Do you partition off games from windows?

[champ222]

Hi All

So my gaming PC is pretty much only used for gaming. Right now I have a small M.2 used for windows and all my games are stored on a 2.5" ssd. I dont tend to play lots of games at once so this has worked for me. I also have a NAS where most stuff is stored.

This particular board has only one m.2 (b450 itx) and new case has only one 2.5" slot. Space does sometimes get low, so I want to replace the m.2 with a bigger one.

Since I don't have a lot of apps etc on the pc anyway, I've deliberately kept the games on a separate drive so if I have any issues, I can just reinstall windows. Tell steam and battle net where the games are stored and I'm back up and running in no time.

So I'm wondering if I should partition off space for games and just leave space for windows, docs etc so I can always just reinstall windows easily without any issues.

What do you do and why?

Thanks

 

[throwaway4372]

I've always just had one drive and it's never been a problem. If your internet is decent it's trivial to reinstall games.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

No I keep a backup of the steam folder on another or portable drive if you're concerned about long download times like mine are, but otherwise don't worry about it its easy to put the steam folder back even reinstalled windows plonked the backup folder back to the in teh same place it was before, fired it up, steam said it needed to update some stuff and then it ran fine

 

[TheVoice]

Yep, I have a 200GB partition for Windows and apps to sit on and the rest of the SSD is for games and files. I haven't needed to do a Windows reinstall in years even after going from 10 to 11, but I'd rather not faff with moving all my data around just to do so when it's simple to just give Windows its own space to work in.

 

[ED209]

I have a 1TB NVME drive and I have 150GB for the OS and the rest for my games.

The reason for this is that if I need to re install the OS I just need to create shortcuts and the games are ready rather than having to restore a backup or re download the game again.

 

[Armageus]

Single drive, no partitions. Reason - I don't like the "siloed" space you end up with on a separate windows partition, far better for it to be one big pool and I can choose to use that space or not

 

[Quartz]

So my gaming PC is pretty much only used for gaming. Right now I have a small M.2 used for windows and all my games are stored on a 2.5" ssd

You are unlikely to notice any performance difference in your games between a M.2 drive and a SATA SSD.

Having Windows on a separate drive makes reinstalling a lot easier.

 

[champ222]

You are unlikely to notice any performance difference in your games between a M.2 drive and a SATA SSD.

Having Windows on a separate drive makes reinstalling a lot easier.

Agreed, perfectly happy with sata SSDs for games, and i dont do anything thing else than benefits the extra speed of m.2, but i cant add another drive (only one m.2 slot and only one space in case for 2.5") so i only make one of them bigger.

 

[Quartz]

Agreed, perfectly happy with sata SSDs for games, and i dont do anything thing else than benefits the extra speed of m.2, but i cant add another drive (only one m.2 slot and only one space in case for 2.5") so i only make one of them bigger.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Samsung 4TB 870 QVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 64 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-77Q4T0BW) (SKU: HD-245-SA) = £249.95
• 1 x Samsung 8TB 870 QVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 64 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-77Q8T0BW) (SKU: HD-246-SA) = £659.99

Total: £909.94 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[ben1987]

Nope. 1 2tb drive and everything by gets chucked on that

 

[SpartaP]

Nope. 1 2tb drive and everything by gets chucked on that

Same as this. I'm lucky that I have fast internet so whenever I feel the need for a fresh OS, it doesn't take long to download my games, applications etc.

I do have a separate SSD that I use to keep backups for photos and anything else I don't want deleting.

 

[D-Ranged]

I've I only had one drive, then no I wouldn't partition it.

But I do have separate drives for games and just use a smaller SSD/M2 for windows.

 

[ATIorNvidia]

Have always kept all my data/files (game data included) on a different drive to my OS drive. Makes reinstalling windows way less time consuming.

 

[Repta]

Have a separate drive for games.

 

[Whitewater]

I just keep everything on a single drive for simplicity's sake.

 

[malachi]

Have a separate drive for games.

Same, 4TB nvme for main drive. 8TB ssd for games. 20tb hdd for other stuff.

I have had too many drive failures to keep everything on one drive anymore.

Easier to manage if Windows decides to throw a wobbly and I need to reinstall.

 

[Fringe]

i have a separate NVMe for my games

 

[nade]

To be honest i've kind of flip flopped. Years back I certainly did keep them apart, I used to do a regular clean install of Windows and kept games on another drive to save the time/effort downloading everything again.

Nowadays, i'm playing fewer games due to having less free time and have windows/games on same partition and disk. I still have a sperate secondary disk for backups and storing files.

 

[Fluffybob]

I have a 1tb NVME for OS etc, 2tb SSD for games and a 4TB for backups etc.

 

[TNA]

I have windows on my Intel Optane drive which is faster than nvme's.

I use a 2tb nvme purely for games. Works well for me.

I still do a secure erase on both before reinstalling windows as downloading games does not take long on a 1gb line.