Question about hard drive partitioning

I have a 500gb hard drive. Will it operate any more efficiently if I create
a small partition for programs, and a large partition for data? Or, several
partitions for data...?

I figure two seperate hard drives would be better, but if I only have one,
am I better off leaving it as one partition, or chopping it up, and why?

I create a 15GB partition for the OS and applications and then make
everything else a Data drive. That way I can image the C: drive and
reinstall whenever I want without touching my data.

More partitions is just slower
wrote in message
news:bqbvg.12027$A8.8089@trnddc02...
I have a 500gb hard drive. Will it operate any more efficiently if I
create a small partition for programs, and a large partition for data? Or,
several partitions for data...?

I figure two seperate hard drives would be better, but if I only have one,
am I better off leaving it as one partition, or chopping it up, and why?

Ok, so it's more for housekeeping, than efficiency?

"Tom Scales" wrote in message
.. .
I create a 15GB partition for the OS and applications and then make
everything else a Data drive. That way I can image the C: drive and
reinstall whenever I want without touching my data.

More partitions is just slower
wrote in message
news:bqbvg.12027$A8.8089@trnddc02...
I have a 500gb hard drive. Will it operate any more efficiently if I
create a small partition for programs, and a large partition for data?
Or, several partitions for data...?

I figure two seperate hard drives would be better, but if I only have
one, am I better off leaving it as one partition, or chopping it up, and
why?

On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 20:22:31 GMT, wrote:

I have a 500gb hard drive. Will it operate any more efficiently if I create
a small partition for programs, and a large partition for data? Or, several
partitions for data...?

I figure two seperate hard drives would be better, but if I only have one,
am I better off leaving it as one partition, or chopping it up, and why?


i think you're better off partitioning it not only for better
performance although most users probably wouldn't notice the
difference but also for ease and convenience of backups and changes.

my 120GB drive is partitioned into 3 logical drives...one for the
operating system (abouty 20GB with 13GB used), one for programs (about
20GB with 5 GB used) and another for data files (about 15 GB with 13GB
used) (the balance is unallocated).

i backup each of these partitions onto a second internal hard drive on
a regular schedule. that backup is an image and is done
automatically. i also schedule an automatic image backup of those
partitions onto an external hard drive. i do a periodic backup of
each partition to DVDs and store them in my safe deposit box. with
compression each of the partitions fits onto 1 or 2 DVDs.

anytime i install anything be it an upgrade to an existing program or
a new program i first do a manual backup of the OS and programs
partition onto the second internal hard drive. if the install fails
or causes problems i can revert both of those partitions back to their
pre-install state.

i would absolutely suggest you get a second hard drive, either
internal or external. my preference would be that the second drive be
at least the same size as the primary drive. also get yourself a good
image backup program. file-by-file backups are better than nothing
but image backups are best.

hope this helps.

73,
rich, n9dko

Ditto!

"Tom Scales" wrote in message
.. .
I create a 15GB partition for the OS and applications and then make
everything else a Data drive. That way I can image the C: drive and
reinstall whenever I want without touching my data.

More partitions is just slower
wrote in message
news:bqbvg.12027$A8.8089@trnddc02...
I have a 500gb hard drive. Will it operate any more efficiently if I
create a small partition for programs, and a large partition for data?
Or, several partitions for data...?

I figure two seperate hard drives would be better, but if I only have
one, am I better off leaving it as one partition, or chopping it up, and
why?

Not really. An OS on the outside of the HD is said to be faster.

http://partition.radified.com/

See page 2.







wrote in message
news:zbcvg.12533$A8.7394@trnddc02...
Ok, so it's more for housekeeping, than efficiency?

Efficiency isn't an issue these days. With the performance of hard
drives these days, the issue is organization and protection.

I will set my systems as:

Drive 1 (Internal):
C: 15-20GB O/S
D: CD-ROM
E: 15-20GB O/S
F: Programs/Data (the rest of the Drive)

Drive 2 (External USB):
G: 150-300GB

The E: drive is for an alternate OS. I use it to install XP when I need
to rebuild my configuration. This allows me to keep the old one running
while I'm configuring the new one.

The G: drive is for storing my ghost images (and anything else that
needs to be archived). I keep it turned off except when the Ghost backup
is scheduled or I need to restore a file or folder..

I find absolutely no advantage these days with partioning a hard drive
beyond 2 partitions, at least for the "basic" operation. First of all,
you can't separate the OS and programs. Every time you install a
program, Windows will install critical files on the boot drive. If the
boot drive has to be rebuilt/restored, you will have to reinstall the
programs.

Second, with the cost of additional internal and external drives (and
backup software) declining and the performance improving, the idea that
backing up multiple smaller partitions is somehow faster or more
efficient just doesn't cut it. also, selectively restoring files/folders
is easy.

Regards,
Hank Arnold

wrote:
I have a 500gb hard drive. Will it operate any more efficiently if I create
a small partition for programs, and a large partition for data? Or, several
partitions for data...?

I figure two seperate hard drives would be better, but if I only have one,
am I better off leaving it as one partition, or chopping it up, and why?

On Wed, 19 Jul 2006 05:02:25 -0400, Hank Arnold
wrote:

(snip)
I find absolutely no advantage these days with partioning a hard drive
beyond 2 partitions, at least for the "basic" operation. First of all,
you can't separate the OS and programs. Every time you install a
program, Windows will install critical files on the boot drive. If the
boot drive has to be rebuilt/restored, you will have to reinstall the
programs.

that's just not true. i have restored my C:\ partition many times and
have not had to re-install any programs which reside on a different
partition on the same hard drive. but this is true only with an
imaged backup and not a file-by-file. using a FBF backup your
statement would be valid.

73,
rich, n9dko