What's the best way to partition a laptop with a single 500 GB hard drive and a 32 GB mSATA card?

[DavidNeira]

Hello,

A little backstory first. I had resisted the temptation to upgrade my Dell Inspiron 15z 5523 to Windows 10 for a long time, up until about a week ago, when a banner just showed up in the middle of the screen announcing that the free upgrade period was about to end. I gave in and finally did it. I hadn't done it before because I know that upgrading to a new version of an OS without doing a clean install may cause some problems. And sure enough, problems came along, mostly WiFi related. I thought they would get fixed as Windows Update worked behind the scenes. Nope. Then, boot up started taking more time than usual, so I guessed I might as well back up all relevant files and perform a clean Windows 10 install. But things only got worse, after turning off the laptop and trying to turn it back on to start the clean install, I was greeted with a black screen (it didn't even turn on) and 3 beeps, meaning that during the POST, the BIOS detected a motherboard malfunction. Great, now it's a hardware problem and I'm out of warranty, or that's what I thought. After doing some research, I found that this "Inspiron 15z 5523 Black Screen 3 beeps after Windows 10 upgrade" problem was far from being an isolated case, and that some people had managed to fix it by reflashing the BIOS. I did it, and it's back on again, seemingly unharmed, running on Windows 8.1 after I reverted back to it. But I'd feel better knowing that I'm running my laptop on a cleanly installed OS instead of a downgraded-after-being-upgraded one.

I'm currently downloading all the necessary drivers (my laptop didn't come with a recovery disk and I never made one). But before I install Windows 8.1, I'd like to know what would be the best way to set up the partitions on my hard drive. How many should I create? One for the OS, one for programs, one for the page file and temporary files, one for data and one recovery partition? What about the size of each partition? I don't really know, I'm the opposite of an expert on this subject.

The (I think) relevant specs: my laptop has a 500 GB, SATA II, 5400 rpm Seagate hard drive, and a 32 GB mSATA card that works as a cache for the main drive using Intel Smart Response Technology. It also has 8 GB of DDR3 RAM memory.

Also, is it alright to format just the main drive during the partitioning part of the OS installation? Or should I execute the Diskpart Clean (or Clean All) command both on the main drive and the mSATA card before starting the OS installation?

I'd really appreciate it if you could give me your opinions on the matter.
​

 

[ArtPog]

The truth of the matter is there's really no "best way" to partition one's HDD or SSD. So much depends upon the "comfort level" of the user in terms of what his or her inclinations are with respect to dividing their drive to house discrete types of data. What works for me may not hold any appeal for you and that is because there's no absolute right or wrong way when undertaking a partitioning scheme.

I point this out because you can get a dozen or more responses to your query each one touting their particular scheme and who can say whether this one or that one is really right or wrong?

Be that as it may I'll give you my take on this subject...

Over the years I've not in general been a fan of multi-partitioning one's boot drive except in some unusual (read "rare") circumstances. By & large we've counseled users to set up their boot drives as a single partition (other than the creation of System Recovery & similar small-sized partitions that may be mandated by the OS and/or OEM) and organize their programs/data through the creation of folders (rather than separate partitions). Time & time again we encounter users who have multi-partitioned their drives and done so to their distress when a time comes that they decide to reconfigure the size of their partitions for one reason or another and they find to their distress that it's extremely difficult or just about impossible to do so.

While I'm still inclined to feel that way about single-partitioning one's drive I'm not quite so adamant about it as I once was. And that is chiefly because of the advent of SSDs over the past few years as more & more users (wisely) install that type of disk as their boot drive because of the enormous speed advantages that device yields as compared with a HDD.

So what's the problem here as it affects the organization of one's boot drive? Because of the substantially higher cost of SSDs as compared with HDDs on a per/GB basis, many users cannot afford the larger size SSD that's needed to accommodate the total data of their current HDD-based system when the time comes when the user decides to use a SSD as his/her boot drive. They are unable to clone ("disk migrate") the contents of their HDD source disk to a SSD destination disk because of the disk-size differentials. There is no practical way of isolating the OS integrated in their single-partitioned source HDD and cloning only the OS over to the smaller sized SSD. On the other hand had they originally set up their HDD so as to create a partition solely to contain the OS and another partition to contain the remainder of their data contents there would be no problem. The OS could then be cloned over to the destination SSD so that it would serve as the new boot drive with the HDD now serving as a secondary drive in the system containing non-OS data.

It's conceivable that by & by you may consider a SSD as your boot drive. And you may not be able to afford a SSD whose disk-space capacity is large enough to contain the total contents of your present drive. So perhaps you might want to now consider creating a partition of about 100 GB or so to house your OS (+ a few other programs & data) and another partition to contain the remainder of your data.

