm sticking with the 1Tb hard drive, I got a very good deal on this particular part, which also makes me a little wary.

I don't know what to do with 1TB. Right off the bat, I don't know if I should partition. After some reading it sounds like it could be useful, would I be a fool not to? How many partitions would 1TB deserve? How big should they be? All equal?

One of the more interesting options I've read about is running multiple OS's on separate partitions. I don't know how to do this yet, but would it be possible? Are there limits from the hardware?

I'm going to start with XP Home because I'm familiar with it. I was thinking of trying Windows 7 beta on the new machine as well. The Machine is mostly for gaming at this point. Eventually I may need to run some bio-informatic type programs but I couldn't name any yet. I really don't know much about the new OS's, which ones are good for me? Do I want a 32 or 64 bit setup? Can I do XP as 32-bit on one partition and Windows 7 as 64 bit on another?

Opinions would be great, I can read about details elsewhere. However, I am new to this and any explanations of my options right here would be a load of help, as well as any suggestions for good websites or guides.

 

[gregsteg]

I should add, I'm also curious about these ultimate boot disks one can download. Are they generally safe/legal? Is your average partitioning software usually easy to use and reliable?

 

[dougie_boy]

if you want to run multi OS you should either partion or run more than one HD.

the main OS - give it 60 - 70% of the disk. eps if its vista 64. you will fill it easy.

the 2nd OS (eg windows xp pro 32bit) - 20 -30% for legacy programs with issues under vista. eg DVD43

spare space for addition beta OS installs - eg Windows 7

you can run any combo of OS 32 or 64 bit as long as they are kept apart in different partitions.

no limit to the amount of partions you can have, but dont go too crazy. you dont want 27 disk drives all around 35gb each as they will run out of space quickly.

the vista install and the xp install give the option to create partitions before the OS is installed.