HD Partitions - 2023 views on Size/Structure

[Crawford]

Folks,

Just wondering what the current thinking is on best practice in terms of partition sizes. Searched here, but didn't find anything very recent.

Using a 2TB NvMe for a general multifunction laptop (Lenovo X1 Gen 9). Should i have a particular size of OS partition? The rest "data", aka general storage? A (third) separate partition for everything that goes into a cloud?

Presumably there isn't much point in a same-disk "back-up" right? "Bad sectors" are really a thing now, right?

Comments welcome!

 

[Murphy]

Personally i wouldn't bother partition a drive in any particular way, just let the OS take the entire drive.

 

[darael]

I let Windows take the entire hog of my 2TB drive, with the exception of the 20% over provisioning that I setup in Samsung Magician.

I also have a hard drive which is partitioned into two drives, one for data/archives (ie: Docments, Pictures, backups), the other for torrents. This way if the SSD should die all of a sudden (which has happened to me in the past), my data is still safe and accessible.

 

[Crawford]

I let Windows take the entire hog of my 2TB drive, with the exception of the 20% over provisioning that I setup in Samsung Magician.

I also have a hard drive which is partitioned into two drives, one for data/archives (ie: Docments, Pictures, backups), the other for torrents. This way if the SSD should die all of a sudden (which has happened to me in the past), my data is still safe and accessible.

Ummmm. Isn't the SSD a single thing, which will fail or not? It won't fail for one partition and not the other, will it?

Thought i understood this stuff and am getting confused instead!

 

[darael]

Ummmm. Isn't the SSD a single thing, which will fail or not? It won't fail for one partition and not the other, will it?

Thought i understood this stuff and am getting confused instead!

In my case, the SSD was one drive for the OS and programs. Luckily I'd kept documents etc on the hard drive, so when the SSD died the important data was still there.

Being honest, I don't think you should worry so much about the SSD failing as it's not a very common thing to happens, unless you buy a budget drive of an unknown brand.

Once you've installed the drive, use the drive manufacturers software to check for firmware updates and apply if needed. After that, check the drive's health with CrystalDiskInfo every week or so until you feel comfortable with the drive. That's what I've been doing with my new Samsung 990 Pro which is less than a month old.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Am not one for partitions
Though I rarely use a laptop so much easier
To have multiple drives
Using a desktop
If your laptop supports a second drive
Personally i would add one

Main thing is always backups
If you only have 1 drive then I might make
A partition for backups in case of windows failure
To boot up rather than drive failures
But I also put image backups on a USB drive too
Samsung t7 I use is 1GBs
so reasonably quick to do image backups
But nowadays you could get a m2 enclosure
And stick a m2 drive in there
For even more speed
Up to 40gbs if your device can handle it

 

[jokerguv]

I always go with separate partitions for the windows drive and the data drive(s). Seems more structured and in the event I have to reinstall windows then I only have to worry about the c drive, though these days thats pretty rare unless a windows update breaks something.

On my Lenovo Thinkpad T14s (Gen 1 AMD) with only 1TB NVME drive, I have a 100GB C drive and the rest as D. With fully updated Windows 11, Office 2019 and usual software suite (Eset Internet Security, Firefox, VLC, etc.) C's still around 50% empty.

 

[TheVoice]

On my 2TB I gave Windows a 200GB partition and use the rest for games/storage (along with my other drives), just to make a Windows reinstall that bit easier later down the line. The free space on the Windows partition takes care of the need to provide the drive some capacity to work effectively; dedicating 400GB to overprovisioning as mentioned earlier is rather excessive.

 

[jaybee]

I prefer 2 x NVMEs. One for OS. One for data/games.

 

[BananaDunka]

There is no need for partitions on an SSD, if an SSD fails, the entire drive will fail. Chances of a modern SSD failing are slim, the most recent incidents revolved around dodgy factory firmwares by Samsung which you may have read about but have since been fixed with updates.

OS/Apps/Games on the main SSD, documents and backups on another. Both are then backed up onto a large capacity external drive which you can get very cheap now.

 

[ED209]

I have a 1TB drive and what I do is setup the OS with 150GB and the rest I use for my Games.

The reason why I do this is because if I need to re install the OS I do not then have to re download Steam and all my games or Uplay plus my games.

Once the OS is re installed I just re create the shortcuts for the games\launchers I use

 

[TheVoice]

There is no need for partitions on an SSD, if an SSD fails, the entire drive will fail.

That's not the reason for partitioning though. With HDDs it was to organise the capacity and reduce fragmentation, obviously the latter doesn't apply to SSDs but having a logical drive just for the OS and programs still makes a lot of sense.

 

[Murphy]

I'm all for organising things but it's a right PITA when you have to copy stuff from one partition to another for *reasons*.

 

[Orcvader]

I just go multiple drives. m.2 for OS + programs, and a second SSD (m.2 or even SATA is still good enough) for personal files.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

In a single drive I used to do 1/3 OS 2/3 data. Then a full 1/1 second drive for backups.

 

[Mujja]

I just go multiple drives. m.2 for OS + programs, and a second SSD (m.2 or even SATA is still good enough) for personal files.

The OPs laptop only has a single M.2 slot but I this is also my approach.

My laptop has a 256GB NVMe for OS and a 1TB NVMe for data. Similar setup on my HTPC and server.

 

[nightwish]

For a laptop with a single NVMe, I'd split it into 2 - one for Windows, one for data, so you can reinstall Windows without wiping the data. For a desktop PC though, separate drives is the way to go - one NVMe for Windows, another for games and documents, and a large HDD for bulk storage.

 

[Disco_P]

For my desktop I split my 1TB nvme drive into 200GB OS and 800GB for other stuff. That way my daily image backup of my OS drive doesn't include 500GB of games I don't need backed up.