It's unnecessary to invoke the Diskpart clean command if you're fresh-installing the Win 8.1 OS on your HDD. Simple formatting/partitioning the drive should be sufficient. But there's no harm in doing so if you wish.

What you should be especially concerned with after you install the OS and the system is functioning to your satisfaction is creating & maintaining a comprehensive backup system that you'll keep reasonably up-to-date. That should be a first or near-first priority. Consider utilizing a disk-cloning program that you will utilize routinely to effectuate such a system. I'm sure you understand you'll need another HDD together with a USB external enclosure for this.

 

[sshades]

I don't think that this is as hard as it sounds assuming that you have the data that is important to you backed up already.

During the installation of Windows 8 or 10, you should have the option of which partition to install to. If the installer shows a recovery partition that is relatively large on your HDD (it can vary a LOT, but somewhere in the ballpark of 5-20 GB), you *may* want to leave it alone. It's up to you, but this should have a full backup of your original system and many but not all systems will have them. If you have a relatively small recovery partition on your HDD (about 500 MB), it can safely be deleted because Windows can create this one automatically.

If you have just one other large partition on your HDD, you can simply choose to install Windows on that partition. Windows will create all of the additional partitions it needs automatically. If you have several other partitions on the HDD, you can either (1) leave them as is or (2) an easier way is to just delete every partition except your large recovery partition if you want to keep that (this step would delete all your data and programs). Next, you either create one large partition and tell Windows to install there or you tell Windows to install to the largest chunk of "free" (unpartitioned) space. The key here is that other than a large partition for a full factory reset if you have one, Windows can handle all of its partitioning automatically. It should create everything it needs.

I would leave the SSD completely alone assuming you'd still like to use it as a cache. It should already be partitioned correctly for that. After you reinstall Windows, you'll probably have to "tell" Windows to use it. Here is a pretty nice guide from Dell on how to do that:

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/SLN147923/en?c=us&amp

Note: If you end up accidentally deleting a large recovery partition, it's usually not the end of the world. At the very least, you can create a bootable USB stick with a "clean" install of Windows 8.1 or 10 on it to save as a backup.

 

[DavidNeira]

Thank you for your quick response ArtPog, let me try to address the points you've made:

The truth of the matter is there's really no "best way" to partition one's HDD or SSD. So much depends upon the "comfort level" of the user in terms of what his or her inclinations are with respect to dividing their drive to house discrete types of data. What works for me may not hold any appeal for you and that is because there's no absolute right or wrong way when undertaking a partitioning scheme.

You're absolutely right, I understand that the phrasing of the title was not adequate, since partitioning schemes are particular to the needs and resources of each user.

Over the years I've not in general been a fan of multi-partitioning one's boot drive except in some unusual (read "rare") circumstances. By & large we've counseled users to set up their boot drives as a single partition (other than the creation of System Recovery & similar small-sized partitions that may be mandated by the OS and/or OEM) and organize their programs/data through the creation of folders (rather than separate partitions). Time & time again we encounter users who have multi-partitioned their drives and done so to their distress when a time comes that they decide to reconfigure the size of their partitions for one reason or another and they find to their distress that it's extremely difficult or just about impossible to do so.

That's a very good reason not to multi-partition a hard drive, I think I'm aware of the fact that multi-partitioning my hard drive is going to severely reduce it's flexibility, since, to use an analogy: I'd be organizing it by building somewhat solid walls, instead of using thin, movable cubicle dividers. However, after about two years of using this laptop, I am pretty sure I know just how much space of my hard drive each type of data is taking. I'm also pretty sure that I won't be installing any other major program on it, so let's say I'd be willing to trade flexibility for performance and organizational benefits, if there were any.

I think that addresses the main idea of your response, I'll just note a couple more things:

So what's the problem here as it affects the organization of one's boot drive? Because of the substantially higher cost of SSDs as compared with HDDs on a per/GB basis, many users cannot afford the larger size SSD that's needed to accommodate the total data of their current HDD-based system when the time comes when the user decides to use a SSD as his/her boot drive. They are unable to clone ("disk migrate") the contents of their HDD source disk to a SSD destination disk because of the disk-size differentials. There is no practical way of isolating the OS integrated in their single-partitioned source HDD and cloning only the OS over to the smaller sized SSD. On the other hand had they originally set up their HDD so as to create a partition solely to contain the OS and another partition to contain the remainder of their data contents there would be no problem. The OS could then be cloned over to the destination SSD so that it would serve as the new boot drive with the HDD now serving as a secondary drive in the system containing non-OS data.

