Separate SSD partitions for OS and software?

[cpper]

I'm getting a new laptop with two SSD's:

• 500 GB for OS (Win10) and software (games, antivirus, image/video editing software)
• 1TB for (lots) of personal data, like music, pics, videos

Should I make two partitions on the 500GB SSD, one just for the OS, and the other for the rest of the software ? Or should I just install everything in one partition ?

 

[Kapone33]

Actually the smart thing to do would be to separate them C: and D:. That way if/when the boot or data drive dies you would still have one viable drive in your laptop.

 

[1000t]

I'd just put OS and all programs on one partition. You'll have data and programs on separate drives and I think that's enough. OS and SW installs can be reinstalled, but it's important to have backups of irreplaceable data.

 

[EarthDog]

Should I make two partitions on the 500GB SSD, one just for the OS, and the other for the rest of the software ? Or should I just install everything in one partition ?

Yes.

Leave ~75GB+ for Windows and the rest for your games, etc. Keep the AV and all software on the OS partition, games, etc on the other. The large drive for all your personal items.

This way, you have C: (Windows and programs), D: (games) on the 500GB, and E: storage on the 1TB.


EDIT: You will still have to install all the apps again if you don't have a back up image, but with C: partitioned off, you can simply re-image your OS right back on it. THe games you can re-associate within their respective program (Steam, UPlay, Epic, Battle.net, etc).

 

[PLSG08]

on my setup my C drive (256 gb ssd) only contains windows and important programs, while my D drive (1tb HDD) contains my games and files I keep for storage like work files and whatnot. This way if ever a program, an install, or windows itself decides to screw up I can easily clean reinstall the OS and not worry about backing up my personal files and whatnot

 

[Kapone33]

That's the the way it comes already and he wasn't really asking that but if he should partition the smaller drive.

Yes.

Leave ~75GB for Windows and the rest for your games, etc. Keep the AV and all software on the OS partition, games, etc on the other. The large drive for all your personal items.

This way, you have C: (Windows and programs), D: (games) on the 500GB, and E: storage on the 1TB.

Don't you think 75GB is a little small for Windows?

 

[bonehead123]

Yes.

Leave ~75GB for Windows and the rest for your games, etc. Keep the AV and all software on the OS partition, games, etc on the other. The large drive for all your personal items.

This way, you have C: (Windows and programs), D: (games) on the 500GB, and E: storage on the 1TB.

I would take this one step further, by making a back-up partition on the 1TB, so that if your OS & main set-up goes wonkey, you will still have a bootable system to work from until you either reinstall everything or attempt to fix whatever went wrong on your 500GB C: drive

 

[P4-630]

I use a 970 Evo 500GB as boot drive This is my C partition

Also keep in mind don't fill them up too much.

 

[EarthDog]

Don't you think 75GB is a little small for Windows?

Not for me, no. But make it 100GB if it isn't enough (only the OP knows this). That works for me though for what I have installed and use. But I also change paths for downloads from browsers, etc... so its literally only windows and all my apps there along with a static page file size. Works for me.

I use a 970 Evo 500GB as boot drive This is my C partition

View attachment 134722

75GB looks like it would work for you, dear thanker.

I've edited that post to say 75GB+.

I would take this one step further, by making a back-up partition on the 1TB, so that if your OS & main set-up goes wonkey, you will still have a bootable system to work from until you either reinstall everything or attempt to fix whatever went wrong on your 500GB C: drive

You can do that as well, yep! Where you store the back up image really doesn't matter. Just load up the recovery disk and blow the image down onto the disk/partition.

 

[eidairaman1]

Dont bother with it. Just put the paging file on another drive or create a ssd raid

 

[EarthDog]

Dont bother with it. Just put the paging file on another drive or create a ssd raid

What benefits does this bring the OP?

Outside of space reasons, there is no need to put the page file on a separate drive. There are no performance benefits and writes haven't been an issue on SSDs in generations.

Why would they RAID? What RAID and why?


I mean, there are several ways to skin this cat... none are wrong per say, but maybe doing things for the wrong reason(s).

 

[Bill_Bright]

Should I make two partitions on the 500GB SSD, one just for the OS, and the other for the rest of the software ? Or should I just install everything in one partition ?

I see no reason to partition your C drive. Years ago, partitioning made it easier to organize your files. But that is simple to do now with File Manager, Libraries and folders.

There are no performance benefits to partitioning.

And I would leave the system managed PF on the C drive too. The default settings work just fine.

Not sure I see the point of a RAID either. If you had two identical SSDs, then maybe (though I wouldn't - especially with a notebook). But since your SSDs are different sizes, I don't recommend RAIDs. Besides, RAIDs typically do two things. If mirrored, they cut your available storage space or if striped, they make your data more vulnerable. Yes, they can, if striped, increase performance, but with SSDs already, most users would never notice any performance gains.

I'm getting a new laptop with two SSD's:

• 500 GB for OS (Win10) and software (games, antivirus, image/video editing software)
• 1TB for (lots) of personal data, like music, pics, videos

I use a similar setup with two SSDs on several PCs here and it works great for me. Windows 10 Pro, the system managed PFs, hardware drivers, and all my applications are on the C drives. The larger D drives are used for personal files, and to keep a backup image of C drives.

 

[EarthDog]

Correct... no point on an SSD for performance reasons (though short stroking a HDD back in the day.........). That said, nobody mentioned performance and partitioning here, but for ease of recovery of the OS without losing data and having to reinstall games, etc. Partitioning just the OS allows it to be obliterated at will (with a proper image behind it) and recovered easily.... but you have to have that back up image!

