Do you partition?

dtokez · 9 Feb 2021 at 02:36

I'm wondering if it's worth partitioning a 1tb nvme gen4 drive for os and storage. I can't afford 2 of them right now and I've always been a big fan of leaving windows on its own standalone drive in the past.

Which is the best free disk partition software? Been years since I've ever done it.

Roguey000 · 9 Feb 2021 at 13:08

Surely you can partition with Windows (if its a fresh install) or with another program like reflect etc.

Myself, id rather just use folders rather than partitions. Its a bit like www. (subdomains) and /folders with websites. That way you know each drive is a physical drive.

Another plus is that you dont get wasted space on two drives, and windows can grow if needed (what happens if you dont give Windows enough space?). Resizing partitions can go wrong.

However I know some people like partitions, I would prefer not too.

ps. Your flickr page has some really nice photos

JasonM · 9 Feb 2021 at 14:31

I don't partition the C drive, however will sometimes partition data drives. For example I might split a data HDD/SSD into SQL Database, Software development files, or another partition into Outlook/Email. I do this so if a partition gets corrupted it's only isolated to that partition, and not the entire HDD/SSD.

Kautya · 10 Feb 2021 at 22:48

I used to have partitions on my older HDDs but on nvme drive that I recently bought I left it as a single partition. Matter of preference really.

Zefan · 10 Feb 2021 at 23:02

Not since the XP days.

MagicBoy · 10 Feb 2021 at 23:05

Not since the XP days when you'd have to re-install every so often cause of Windows borkage. Partitioning could have some performance benefits with spinning rust, but that doesn't apply to an SSD.

chroniclard · 10 Feb 2021 at 23:06

Not for years due to having multiple drives, always have the OS on one drive, however I might if I had a single large drive.

MeatLoaf · 10 Feb 2021 at 23:32

I did in Windows 95 / 98 days but that was because the drive exceeded the maximum partition size.

ED209 · 11 Feb 2021 at 12:18

dtokez said:
I'm wondering if it's worth partitioning a 1tb nvme gen4 drive for os and storage. I can't afford 2 of them right now and I've always been a big fan of leaving windows on its own standalone drive in the past.

Which is the best free disk partition software? Been years since I've ever done it.

I have a 1TB NVME Samsung 970 Evo and I have partitioned my drive.

I have 130GB for the OS and the rest is for my games library.

I have done this as its just easier if I need to re install the OS and dont have to then wipe my games and OS just to get the PC back up and running.

ebilcake · 11 Feb 2021 at 14:47

Yes, Partition enough for the C drive plus a bit extra in case you need it, then use the rest for games.

I have separate drives for general storage, a pair for 1TB SSD's in raid 0 and an external 12TB drive connected to the router for backups and network access.

dtokez · 11 Feb 2021 at 14:51

ED209 said:
I have a 1TB NVME Samsung 970 Evo and I have partitioned my drive.

I have 130GB for the OS and the rest is for my games library.

I have done this as its just easier if I need to re install the OS and dont have to then wipe my games and OS just to get the PC back up and running.

Is 130gb enough? I guess it's simple enough to extend the partition if needed though. Sounds like the plan I have. If needed I can restore windows with little or no drama.

What software so you recommend?

mahius · 11 Feb 2021 at 17:28

I partition my 2TB mechanical.

But yeah, you can buy a single 1TB SSD and partition it for one windows drive. I literally just use Windows disk manager to do this. Only issue is dynamic disks, i.e. make all your partitions at the start and don't leave any unallocated space (I had unallocated space that I slowly added to the more full partitions over the years).

100GB is more than enough for Windows and anything that needs to be on C: drive. My current C: drive (a 5+ year old 250GB SSD) is a bit over 100GB, only because I installed a large game on it from Steam. Make it 200GB or 250GB if you want more headroom.

Deleted member 77746 · 11 Feb 2021 at 17:34

I used to back when XP came out but stopped once we got to win 7. Don't bother now because all my data is off the primary drive.

Randomface74 · 11 Feb 2021 at 17:37

only done it when some software required some files on E:
don't need software, windows disk management is sufficient.
wouldn't do it otherwise, don't see the point.

Guest2 · 11 Feb 2021 at 18:02

Partitioning drives is horrible, not done it since Windows 2000 days. A much better idea would be to get one cheaper OS only drive and a larger storage drive.
Then its easier to backup / clone the smaller OS drive to another

pp111 · 13 Feb 2021 at 11:32

I don't. I have found in the past that it just isn't robust enough and despite what some people say, it always seems to be the first thing to collapse if there is a error on the drive. These days I prefer to use physically separate drives, so I have one with the OS, one for games, and one for work data. No partitioning.

Deleted member 77746 · 13 Feb 2021 at 11:34

The thing about partitioning is it's good if you ever need to format the primary partition. This allows you to move files over to the second partition to backup stuff before formatting primary OS.

As long as you don't format the wrong one that is.

pp111 · 14 Feb 2021 at 13:27

dtokez said:
Is 130gb enough? I guess it's simple enough to extend the partition if needed though. Sounds like the plan I have. If needed I can restore windows with little or no drama.

What software so you recommend?

Absolutely. I have my OS's on separate drives and windows plus a few applications takes 70GB.