Minimum partitioning scheme for fresh install?

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jslater25

Limp Gawd
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Dec 8, 2006
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Okay, I know this is a fairly basic question, but I'm having a hard time determining the answer.

I currently have four hard drives, running Windows XP. I plan on moving up to either Windows Vista or 7 (haven't decided which just yet), and when I do so, I want to make a couple changes. Please note that I have multiple physical hard drives, and I'm not referring to multiple partitions on one HDD.

Whats the best set up for optimum performance? I've heard that putting the virtual memory swap file on a drive separate to the operating system can speed things up. I think I will place the OS and program files onto my 10K RPM HDD to speed up boot and app loading times.

Are there other suggestions and recommendations? I want to make it as easy as possible to reinstall the OS and apps without having to always reload my personal data.
 
I would upgrade to W7, forget Vista ;)

On my older computer (only has a 120gig hard drive, a gig of ram and 2.66 P4), I just resized my partitions and made a new one for W7. The W7 partition was like 38 gigs. I could still use all my music, videos and documents from the other partition. So you wouldn't have to copy "everything" over.

And yea the 10k rpm would be best.

Hope this helps
 
Do you want to you use all four?...

10000 RPM - OS, Apps, 1GB page file
7200 RPM 1 - Personal data, 1GB page file
7200 RPM 2 - Personal data, 1GB page file
7200 RPM 3 - Personal data, 1GB page file

It's best to spread the swap files across multiple drives. I believe Windows will then automatically use the drive which is least busy.
 
jslater25 said:
I want to make it as easy as possible to reinstall the OS and apps without having to always reload my personal data.
Click to expand...

Different applications store user settings and data in different locations.
You need to identify this location for each.

If you backup this data and restore it after an OS reinstall, you will not have to reenter all your settings.
The risk is that you have to remember to backup all of this right before the reinstall.

Alternatively, you can relocate all the application data and settings to a location different than the OS, and set up the applications to use this alternate location.
If you reinstall, all data remains intact.
 
You can always move your virtual memory to a separate physical drive, but I've never gotten any noticeable difference in doing so. I would use your fastest drive for the OS and apps, and then leave another drive for user data, such as pictures, music, etc. You can also use SyncToy to keep anything backed up from the system drive to a data drive.
 
gtg465x said:
It's best to spread the swap files across multiple drives. I believe Windows will then automatically use the drive which is least busy.
Click to expand...

That's very likeable in my opinion. And I have no qualms about spreading the swap across multiple drives.
 
What are the sizes of your hard drives?

Regardless, I would make a 30-40GB partition for Windows on one of them (probably the 10KRPM) and move your My Documents folder to a different partition or drive after setup. Also, don't install any applications to this drive (except system-integrated things like 7zip and Daemon Tools). That way, if you ever need to reinstall Windows (and I'm pretty sure you will... shit happens) you don't have to worry about backing much up.
 
The 10Krpm drive is 75G. I have one 7500RPM drive that is 320G. Another 7500rpm drive that is 60G and a 5400rpm drive that is 40G.

I know it is common practice for most techs to reinstall Windows frequently, but I have not found that to be a necessity. In fact, I have had to reinstall Windows only one or two times, and they were definitely my fault for actions I took without truly understanding the consequences.
 
jslater25 said:
The 10Krpm drive is 75G. I have one 7500RPM drive that is 320G. Another 7500rpm drive that is 60G and a 5400rpm drive that is 40G.

I know it is common practice for most techs to reinstall Windows frequently, but I have not found that to be a necessity. In fact, I have had to reinstall Windows only one or two times, and they were definitely my fault for actions I took without truly understanding the consequences.
Click to expand...

Well, regardless of whether it was your fault or not, the fact is you still had to reinstall Windows. And you will again in the future. With Windows, it's not if, but when. Trust me, when you do get to that point where you need a reinstall, you'll be a lot happier for having planned ahead like this. :cool:

That being said, it might make sense to just leave the entire 75GB 10000RPM drive as your boot drive. You won't gain much by partitioning it up. Leave your temp directories pointing to that drive (as they do by default), but move My Documents to one of your 7200RPM drives.

How you divide up the other drives is up to you, but you should be sure that you do not install applications to C: anymore (except a few things that integrate with the system, like Daemon Tools and 7-zip). I would probably move My Documents to the 60GB drive, and install programs on the 320GB. It might make sense to point your downloads to the 60GB drive, too.

Split the swap between your 10000RPM drive and your 7200RPM drives; you could do it evenly, or give a little more to the 10000RPM. And honestly, I'd just pull the 5400RPM drive from the system or use it for backing up important data.
 
get enough RAM that the thing never swaps and stop worrying about it?
Also, win7 > Vista.
And for backing up settings nothing works quite as well as directory junctions*.
*depending on the app
 
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