It's conceivable that by & by you may consider a SSD as your boot drive. And you may not be able to afford a SSD whose disk-space capacity is large enough to contain the total contents of your present drive. So perhaps you might want to now consider creating a partition of about 100 GB or so to house your OS (+ a few other programs & data) and another partition to contain the remainder of your data.

As of now, there's no way I can afford buying a SSD with enough capacity to accommodate all of my data, I don't even have an external HDD on which to back it up. I was able to back up my important files on a borrowed laptop. I do plan to buy an external HDD.
Buying a SSD with less capacity and using it only as my boot drive is also something I don't think is going to happen, mainly because I'm more inclined to save money to buy a better computer altogether (for example, one with a high capacity SSD and a dedicated graphics card), than upgrading the one I have, though that's not happening soon, so if multi-partitioning my hard drive improves it's performance, that works for me.

As you can see, my opinion is a bit biased towards multi-partitioning, that's not to say I don't see value in your advice, quite the opposite.
​

 

[ArtPog]

Just one final comment in view of your closing response. It's difficult for me to see (as a general proposition) how multi-partitioning one's drive improves its performance. Given the development of modern OSs, HDDs, and other PC components to the point of their present development - with rare exceptions that may apply to a tiny fragment of PC users - I cannot see how the segregation of data via multi-partitioning one's drive(s) leads to faster and/or more efficient performance affecting one's PC system. As far as I'm concerned it introduces an element that complicates - rather than simplifies - the operation of a PC.

But as I've indicated (in effect) at the outset of this "discussion"...
"You pays yer muny and yer taikes yer cherce".

 

[DavidNeira]

Thank you sshades, the first time I had to format this laptop I made the mistake of creating a partition in the SSD instead of leaving it alone, I also didn't load the necessary driver during the OS installation, I probably made some other mistakes, because the only thing that allowed me to reset it and being able to use ISMRT was invoking the Diskpart Clean All (Clean alone didn't help) command. So I had to go through the guide you mentioned and some others to get it to work, along with formatting the laptop again. Such a hassle.
I didn't create any large recovery partitions back then, and Disk Management shows a 300 MB Recovery Partition, which was created by default during Windows installation. So if I wipe everything again, I could create a large recovery partition, say only for storing a system image of the freshly installed Windows, right? Or is saving a system image back up on the same physical drive where the rest of the data is located absolutely useless?​

 

[sshades]

I'm glad you were able to get the cache working. I'm sure that makes a fairly significant difference in performance.

A side note since it was brought up... here are two reasons that I know of for additional partitioning. First, it can be useful to have a separate partition for file sharing because that leads to significant fragmentation which you may not want polluting your system drive. Even Linux with all of its special file systems which were supposed to make fragmentation a thing of the past has issues with file sharing and fragmentation. Second, more of a Linux thing... it can be nice to have a separate partition so that you can leave your data untouched during an OS upgrade. In Linux, most people tend to do fresh installs fairly often. There's also partitioning to make sure that something doesn't fill up all of your system partition like for a video recording server or kernel logs. Kind of niche cases of course. Resizing partitions is also relatively easy and foolproof in Linux.

Back to the topic, I can almost guarantee that your computer had a "full" recovery partition at some point which is the thing that manufacturers include so that you can do a full factory reset. That's probably the reason why it didn't come with a recovery disk. If it isn't there now, it was likely deleted at some point. That is not something that is generally easy to get back again. The good news is that Windows 8 and 10 both have the ability to do an OS "reset" using your small Recovery Partition (that 300 MB partition), so to be perfectly honest you're probably good to go. You can also do something like a full system image backup to an external hard drive if you like, but personally I tend to just back up my important data. The things that a system image backup on the same hard drive but different partition might save you from are: (1) file system corruption caused by "dirty" shutdowns/reboots which is pretty rare, (2) software issues like malware and Windows files or drivers corruption are much more common and generally shouldn't effect a separate partition that hasn't been "mounted", or (3) the convenience of being able to do a software reset without having to reinstall some of your drivers and programs. However, just about any software that can do a system image backup to a separate partition can also do a system image backup to your main partition, so you'd have to decide whether it's worth the hassle.

One really useful recovery solution that I mentioned is to grab a 8 or 16 GB usb drive and make a bootable Windows installer on it. Then just file it away somewhere. You can always do this after you've had a problem by using a different computer, but it can potentially save you hours at an inconvenient time instead of having to download a fresh image or find some else's computer to borrow. This way you have something to fall back on even if your recovery partition manages to get nuked somehow.