Partitioning? still worth anything?

[a_ump]

I remember when i built a rig back in 2006 that it was still said that partitioning about 40-60gb's for your OS will help your boot times and whatnot since it'll all be near the inner part of the platter(s). I googled it a second ago and read the first 2 pages of links and i'm getting mixed answers. Some are saying today it makes not difference; others are saying it still does. So i figured i'd bring my question to my trusty TPU fello's.

So which is it? Making a partition for the OS still helps, or it makes not difference. FYI i'll be using a 1tb Seagate 7200.11 HDD. Haven't installed anything yet but will soon. Thanks

EDIT: just thought of this: I heard something about making a Page file or something like that, a partition that's roughly 6gb in size and it could help my computer's speed in gaming in desperate moments. how true is that?

 

[LagunaX]

It does a little.
Partitioning also helps so that your antivirus scans don't have to scan all of your data on the 1TB drive but rather just your primary OS partition. And if you get infected or crash your primary partition, your data is on the other.

Why not get a smaller 120gb SSD for your OS and leave the 1 TB for data?

Or buy a 64gb OCZ Synapse to speed up your 1 TB, it's way faster than the Intel Smart Response Technology.

 

[a_ump]

well budget was a big deal for me, i put my system together with what cash i had laying around. but i'm still waiting on the PSU to get here from CA. So no spare cash to buy an SSD. Though later this year when i upgrade my CPU(G1610 celeron) to the i5's that'll be getting sold(hopefully), i'll probably get an SSD.

Also, i heard something about making a Page file or something like that, a partition that's roughly 6gb in size and it could help my computer's speed in gaming in desperate moments. how true is that?

 

[AsRock]

Very little if at all works better with raided drives were you only select to use a rd of the drive's total.

With SSD's there is not much need unless you want to keep things separate which i like to do my self.

So i ended up using my 60GB as the OS drive annnd raided my 2 GT's and made a small 34GB partition for apps and stuff and the rest for my games.

Matter of preference really these days. Although the 32GB partition will have apps that i will not have to reinstall and is good for copying the my documents (game saves mainly ) and some of the appdata content to to keep setting of programs i use.

 

[a_ump]

Very little if at all works better with raided drives? were you only select to use a rd of the drive's total.

With SSD's there is not much need unless you want to keep things separate which i like to do my self.

So i ended up using my 60GB as the OS drive annnd raided my 2 GT's and made a small 34GB partition for apps and stuff and the rest for my games.

Matter of preference really these days. Although the 32GB partition will have apps that i will not have to reinstall and is good for copying the my documents (game saves mainly ) and some of the appdata content to to keep setting of programs i use.

I am not using Raid good sir XD

 

[Frag_Maniac]

I did it just to make formatting the OS only a lot easier. I put my W7 64 on a 30GB partition of my 128GB Plextor M5P and still have nearly 9 GB free space. I put every app and prog I can on the secondary partition.

 

[AsRock]

I am not using Raid good sir XD

Yes but my point was raid or not i would still do it as the post by Frag Maniac says, makes life easier.

 

[a_ump]

yes i agree, that does make perfect sense so i will do so. Hmm now i must decide on whether to make Partition 1 my os or my pagefile.sys.

 

[micropage7]

partitioning, yeah it helps you organize your stuff. some people may difficult if you have 100 folders in it. just make partition and you gonna thank for that
partition makes indexing easier, and help you organize all

 

[Frogger]

Pagefile for #1 make #2 the os the page file will prob not be bigger than 8 gig . you will need @ least 70/80 gig for the os

 

[a_ump]

yea i was planning on 6gb for pagefile, and then 60 gigs for OS, course who knows how many SP's 7 will get and grow. I heard base install gets about 30gb right now, so i'd think 30 more gb would be plenty.

so:
P1: 6gb page file
P2: 60gb OS
P3: 500GB games
P4:~434gb media

Now too many partitions don't slow down a HDD do they? or any other issues?

 

[kn00tcn]

that's right, do not let the OS & PF spread themselves all over the physical drive when they should stay on the outer edge

& having a small OS partition lets you reformat it without losing your big data one

but you still havent solved the situation of game+PF+fraps recording (if you do it) being on the same physical drive, better to have another physical drive ready, so consider this if you plan to record videos of a streaming heavy game (GTA4 for example)

 

[a_ump]

nope. i'll fraps to check my FPS, being a new rig and all, but no recording or major streaming. I do plan to mmo a little but that wouldn't be hindered would it? with the 4 partitions set up?

