Seperate boot/storage drive- How to partition?

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Sithkiller

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Aug 8, 2008
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I have a 300gb Velociraptor I plan on setting up as my main drive with Vista ultimate 64 bit and programs. I will use a WD 640gb for a second drive for files and storage and also setting up another swap file so one is on each disk.

My question is recommendations for the Velociraptor. Should I just have it one partition for the OS and programs? Or make one partition for the OS and another for all programs? What partition it what is a generous size for Vista 64? And for the WD storage drive should that have a second partition just for the swap file or is there no real gain in doing that?

- I know just enough about computers to get me in trouble so if something gives me a noticeable performance gain I'll do it, but if it's questionable I prefer to keep it as simple as possible. Thanks!
 
Sithkiller said:
I have a 300gb Velociraptor I plan on setting up as my main drive with Vista ultimate 64 bit and programs. I will use a WD 640gb for a second drive for files and storage and also setting up another swap file so one is on each disk.

My question is recommendations for the Velociraptor. Should I just have it one partition for the OS and programs? Or make one partition for the OS and another for all programs? What partition it what is a generous size for Vista 64? And for the WD storage drive should that have a second partition just for the swap file or is there no real gain in doing that?

- I know just enough about computers to get me in trouble so if something gives me a noticeable performance gain I'll do it, but if it's questionable I prefer to keep it as simple as possible. Thanks!
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Honestly, I would just save yourself the headache and make it just one partition.

There is no performance benefit from having OS on one partition and apps on the other. Seperate partition for virtual memory on the same drive as the OS is a huge no-no.


Unless you can come up with a really solid reason for a separate partition, I would just keep it as one partition.
 
The reason for the two partitions on the main drive wasn't performance but to make it easier if I ever do a wipe and reinstall of the OS to clean up extraneous junk. But thinking on it while a good idea I don't actually do that very often so just one partition on the velociraptor like you said is the way to go I think.

Thanks for the input.
 
If you are using a new Microsoft OS like XP or Vista, do not partition your boot drive. I read about that here and over at Storage Review Tech something. The bottom line is that the OS defrags in the background but it cannot defrag when you have more than one partition on the boot drive.



 
Sithkiller said:
The reason for the two partitions on the main drive wasn't performance but to make it easier if I ever do a wipe and reinstall of the OS to clean up extraneous junk. But thinking on it while a good idea I don't actually do that very often so just one partition on the velociraptor like you said is the way to go I think.

Thanks for the input.
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With the amount of crap most modern apps install (shared dll's, fonts, drivers), its not worth it. You are likely to run into an issue that afterwiping your boot drive your apps won't run from your seperate partition due to missing system files. After that point you have to reinstall them anyway.


It would probably be a better idea to get your boot drive setup with your OS and apps you need and then just create an image of the drive and store in on a seperate hard drive or dvd discs. Would make reimaging the machine quick and painfree.

There are multiple free or open source applications that can do this for you.
 
+1 on single partition on the vraptor.

I only do 2 partitions on single drive when back then I had a single IBM 40GB. lol

Save yourself some headache. Single partition, do defrag every once a while is good enough.
 
Sithkiller said:
The reason for the two partitions on the main drive wasn't performance but to make it easier if I ever do a wipe and reinstall of the OS to clean up extraneous junk. But thinking on it while a good idea I don't actually do that very often so just one partition on the velociraptor like you said is the way to go I think.
Thanks for the input.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but the point of that second partition is fulfilled BY the 640GB. Use just one partition for the VR.
 
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