Hard Drive Partitioning - Is it worth it?

izzop · 9 Jan 2010 at 17:43

Hi,

Could someone tell me if partitioning a drive is really necessary, and what the advantages/disadvantages are?

Thanks & Regards

SMB30 · 9 Jan 2010 at 17:47

It's not necessary, but a good way of organising your o/s seperately from your personal files/swap file etc.

AbsenceJam · 9 Jan 2010 at 17:48

Two advantages,
1) Hard drives are fastest at the outer edge which is where partitions are created from so you can use the fastest part for your OS say.

2) You can easily wipe just the one partition clean for any reinstalls etc. Useful for backing up by partition also.

Evil-I · 9 Jan 2010 at 19:00

Definately worth doing. I always run seperate OS and Data Partitions. So if you need to reinstall you just wipe your OS partition and re-install, your datas all safe and sound and seperate.

E-I

titaniumx3 · 9 Jan 2010 at 22:29

Personally I always have windows in it's own partition and keep data/program usage on that partition to a minimum. Means performance stays high (less fragmentation) and if I ever need to reinstall windows, I don't have to worry about backing everything up.

Mat-d-Rat · 9 Jan 2010 at 22:42

I like to use 3 partitions 1) OS/Apps 2) Data 3)Temp data. By keeping the temporary data in it's own partition it should help reduce disk fragmentation and keep things zipping along. Also I like to keep the swap file to a static size one the OS is installed to reduce fragmentation on it.

Hoodlum · 9 Jan 2010 at 23:24

Personally I'd keep them on entirely different drives but before I had that luxuary I used seperate partitions. It really is too much hassle reinstalling everything every damn time you need to format.

d_brennen · 9 Jan 2010 at 23:30

Not as important as it used to be with hard drives being so cheap now. If in doubt a 7200.11 500gb can be had for £35 for os use, another for media/games

AbsenceJam · 10 Jan 2010 at 15:39

Mat-d-Rat said:
I like to use 3 partitions 1) OS/Apps 2) Data 3)Temp data. By keeping the temporary data in it's own partition it should help reduce disk fragmentation and keep things zipping along. Also I like to keep the swap file to a static size one the OS is installed to reduce fragmentation on it.

This is more likely to slow the drive down as the heads have to travel further to a different part of the drive; and temp files hardly contribute to any fragmentation, if your OS partition is separate that'll never be an issue.

Mat-d-Rat · 10 Jan 2010 at 16:05

Temp files hardly contribute to fragmentation?! Have you ever seen the number of files created by FF/IE etc. when surfing!

AbsenceJam · 10 Jan 2010 at 16:12

Mat-d-Rat said:
Temp files hardly contribute to fragmentation?! Have you ever seen the number of files created by FF/IE etc. when surfing!

A tiny amount of data that gets erased. It has no impact on anything, not sure if you perhaps you don't understand what fragmentation is.

Mat-d-Rat · 10 Jan 2010 at 16:19

I do, not sure you understand though. System has worked for me for many years, not forcing anyone to use it though.

D.Roberts · 10 Jan 2010 at 16:34

AbsenceJam said:
Two advantages,
1) Hard drives are fastest at the outer edge which is where partitions are created from so you can use the fastest part for your OS say.

2) You can easily wipe just the one partition clean for any reinstalls etc. Useful for backing up by partition also.

i thought they was faster on the inner edge?.

AbsenceJam · 10 Jan 2010 at 17:01

Mat-d-Rat said:
I do, not sure you understand though. System has worked for me for many years, not forcing anyone to use it though.

Fragmentation is when a file isn't contiguous and is only a performance issue if sections are far apart. Some temp files, even several GB of them, would not cause enough fragmentation to have any performance impact. Particularly on an OS partition where you're not likely to be doing much writing other than temp files so there's nothing for them to get in the way of.
Whereas with your setup you have reduced performance by default because your temp files are right at the end of the disk so the heads have to travel a lot more.

AbsenceJam · 10 Jan 2010 at 17:04

D.Roberts said:
i thought they was faster on the inner edge?.

No, it's the outside. Because of the higher velocity there I believe.

Mat-d-Rat · 10 Jan 2010 at 20:12

AbsenceJam said:
Fragmentation is when a file isn't contiguous and is only a performance issue if sections are far apart. Some temp files, even several GB of them, would not cause enough fragmentation to have any performance impact. Particularly on an OS partition where you're not likely to be doing much writing other than temp files so there's nothing for them to get in the way of.
Whereas with your setup you have reduced performance by default because your temp files are right at the end of the disk so the heads have to travel a lot more.

I know exactly what fragmentation is, I even understand the MFT disk structure (It's hardly rocket science). You can say what you want and providing you never install another application on the OS disk then your fine.

If I could I'd use a small SSD drive (maybe 8/16gb) to use 100% as a temp drive.

But you believe whatever you want tis fine with me, but I believe I am allowed an IMO after 20+ years of working with PC's.

DavieJG · 10 Jan 2010 at 23:12

Partitioning i think is a must.

Keeping the OS and data separate makes reinstalls so much easier!

I also keep a partition for downloaded files (installs, drivers etc) that i periodically format to stop the drive gettin cluttered with obsolete useful files

Chronictank · 10 Jan 2010 at 23:48

As a few people above really, nowdays i have it split into

Fast disk:
C: OS
T: Temp
F: Fast Apps

Big Disk:
B: Apps
S: Storage

AbsenceJam · 11 Jan 2010 at 02:59

Mat-d-Rat said:
I know exactly what fragmentation is, I even understand the MFT disk structure (It's hardly rocket science). You can say what you want and providing you never install another application on the OS disk then your fine.

If I could I'd use a small SSD drive (maybe 8/16gb) to use 100% as a temp drive.

But you believe whatever you want tis fine with me, but I believe I am allowed an IMO after 20+ years of working with PC's.

Unless you're installing and removing enormous applications all the time and never defrag at all there's no issue at all.

There's a 60MB/s speed difference between the inner and outer parts on the latest disks. That plus forcing the heads to travel so much makes for a daft thing to do and it does have a performance impact.

"20+ years of working with PC's" please. :rolleyes:

Post facts and information if you're trying to argue something not meaningless stuff.

Mat-d-Rat · 11 Jan 2010 at 08:48

AbsenceJam said:
Unless you're installing and removing enormous applications all the time and never defrag at all there's no issue at all.

There's a 60MB/s speed difference between the inner and outer parts on the latest disks. That plus forcing the heads to travel so much makes for a daft thing to do and it does have a performance impact.

"20+ years of working with PC's" please. Post facts and information if you're trying to argue something not meaningless stuff.

Are you the official ocuk troll? Can't you accept anything that anyone else says?

I'm HAPPY with my setup, no speed issues (And my temp partition is created BEFORE the OS one and is small, so no speed issue, major head movements).