Note: i thought partitions worked from the Inside to the outer edge? So my PF and OS would be on the inner rim of my HDD's platters. Yes? I was planning on doing this with just the Win 7 install disc, so its not very good for particular partitioning lol

 

[Deleted member 67555]

I've seen some good points for making partitions like the OS installation but I think it simply comes down to choice and how much you really care about keeping DATA on the same drive as your OS even if partitioned...
Personally I have drives that are simply storage drives that I connect via a dock and are put away when not needed/collecting dust.

I have my on Tic-Toc system for upgrading and I like to keep my main drives as simple as possible to wipe clean during parts of my upgrade cycle and HDD's get replaced on the 3rd or 4th upgrade cycle or about 3 years so having separate storage drives are a better solution for then a partition...

 

[a_ump]

yea i've never done the partition thing before, but there were a couple times i wish i had. thanks for all the info fella's

 

[shovenose]

well budget was a big deal for me, i put my system together with what cash i had laying around. but i'm still waiting on the PSU to get here from CA. So no spare cash to buy an SSD. Though later this year when i upgrade my CPU(G1610 celeron) to the i5's that'll be getting sold(hopefully), i'll probably get an SSD.

Also, i heard something about making a Page file or something like that, a partition that's roughly 6gb in size and it could help my computer's speed in gaming in desperate moments. how true is that?

I would not bother with special partitioning on a regulars desktop hard drive.

That said, I would be interested in buying your G1610 when you don't want it anymore

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I've never partitioned a drive on a personal system ever.

I do partition drives at work though all the time.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

I put my page file on my secondary partition of my SSD along with the apps and progs. Seriously, the only thing you need to put on your OS partition are drivers, and a few progs that don't even give you an install path option, like adobe.

 

[Jetster]

I did it just to make formatting the OS only a lot easier. I put my W7 64 on a 30GB partition of my 128GB Plextor M5P and still have nearly 9 GB free space. I put every app and prog I can on the secondary partition.

Just my opinion so dont take this wrong. You still have to reinstall every program on your second partition if you format your OS. So why not make the partition big enough for your OS and programs?

I think the only benefit is separating your data so your when your OS goes south you dont loose it. Even better use a separate drive

 

[AsRock]

That depends on what programs he uses.

For example some that i don't have too

Zip programs
Trillian ( all so backup raoming \ trillian too )
CPU-Z
GPU-Z
3D Trace Route
HD Tune
ProcessExplorer
TechPowerUp OSD Server ( all so save the reg of OSD too and leave the reg file in the folder )
SumatraPDF
Mozilla Seamonkey and firefox ( all so back up part of roaming for that too.
CoreTemp

Just to name a few.

 

[d1nky]

I have a bench only partition, great for extra points on most benches.

a friendly person on here helped me put it together.

 

[Aquinus]

You know, you don't need to partition a drive to organize files correctly. Personally, I will create a couple folders on my RAID then map those folders to my libraries in Windows 7. That way if I open my "Music" library, it will show me what's on my HDD RAID, as opposed to what's on my SSD RAID, but there are some places (like downloads,) that like that default location so I need to handle both. I'm throwing up a screenshot to show what I do if that's of any interest to you.

 

[a_ump]

Well i mainly like the idea of all my music, movies, and games being seperate of my OS. just too many times i've had to re-download a lot of data. like the time i changed my mobo and didnt realize i had to re install my OS

 

[Aquinus]

Well i mainly like the idea of all my music, movies, and games being seperate of my OS. just too many times i've had to re-download a lot of data. like the time i changed my mobo and didnt realize i had to re install my OS

No offense, but that's really your own fault for not backing up your files or trying to recover them prior to re-installing Windows. Notice how I have an external backup there in that screenshot I posted? If either of my RAID arrays explode, most of anything that means anything to me is already there, so if something catastrophic happens, not all is lost and re-installing Windows is a breeze because of how I have my libraries setup. (I format the SSDs, not my RAID-5.)

Your view on storage changes when in addition to downloading music and video, you're holding on to family pictures and documents/paperwork, something you will never get back if you lose it.

 

[rtwjunkie]

regarding the Paging File: On rotational hard drives, my own experience seems to back up the majority of what I have read, which is a seperate Paging File partition is only beneficial if you locate it on a secondary drive. This allows programs to be paged and for Windows to read and write or use programs on the C drive at the same time. If it is on the same hard drive, it should not be in a seperate partition, but just be allowed to be in C, otherwise you are working your hard drive to death and slowing down operations. Just my 2 cents.