Installing Win 7

Iceman · 6 Feb 2010 at 16:14

Just a question before i reformat my system and re install win 7.
I hear a lot of people using a seperate partition on there hard drives for just windows.
Just wondering why this is done? and not just put on the same?
I have a 500gb hdd and as said will be putting windows 7 back on there.
Its the 64 bit version how much would i need to partition off for the windows install?
At the moment i have 2 partitions on the drive which came like that from new, But mine are both pretty much split down the middle.

Any info would be great thanks.

Sp00n · 6 Feb 2010 at 16:16

It makes reinstalling easier in the long run because you have c: for windows and d: for files you want to keep, when you come to reinstall in the future you just format c: and install back on to that partition leaving everything on d: untouched.

I'd have a 100/400 split on a 500gb drive personally, depends on what sort of applications and how many you plan to install.

BlueMhz · 6 Feb 2010 at 16:35

I have a 500GB drive in my main desktop, and have 3 partitions:

C: drive ~75GB: Mainly OS and apps (Office etc)
D: drive ~150GB: For games (primarily MMOs)
E: drive ~250GB: Ad-hoc downloads, music etc

The C: drive was originally a XP install, but recently installed Windows 7 on it. The D: and E: drives were untouched, so could still play MMOs without reinstalling and downloading all the patches again, and E: drive still had my ad-hoc stuff.

Iceman · 9 Feb 2010 at 19:15

Now then before i do start this. It has another couple of partitions one is fopr manufactorers stuff. Another im not sure but with it being an acer machine i think its all to do with there stuff.
Would it be worth removing all of that during the install?

Also you guys recon 100 gb is enough for windows and app etc.
Dont really have much installed .

thanks

loltim · 9 Feb 2010 at 19:22

It makes sense to have a separate partition for music and photos, but it doesn't make sense (to me) to install games and apps on the non-windows partition.

None of the apps will work if you were to re-install windows, surely?

and 100gb isn't enough for a windows partition if you're a gamer.

Iceman · 9 Feb 2010 at 20:02

But I don't game at all on the pc
only things on my pc are like office etc maybe basic stuff.
More for music and photos more than anything also watching dvd's..

Daegan · 9 Feb 2010 at 21:06

Tim said:
None of the apps will work if you were to re-install windows, surely?

A good proportion will work happily after reinstalling Windows, definitely enough to make it worthwhile, especially when it's big installs like games.

Iceman said:
But I don't game at all on the pc
only things on my pc are like office etc maybe basic stuff.
More for music and photos more than anything also watching dvd's..

Then it's probably not worth you having a separate partition for apps. It's always worth having your personal data (documents, music, photos etc.) on a separate partition though.

ScarySquirrel · 9 Feb 2010 at 21:08

Whats the best way to partition a drive?

Raumarik · 9 Feb 2010 at 21:11

I have C drive for Windows only, with Windows 7 Pro I backup this partition now and then with the built in backup software and have so far restored it (my messing about..) without any hassle. I don't have to reinstall, restore only takes about 20 minutes and all apps etc are still fine.

I'd use Ghost or Acronis but I haven't found any problems with the backup software that's built in to Pro and Ultimate versions.

Raumarik · 9 Feb 2010 at 21:18

ScarySquirrel said:
Whats the best way to partition a drive?

At Windows 7 install, partition the C drive, then once Windows is on use the disk management control panel to do the other partitions.

Technically having your swap file on a different physical hard disk to the operating system will be faster, but I've never noticed any improvement.

Mine is setup like this, 3 physical drives, 1 of which has 2 partitions.

Drive 1
C:\ Windows + minimal apps

Drive 2 (split into two partitions)
Partition 1 - D:\ Applications and game installs, Downloads + My documents and music. Some backed up to external USB.

Drive 3
E:\ Backup of C drive + Swap file

I also have a back up of the OS drive on external USB should things REALLY go bad.