Partitioning 250GB Hard Disk

[nindo]

Hi,

I just got myself a new 250GB hard disk and I was wondering what was the best way to parition it. I was thinking of doing an even split, about 125/125 formatting with NTFS of course. It's generally for data storage as I have the OS running on a seperate hard disk....

I'm just wondering if there's a much better partioning strategy to either make full use of space or something like that...anyone have any pointers?

[Allen]

How about just one partition of 100%? Surely that would maximise the space available?

If it's only for 'data' storage then you don't necessarily need more partitions, just use folders. That's what I do, anyway.

[Kezzer]

First you've got to figure out the reason for partitions by using the power of google, then think about if you need to ask again It's more of a personal choice

[nindo]

I was thinking that too, just make it easier, but don't you like lose some storage space because of the way the NTFS partition is or something like that? I know it was the case with FAT32 as in you wouldn't get the full storage space or something like that(correct me if I'm wrong...)

[nindo]

Kezzer: Think it's mostly to maximise the space on the hard disk, did a google and basically it's reduce the amoutn of slack space(from storagereview.com). Am doing it in even splits for now mostly because one partition is mostly storage, the other would be like a scratch disk(doing video editing etc)...Think that makes the most sense...Just that haven't been able to find many tutorials/suggestions of bigger hard disks(e.g. 250GB)

[Kezzer]

depends on what you're storing really. You could have a partition for work, your video editing material, installing games, music and so forth.

[5cupa]

Kezzer: the other would be like a scratch disk(doing video editing etc)...

you would only find performance using a 2nd hardrive for scratch disk as if its just a partition it still cant read/write anyfaster then having your main partition as scratch 1

[BlueBot]

don't patition your drives. If you partition your drive as such
eg
OS 30 gig
Games 70 gig
Films etc 150 gig

and you need a bigger OS partition for example then you are in trouble. It's best just to use folders as Big_Al suggests. I mean what are the advantages of partitioning? Quicker defrag (eugh what's the point) times and errr... Using folders is much more flexible in my opinion.

Of course I could and probably am totally wrong, but they're my feelings...

Steve

[5cupa]

or if it were me i use 2nd hardrive or external for backups, then ghost those once in a while to my main hdrive for backup backups

[funnelhead]

Well i'd partition it in half or thirds, depending on what you will use it for. If ur a gamer then running games from this drive will speed loading times considerably.

You could also conssider putting a 1.5gig partition on at the end (ie the last one you add), formatting this in fat and running ur page file there...that will be faster too.

If you run ghost you might want a fat partition that you can read from dos.....

Partitioning is a 2 edged sword - it gives you better security against malware that only attaks certain drive letters, speeds up defrag and, most importantly, allows you to format the hard drive 1 half at a time so as not to lose the data you want to keep. Sure it lacks flexibilty of a folder based approach, but with a little foward thinking and a copy of partition magic 8 this can be avoided. Obviously this is more of an advantage when you only have 1 hard drive...

personally im in the raid it and partition it gang

system - 5gig
games - 35gig
music - 45gig
downloads - 30gig
divx - 30gig
ghost images - 3gig fat32
swapfile - 1gig fat

guess it's cos i have a disorganised mind.....

[BlueBot]

personally I like folders because I have had a bad experience with paritioning. My mate told me not to partition, and so I completely ignored him and created a 200 gig series partition amongst others. I now have about 250 gig of series and no where to put them... Problemo.

Steve

ps legal disclaimer type thing (or in case anyone has a go at me) all my series are legally obtained personal rips of my own DVD's, thank you.

[nindo]

Bluebot: So it's using just folders and holding it all in one large partition? That's true though, didn't really think of that. Was thinking of partitioning just to have files more organised, and not waste space....Defrag would be quicker but then again if it's mostly for storage it doesn't need that much defragging...

funnelhead: would putting a fat partition at the end and use it as a paging drive make the system quicker? Cool, didn't know you could do that...With that many partitions does it say help "if" one of the partitions decided to go awol on you?

Think I'll be partitionin it to the lines of about:

120 - For vid editing, temp space etc( say for photoshop etc where files are written and erased fairly frequently)

125 - For storage in folders for flexibility

5(at the end of the disk) - for paging to make it faster for the system...

[funnelhead]

sounds good to me nindo. just bear in mind that the space you actually get is

250 X (1024/1000) = 244gb

since hard drives claim 1000kb = 1 megabyte, whilst windows actually uses 1024 kb = 1 mb. or something like that

anyway when partitioning, if you want a 125gig partition exactly ( to look neat) then tell it to make a partition of 125 X 1024 = 128,000 megabytes

or 5gigs = 5 X 1024 = 5120 megabytes

etc etc

hope all goes well

F

[Pita^Norf]

When I partition I take a couple of factors into account.

1. Will this be the only drive in the system ?

if yes - I partition the 1 partition to something like 20 - 40 gig and install my OS on it and them leave the remaining space as the other partition just for data storage. This way I can do a reinstall any time by just reformating the system partition without the need of backing up / transfering the 2nd partition and also I don't clutter up the system partition with storage data.

If no - Create as many partitions as you need.

[Pita^Norf]

5(at the end of the disk) - for paging to make it faster for the system...

TBH you won't see any improvements with this unless you place the page file on different physical drive.

[nindo]

Pita^Norf: Yeah it's the second disk on the system that's why I'm thinking the page file at the end might speed the system up a bit. I like the way you think though, making life simple

If no - Create as many partitions as you need.

funnelhead: duly noted, don't think I'd get the full 250GB anyways.

Thanks for the help all, will be doing paritinioning it off tonight!