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Thread: Partition stratgy for new drive

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    Post Partition stratgy for new drive

    Hi all,

    I was planning on a reinstall of XP this week, onto a new 500Gb hard drive. I normally partition it into several partitions so that my data are relatively more safe if I ever need to reformat for whatever reason.

    Currently I have a 250Gb hard disk as the "system" drive split into the following partitions:

    Windows - 10Gb
    Documents & Settings - 15Gb
    Program Files - 15Gb
    Games - 60Gb
    Internet Downloads - 138Gb

    I was thinking about just "expanding" these partitions to fix the new 500Gb drive - however, I was wondering if anyone else had any thoughts on this or recommendations on partitioning their drives?

    Thank you for any responses, they will be most appreciated.
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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    One partition for windows
    One partition for program files
    one partition for data
    one partition for the windows swap file, set min and max sizes the same, make it twice as big as your installed memory (might waste a bit of space, but hey, 500Gb...)

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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    Looks good to me. I have a similar setup and it works well. As greenalien mentions, if you're going to have your swap file on your c: drive 10gb might be a bit tight (after you start installing updates), escpecially as windows defrag wants 15% free to do it's stuff.
    Oh and give your games partition loads of space, just installed gears of war and ut3, 18gb for those alone!

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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    I gotta disagree about the partition for Swap File/Page File
    I shall explain why.

    The Hard drive Read Heads all move together. No matter how many platters you have. If you put the swap file on a different partition, but on the same drive, as the OS, and the Apps, and the Data that you want to use, the read heads are gonna never ever be in the correct place, and therefore will be slower. They'll be hack sawing back and forth....all over the place.

    My idea as follows.

    20% of the drive should be the first partition. Install XP on it and THEN BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING, change the Swap File to use a MINIMUM of double your system ram, but set the max limit to 8gig or even more. That way IF it needs it, it's at least possible. Put it on the partition you've created, with XP on it. C drive.

    (Right Click My Computer, Click Properties, Advanced, Performace "Settings" button, Advanced, Virtual Memory, Change, Custom, and choose the only partiton you've made so far....C drive.)

    THEN DEFRAG... That'll put the Virtual Mem PageFile/Swap File in one big lump and if it needs to overlap it can later, cos you wont put much more on that partition.

    then carry on with your install of drivers, etc Once XP is in and you're happy, DEFRAG IT AGAIN....then partiton the NEXT part of the hdd to the next fastest thing that you want. Games for example.

    And then the last partition for data. Dont go beyond 3 partitions. Just wait, and buy another hard drive when you need it

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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    If you are going to use multiple partitions, then it is useful after you have sorted c:\ out, to designate your cd/dvd/s to be x,y or z drive/s.

    This ensures that, even if you add more partitions later, installed software won't be confused because your dvd that was, say, d:\ is now e:\.

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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    I do something similar.

    c: windows
    d: applications
    g: games
    s: storage

    2nd drive has swap file partition and additional storage. If the swap file is on C: I would recommend fixing the amount of page file memory to twice the RAM size, that way it won't allow windows to change it and it will therefore not need defraging as much.

    Then I have any virtual drives as t,u,v,w and then cd/dvd drives as y and z, external (backup) is x.
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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    My previous system used 2x 74GB 10k rpm Raptors in a RAID0 array, plus a 250GB SATA disk.

    RAID0 was partitioned as 50GB for "OS" and the rest for "APPS - RAID" (apps or games that can benefit from fast loading times).
    250GB disk was 1 partition for "APPS & DATA" (apps & games that are so small they do not benefit from fast loading times, or are used very infrequently, plus static data files).


    For my current system I ditched the RAID concept entirely, I am not convinced it makes a big enough difference for client machines with single users.

    I have 2x 250GB SATA II disks, the first has 100GB for the OS followed by 150GB for static data.
    I use the second disk as required, carving off 25GB partitions and mounting them for applications or games.

    e.g.
    the first 25GB is mounted as "C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft"
    the next 25GB is mounted as "C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis"
    the next 25GB is mounted as "C:\Program Files (x86)\2K Games\Bioshock"
    ...and so on...
    As I complete or get tired of games, I can remove the mount points and re-use the partitions.


    I left the page file on C: as system default, letting Windows dictate how big it needs it to be.
    (Note - the page file will revert to its minimum size after a reboot, regardless of whether it expanded it previously or what the maximum size is set to, so it will shrink back to the original (unfragmented) portion of the disk it had at installation.)

    By moving the applications & games to the second disk I can split the I/O between OS & page file access and the program I am loading.
    As the data on the same physical disk as the OS is static, the load times are trivial and do not conflict with the operation of the OS itself (i.e. if I am loading a large .ISO file to edit for a virtual machine, then I have already loaded the application to do the editing so the disk I/O will be just streaming the large file from disk).

    By carving off partitions as needed, the data written by each program is less fragmented, the downside is clearly the wasted space and knowing how much disk space may be required before installation.


