SSD Partitioning help/suggestions?

pluginbb

Honorable
Dec 3, 2012
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10,510
Hello,

I recently got a new SSD and will be installing Win7 on it. Before I do that, I was wondering about some things:

Will partitioning decrease performance of the ssd? The reason I want different partitions is because I want OS on one partition, and the other partition will be for big programs that I need to load fast (such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign, as well as World of Warcraft).

I don't want to keep them in the same partition as the OS because they are huge and if I decide to reinstall OS, I really don't want to go through the installing process for those again as well as reconfiguring them. I've had a similar file organizing system for a decade or so on my HDD (which I will still keep for general file storage).

Also, will the partitions on the SSD be merged into one during fresh windows reinstall? I know that doesn't happen with old mechanical hard drives, but I'm new to SSDs and I tried searching for posts about it and accidently stumbled on a post that suggested that would happen.

Lastly, would you recommend having the Program Files (with general and smaller programs) folder in C-drive (the same as the OS), or in different partition altogether (or perhaps even the HDD?)
 
You say you want the partition for Large programs:
Two things, If you have to reinstall OS, You must also re-install programs weather they were on C or D.
That said, Re-installing OS is SO BC (Before color TV) - LOL. OK so-8" Floppy disk drive (for thoughs who remember the 8" FDDs) instead of BC

Take advantage of Windows 7 Back-up and create a system image.
Need to re-install windows:
.. Pop in Window 7 Install disk (or the repair disk that you will be prompted to Make.
.. Select repair, then restore from Image.
.. 10 - 15 minutes later Walla-Bam-thank-you-Ma# you reboot into windows just like it was when you created the image.
NO MORE: re-install windows, NO waite for 1500000 Windows updates (only need one after Image was created), NO re-install drivers, No re-install programs, only programs that were installed after image was made.

Bottom line, you quessed it, keep SSD as a single drive - And YES I firmly believe in partitioning a HDD!!

Added: PS Win 7back up is new to Windows 7 and is located in the control panel, back-up. Imaging system drive in on left pane.
 

pluginbb

Honorable
Dec 3, 2012
3
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10,510
Just to be clear, the backup doesn't affect my personal files, just system and programs?

Also, what if I wanted to reinstall because OS feels bloated, should I make 2x images (if possible)? Such as, one for freshly installed + updated windows and one as "latest backup from the time where it last worked correctly" for emergency situations? And keep both images in the storage HDD?

Thanks alot for help :) I will be keeping the SSD as a single drive.

WoW can actually be played on the new OS without reinstall, but reinstalling won't be the problem now, as they've made it easier with the new installer (just need to backup the patch files as well as Interface settings).
 
What I do is:
1) Fresh install, all drivers loaded, all programs loaded, tested for a week - Create Image and save both to HDD and to External back-up. I move the Back-up file to a folder as if you redo the image it will overwrite.
2) periodically, ie 1 -> 3 months redo the image. This I may overwrite as Long as system is still responsive.

Which one I use is predicated on WHY I need to reload OS.