 

[The Egg]

I see no reason to partition your C drive. Years ago, partitioning made it easier to organize your files. But that is simple to do now with File Manager, Libraries and folders.
There are no performance benefits to partitioning.

This. Years ago there were a few mild benefits, as well as ease of use when working with a command line. These days I struggle to think of anything.

Correct... no point on an SSD for performance reasons (though short stroking a HDD back in the day.........). That said, nobody mentioned performance and partitioning here, but for ease of recovery of the OS without losing data and having to reinstall games, etc. Partitioning just the OS allows it to be obliterated at will (with a proper image behind it) and recovered easily....

I guess that's.....something. I don't see how it's any better than storing the data on another drive though, nor is either going to help against malware. If you're at a point where "ease of nuking your OS partition" is considered a benefit, I'd probably work on fixing that first.

Also worth mentioning, W10 has a bad habit of keeping a stupid amount of data as a "Windows Update Cache" on the system drive, as well as system restore points and other nonsense. This can all be managed and/or cleared out manually (maybe even moved to another drive in the case of system restore), but if someone were to just follow that 75GB recommendation and then forget about it, they could easily find themselves running out of space in short order.

I also don't know how partitioning an SSD affects TRIM. I would think that it doesn't, but I don't know that for 100% certain. I've never actually broken an SSD into multiple partitions. Probably worth a few minutes of research if you're doing this.

 

[EarthDog]

This. Years ago there were a few mild benefits, as well as ease of use when working with a command line. These days I struggle to think of anything.


I guess that's.....something. I don't see how it's any better than storing the data on another drive though, nor is either going to help against malware. If you're at a point where "ease of nuking your OS partition" is considered a benefit, I'd probably work on fixing that first.

Also worth mentioning, W10 has a bad habit of keeping a stupid amount of data as a "Windows Update Cache" on the system drive, as well as system restore points and other nonsense. This can all be managed and/or cleared out manually (maybe even moved to another drive in the case of system restore), but if someone were to just follow that 75GB recommendation and then forget about it, they could easily find themselves running out of space in short order.

I also don't know how partitioning an SSD affects TRIM. I would think that it doesn't, but I don't know that for 100% certain. I've never actually broken an SSD into multiple partitions. Probably worth a few minutes of research if you're doing this.

Because he said he wants the 1TB drive to be storage. I also did not say it helps against malware. I mentioned AV as an application that belongs on the OS partition (along with other programs and applications not games).

I suppose they could... I do manage my drive. THat said, I still have all the installers and cache from updates and such I haven't cleared out and still fit within those parms. Again, YMMV. If you have a shed load of apps and don't maintain your system, something larger is certainly a good idea.

Not worth researching...It doesn't affect TRIM in the least.

As far as ease of nuking a system being a benefit... it is and there isn't a problem there that needs to be fixed either. I blow up my OS and go with my base install at least 2x / year just to clean out garbage and keep the rig in tip top shape. I can do this because my OS is partitioned properly for my needs. I have all my apps and programs there, storage on a different drive (drives), games on a different drive I reattach in the host app. I'm literally up and running again in an hour like nothing happened with how I have things configured. Again, my way may not be the best way for the OP or you, but it works very well for me.

 

[Bill_Bright]

That said, nobody mentioned performance and partitioning here,

I did - for a reason. And you mentioned performance too - in reference to PFs. My point is some are under the impression partitions can improve performance. They don't. Putting files on separate drives can as operating systems can access multiple drives simultaneously. But multiple partitions on the same drive cannot be accessed at the same time. So partitions are for convenience only and these days, even that is no longer true.

I also don't know how partitioning an SSD affects TRIM.

It doesn't. When you partition a SSD, it is all done virtually. It is not like hard drives where actual physical tracks are divided (partitioned off) into separate partitions. Partitioning on SSDs does not affect wear-leveling either - for same reason.

 

[EarthDog]

I did - for a reason. And you mentioned performance too - in reference to PFs. My point is some are under the impression partitions can improve performance. They don't. Putting files on separate drives can as operating systems can access multiple drives simultaneously. But multiple partitions on the same drive cannot be accessed at the same time. So partitions are for convenience only and these days, even that is no longer true.

...and setting a PF on a different drive was a performance move (Nd why I said it) whereas partitioning never was a performance thing on ssds and could be left unsaid.

I mean it's good to know the brakes work when you're checking the AC... I get it... sorry.

 

[Bill_Bright]

...and setting a PF on a different drive was a performance move

Can be. Might not be. For example, assume free space on either drive is NOT an issue. If the C drive is a very fast NVMe M.2 PCI-Express SSD, performance would suffer if the secondary drive was a plain old SATA SSD.

In the OPs case, we don't know the specs of the two SSDs to know whether or not moving the PF would improve performance of the PF or not. So suggesting one way or the other is just speculation.

 

[EarthDog]

Can be. Might not be. For example, assume free space on either drive is NOT an issue. If the C drive is a very fast NVMe M.2 PCI-Express SSD, performance would suffer if the secondary drive was a plain old SATA SSD.

In the OPs case, we don't know the specs of the two SSDs to know whether or not moving the PF would improve performance of the PF or not. So suggesting one way or the other is just speculation.

oh for Pete's sake... I said it can be for a HDD...please see the earlier post.

 

[cpper]

Thanks for all the answers ! I think I'll just keep it simple, with OS and software on the same partition.
The 500GB is a Samsung 970 EVO Plus, and the 1TB a Samsung 860 EVO.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I think I'll just keep it simple

Simple is good!

oh for Pete's sake...

You really don't have to take every comment others say that's slightly different from yours, personally or as oppositions to yours. Nobody said you were wrong.