Partition Advice Please

Namsnik · 3 May 2008 at 13:04

I have a 500GB Sata drive that I intend using with NTFS for:
1.Operating System - Vista Home Premium
2. Software
3. A shared folder used by all the PCs/Laptops on my home network
4. Backup copies / Images of other PCs
Would there be any benefit to operating multiple partitions?

gary996 · 3 May 2008 at 15:51

I have been told recently that multiple partitions slow your drive down

Namsnik · 3 May 2008 at 20:23

Thanks. Single partition it is.

musicman53 · 4 May 2008 at 11:23

gary996 said:
I have been told recently that multiple partitions slow your drive down

Never caused any problems for me.
Always have my drives partitioned.
Main drive WD4000AAKS=7 partitions
Windows xp and installed progs on 60Gig boot partition
My Docs and email store folder on another.
other six partitions around equal size .
Second drive WD5000AAKS=7 equal sized partitions
Third drive WD1600JS=4 partitions with Page file on first partition of 5Gig.
If I had les stuff(software, music, other)then maybe I would have divided the AAKS drives into equal larger partitions.

No difference in speed between single partions or multi on each drive.

gary996 · 4 May 2008 at 15:39

Didn't say it causes probs when you partition I said its slower when you do so.

jbloggs · 4 May 2008 at 16:59

Namsnik said:
I have a 500GB Sata drive that I intend using with NTFS for:
1.Operating System - Vista Home Premium
2. Software
3. A shared folder used by all the PCs/Laptops on my home network
4. Backup copies / Images of other PCs
Would there be any benefit to operating multiple partitions?

With a 500GB HDD, I would make a partition (C:\) of 30GB to install Vista on, for just Windows (OS folder) and Program Files, and move Documents etc over to D:\ (which would be the remainder (470GB decimal)) of the 500GB HDD.

I find having the OS separate makes it easier to maintain etc, and also make a backup image off, if using Acronis True Image Home 11. Multiple partitions are not really necessary I think, if you want to compartmentilize, simply make a folder on your D:\ partition and put your (specific) data into it, as a folder is a kind of partition anyway, as it is a self contained space.

musicman53 · 5 May 2008 at 08:16

gary996 said:
Didn't say it causes probs when you partition I said its slower when you do so.

Like I said, it has never caused any problems for me.
Speedwise there is NO difference on my setup WITH or WITHOUT partitions.

Having everything on one hard drive(no partitions)is asking for trouble.
Ever tried having a 500Gb drive full of stuff(OS, email, my Docs....music....)and see how fast it is?

hp7909 · 5 May 2008 at 08:24

You'll have fun moving/backing up files, etc on a single partition if Windows acts up. For that reason & defragging purposes I'd partition

plasticmekon · 6 May 2008 at 16:50

I'd say that the only real reason to make multiple partitions on a single drive on a system would be to maintain your data like hp7907 says above. At least if you have all your crap on different partitions, if windows borks up you can at least reinstall it on the system partition and not worry about your data on the others.