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Thread ID: 106360 2010-01-05 20:03:00 Partitioning HDD clevertrev (12879) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
846095 2010-01-05 20:03:00 Hi knowledgeable peoples,

I have just ordered a new 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 for my machine to use as the main drive. Can anyone tell me what the benefits of partitioning the drive are or should I just leave it as one large partition???

Would appreciate any feedback.

Cheers Trev
clevertrev (12879)
846096 2010-01-05 20:10:00 With a 1TB drive it's probably a good idea to partition as if you want to reinstall windows at some point 900GB of data is a lot to put somewhere, where if you have a 100 or 200GB partition for the OS, it's much easier to work with. wratterus (105)
846097 2010-01-05 20:10:00 Well it'll takes ages to format it for one. If you leave it as 1 partition. And if you partition it, it'll take less time to format next time. And if you get hit by a virus or something, all you have to do is format / install on the one partition. If you partition. And you can put updates / whatever on the other partitions (which is what I do). Saves me downloading them all over again, if I have to format. Speedy Gonzales (78)
846098 2010-01-05 20:11:00 If it were me I'd make at least two drives.

One for the O/S and programs and one for data.

That way if you need to reinstall the O/S for any reason you don't lose all the docs, music, pics etc.
Sweep (90)
846099 2010-01-05 20:20:00 Hi Clever Trev

The advantages of partitioning a hard drive are many but the main one being you can keep the operating system in a separate partition from the programs. This helps to limit any virus activity and makes it simple to troubleshoot.

Also with the programs and any data being on the same partition this should speed up access time on the hard drive.

Smaller partitions are faster due to the read times of the Master File Table. Smaller MFT's are read quicker than one large MFT. This improves your computer performance.

Hope this helps

BURNZEE
Burnzee (6950)
846100 2010-01-05 20:30:00 Thanks for all your feedback guys . Admittedly I did have a single 500GB Seagate in the machine in one partition and it did take ages to format but it recently died on me .

So I'm right in thinking the ideal size just for the OS (XP Pro . . . at this stage) would be around 100 - 200GB??

Cheers Trev
clevertrev (12879)
846101 2010-01-05 20:39:00 That should be plenty. I'm only using 50 GB on C, in XP. And its only used 10 GB so far. Altho, I've removed a lot of stuff with Nlite, then slipstreamed updates etc, then installed XP. It would have taken up a bit more space otherwise. Depends what youre going to install after XP has been installed. Besides the updates (games / other programs etc) Speedy Gonzales (78)
846102 2010-01-05 20:49:00 Sounds good Speedy. I haven't used nLite before but have heard of it. The programs I'll be installing after a clean install of XP would be the usuals...Norton Internet Security, Office, Acronis, System Mechanic Pro but I guess some of these could be placed on the second partition too. clevertrev (12879)
846103 2010-01-05 21:02:00 Well I wouldnt install anything Nortons/Symantec. If you havent noticed by some posts here. Its NOT exactly the best / most reliable program to install Speedy Gonzales (78)
846104 2010-01-05 21:03:00 LOL...so I've heard...What would you suggest as a good antivirus then?? I have access to Trend Micro, NOD32 and BitDefender at the moment. clevertrev (12879)
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