    In summary, I prefer to go for smaller, multiple disks on separate channels than larger ones where there is a higher chance of contention for I/O.
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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Adams View Post
    I left the page file on C: as system default, letting Windows dictate how big it needs it to be.
    (Note - the page file will revert to its minimum size after a reboot, regardless of whether it expanded it previously or what the maximum size is set to, so it will shrink back to the original (unfragmented) portion of the disk it had at installation.)
    nice post Mr Adams.....that is exactly what I was waffling on about

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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    I only ever split a drive into a max of 2 partitions. I've got 2 drives in my system, a 250gb and 500gb, have split the 250 into 50gb for the OS and the rest is just temp/download/work area labelled as C: and E:. The 500gb is a single partition for user profiles/games/user documents. My swap file is on the D: drive.

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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    is there any advantages in spilting it up in to partions?

    and on vista, how can u set it to have the user files on a another partion?

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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    Quote Originally Posted by HSK View Post
    is there any advantages in spilting it up in to partions?
    Making dozens of partitions as some have suggested? No, that's mental. Having one for the OS, and perhaps another for apps & games, and even a third for downloads? Yes, there are advantages, it can help reduce fragmentation and ensure your OS is on the fastest part of the disk.

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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    Secondly you can wipe the OS and not wipe you data at the same time.
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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    I suspect Paul Adams is using dynamic volumes in which case having lots of small physical partitions makes eminent sense as he can dynamically change the size of the logical partitions by adding physical partitions to the volume group as required.

    If he is NOT using dynamic volumes, then he is doing something else very clever, which is beyond me, but the explanation he gives seems quite logical and reasonable to me. However it may not be a strategy that would suit every user.
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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    However it may not be a strategy that would suit every user.
    Therein lies the problem with all such design decisions.

    Often we get at work questions like "where should I put my pagefile and how big should it be?", "how many users can my server support?", "should I use roaming profiles and/or redirected folders?" - the answers vary depending on the situation.

    The main deciding factor for planning an OS installation is what the system will be used for - a SQL server running a backend database for an application 10,000 users use daily will have a different set of requirements for a server just providing internal DNS, for example.

    The same can go for client machines - only here the problem is that users (or the software they run) tend to have different requirements as time goes by, so the "optimal" build may no longer be so optimal after a while.

    As iranu pointed out, separating the OS from data means the OS can be reinstalled without a need to backup & restore the data files - not a day-to-day operation but if planned that way at install time it can save a lot of hassle when the time comes for a system repair, migration or upgrade.

    I posted my current setup to indicate there is more than one way to skin a cat, and you do not need to have umpteen drive letters just because you use partitions.
    For most people going that complex would not give a lot of benefit - espeically if they are the type to install software and not remove it until there is contention on disk space (I used to do this, it was so "neat" to have all my games installed at the same time when hard disks starting getting bigger some years back).

    As "install, remove, install, remove, install, remove, install..." will inevitably lead to fragmentation, plus I don't store hundreds of gigabytes of ripped songs or movies (I prefer to hold my MP3s on a file server, and have a "real" library of DVDs I have bought on shelves that I can browse) - this is why I have decided to not pre-allocate the space on my second disk, but carve it off as required.
    It is also my I went for the smallest SATA II disks I could find, instead of gigantic ones - it is better to spread the resources over multiple physical disks for I/O performance and also when it comes to DR (one disk failure has less of an impact) and system management (defragmenting or error checking on huge partitions can take a while).

    As they are not logical drives, I don't have to be concerned about mulitiple Recycle Bins or Volume Shadow Copy folders, or ensuring all games are happy being installed under (e.g.) "G:\Games\FPS\Duke Nukem Foreverandever".

    As I don't use multiple, constantly disk-intensive applications, I don't get any benefit from RAID.

    As I have 8GB of RAM and shouldn't be using my pagefile a huge amount, I don't need to be concerned about relocating it to a separate disk or setting its size - instead I give the OS partition plenty of elbow room.

    It suits my requirements.
    At the moment

    Not for everyone's taste, nor would it suit their requirements - but hopefully food for thought.
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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    Paul, I use Logical volumes on a Linux system - partitioned in much the same way as you describe (about 10 partitions on a 250GB drive) - I have never tried dynamic volumes on a Windows system (never had a requirement) - are you using dynamic volumes? If not, what are you doing?

    Agree with you and Iranu - having a separate physical partition and logical drive for user data makes a lot of sense for most users.
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    Re: Partition stratgy for new drive

    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    ...are you using dynamic volumes? If not, what are you doing?
    This is Vista, second disk is GPT, not MBR.
    Windows and GPT FAQ: Version 1.1

    For a new app or game to install, I kick of the setup program and select the Advanced/Custom option to view the location the files will get installed to by default.

    This is where previously I would have changed the destination folder to "Q:\appname" or something, but now I just use it for information.
    I alt-tab out of the setup at this point (no need to cancel it, and I cannot proceed yet).

    Next I use Explorer to create the folder that is the default destination (probably under "C:\Program Files (x86)" somewhere.

    Now I go into Disk Management, right-click in my unallocated area of my GPT disk and select "New Simple Volume", specify the size in MB, select "Mount in the following empty NTFS folder" and click the Browse button.
    I locate the folder I created and complete with a quick format, labelling the volume appropriately.

    Now I can alt-tab back into the setup and continue (often with a warning that the destination folder already exists, which I know).

    In Disk Management, all the volumes on a GPT disk appear as Simple and Primary:
    Screenshot of Disk Management (800x352)
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