partition for windows?

Nodiggidy123 · 4 Sep 2011 at 16:17

just about to reinstall windows 7 pro and in order for me to keep my game installs etc want to have a separate os partition.

question is how big should i have it? ive got no idea.

treehouse786 · 5 Sep 2011 at 10:37

Nodiggidy123 said:
just about to reinstall windows 7 pro and in order for me to keep my game installs etc want to have a separate os partition.

question is how big should i have it? ive got no idea.

depending on how much programs you will install, i would say about 45GB should be enough. i personally use 37GB for my windows 7 C drive

treehouse786 · 5 Sep 2011 at 10:38

you can always expand the system partition if you need to, as long as you have space on the gaming partition.

anything I don't mind · 5 Sep 2011 at 10:57

There is no benefit from creating a partition. Just put it all on to the same partition.

Nodiggidy123 · 5 Sep 2011 at 12:21

groen said:
There is no benefit from creating a partition. Just put it all on to the same partition.

wouldnt i lose all my data if i were to reinstall windows this way?

IndexRated · 5 Sep 2011 at 14:11

Nodiggidy123 said:
wouldnt i lose all my data if i were to reinstall windows this way?

You wouldn't. Also isn't it meant to be quicker to boot up? It's not something I've ever tested out, just read.

My Windows 7 partition is 80gb, and I was just playing safe. I've 48gb free with all the latest updates included.

I do however have my User accounts also moved onto a different partition, which you'd think Windows would have an option to do, but no, it's a frustrating process unless you can find the program that does it automatically for you.

Donkeyfumbler · 5 Sep 2011 at 14:22

Nodiggidy123 said:
wouldnt i lose all my data if i were to reinstall windows this way?

As long as you didn't format the whole drive beforehand, then no - you won't lose all of your data.

I think however, that while there may be no performance benefit from partitioning, it does make sense from an organisational point of view - it's just neater to have os/programs on one partition and data on another (mine are on separate disks all together).

As a guide, I have Windows 7 plus Office 2010 and quite a few other apps (but no games) taking up 30gb of a 60gb SSD. Quite happy that the 60gb will be more than enough in future too.

treehouse786 · 6 Sep 2011 at 20:08

groen said:
There is no benefit from creating a partition. Just put it all on to the same partition.

of course there is, if you upgrade or downgrade or install a new OS then he would have to move all his data, if its on a different partition then he would not need to

treehouse786 · 6 Sep 2011 at 20:10

IndexRated said:
You wouldn't.

heh? how would he not lose his data on a partition which has his data and system files??

yes you would lose your data unless the data is on another partition

CaptainCrash · 6 Sep 2011 at 22:42

treehouse786 said:
heh? how would he not lose his data on a partition which has his data and system files??

yes you would lose your data unless the data is on another partition

No, he wouldn't, read the post directly above yours: "As long as you didn't format the whole drive beforehand, then no - you won't lose all of your data."

Having said that, I think most most people tend to format a drive in the course of a reinstallation, just to be sure they've completely blown away any pre-existing problems, whether they're real, suspected or just imagined. You also get to zero the system partition's MFT and start afresh, which may or may not have some performance benefit (probably not in most cases).

weyland yutani · 7 Sep 2011 at 00:03

Noob question here. Do you have to set up your partitions before or when you install Windows? I recently built my machine and would like to organise my HDD into partitions but Windows7 is already installed now.

Donkeyfumbler · 7 Sep 2011 at 09:02

You should be able to shrink your single existing partition and create a new one from the free space using Disk manager within Windows.

CaptainCrash · 7 Sep 2011 at 09:47

It's possible, but personally I never feel entirely comfortable about resizing partitions containing live data. At least make absolutely sure you've backed up anything valuable first.

Razor-BladE · 7 Sep 2011 at 10:13

CaptainCrash said:
No, he wouldn't, read the post directly above yours: "As long as you didn't format the whole drive beforehand, then no - you won't lose all of your data."

If you had no partitions and reinstalled an OS then it would wipe the WHOLE drive.

Only by having partitions, you can 'save' your data if you were if reinstall the OS.

CaptainCrash · 7 Sep 2011 at 10:57

Razor-BladE said:
If you had no partitions and reinstalled an OS then it would wipe the WHOLE drive.

Only by having partitions, you can 'save' your data if you were if reinstall the OS.

You seem a little confused - leaving aside the issue that if the drive doesn't have at least one pre-existing partition there won't be any previous installation or any data to save, simply reinstalling an OS doesn't wipe anything *unless you tell it to* (even the previous \WINDOWS folder heirarchy will be renamed and saved as \WINDOWS.OLD).

I can see what you're trying to get at, but the fact is you don't *need* to format anything to carry out a reinstallation.

Donkeyfumbler · 7 Sep 2011 at 14:16

CaptainCrash said:
You seem a little confused - leaving aside the issue that if the drive doesn't have at least one pre-existing partition there won't be any previous installation or any data to save, simply reinstalling an OS doesn't wipe anything *unless you tell it to* (even the previous \WINDOWS folder heirarchy will be renamed and saved as \WINDOWS.OLD).

I can see what you're trying to get at, but the fact is you don't *need* to format anything to carry out a reinstallation.

Correct.

treehouse786 · 28 Sep 2011 at 11:57

CaptainCrash said:
Nread the post directly above yours: "As long as you didn't format the whole drive beforehand

ah, dont know how i missed that, thanks

edscdk · 28 Sep 2011 at 11:59

groen said:
There is no benefit from creating a partition. Just put it all on to the same partition.

agree

edscdk · 28 Sep 2011 at 12:04

treehouse786 said:
of course there is, if you upgrade or downgrade or install a new OS then he would have to move all his data, if its on a different partition then he would not need to

why? if you install a fresh windows sticks you old profile / stuff in a folder called windows.old...

I used to partition, but its jsut a PITA windows / apps jsut keep sticking stuff on C, one min you 75gb partition is half empty, the next min its full..... 1 partition all the way I say...

remy87 · 28 Sep 2011 at 12:30

Always do partition so much easier on your next reformat etc. noneed to keep programs/games on a different partition though.
Just move the music/documents/pictures folder to the 2nd partition and you are good to go. I find it also keep itunes/game/program settings this way on your next reformat as long as you merge the documents etc folders.