Proper HDD partitioning for Win7 reistall

[jasper1605]

Hey all,

I'm going to redo my system to get it back to its speedy and peppy self. I've never done partitioning on a harddrive before so I don't really know what to do.

I would like to partition out so I can have my OS on one part and put everything else on another. If I do it that way, when I reinstall an OS would I have to reinstall EVERYTHING all over again or would the partition protect that?

Suggestions on good ways to do this would be much appreciated

 

[2DividedbyZero]

run setup on your windows 7 disc (which you will do during installation anyway) and do it there, patitions guarunteed to be aligned too - simples

if you wanna keep data then u gonna need a 3rd party partition manager before you reinstall *though I think windows can do it also* just right click on my computer from the desktop and select manage, you should find it there under disk management

 

[jasper1605]

I'm not so much interested in keeping current data. Would I need to do your second step for the keeping of future data if I installed and kept all my data on the non-OS partition?

 

[2DividedbyZero]

if you are gonna partition with the fresh install of windows, not worried about keeping any previous data, once the disks are partitioned then why would you need to refer to my further suggestion above ref the disk manager?? your data will already be on a seperate partion, if not, just cnp it there!

any further installations will be to the primary partition and any data on the secondary partition will stay intact

 

[jasper1605]

I asked because I didn't know.

Thanks for clearing it up though

 

[Completely Bonkers]

I have 3 or 4 partitions depending, and also a ramdisk

C:\ OS
D:\ data
G:\ games (only on one play-machine, other productivity machines dont have this)
S:\ my setup files
Z:\ the ramdisk for all temp files

D gets backed up regularly
C never gets backed up but after a fresh install is mirrored to an image stored on S: and quickly mirrored back for a "fresh reinstall"
S is shared over my LAN
Z is automatically wiped due to being a ramdisk at every power-off

 

[techtard]

Partition the first 10-20% for the OS, that way it gets the fastest part of the disk. Put the rest as storage.
I would suggest a second disk for games, just so you get the best speeds possible.

 

[El_Mayo]

I'm also trying to partition my drive atm
so disk management -> partition the drive and copy and paste my music/videos/other files into the the new partition and reinstall to C?

 

[LifeOnMars]

Also, if you don't want the little system reserved partition that Windows 7 creates and you have a second disk loaded with an os. Go into Computer > manage > disk management and create your partitions on the disk that you intend to use for installation and then when it comes to installation you just click on the first partition and off it goes.