Is partitioning your harddrive bad?

[Blade195]

After formatting my computer due to a severe problem of not being able to boot windows XP, the reinstalled windows is running extremely sluggish. Sometimes when I open the task manager to see the cpu usage, it goes up to 100% for a second. I have a gut feeling a worm, trojan, or some nasty ad/spyware got into my computer while I was hastily installing updates, firewall, etc..

Now that is frustrating, after formatting. I'm thinking about making a partition on my 80GB hard drive... Roughly a gig partition just for the backup programs, so that i can fully protect my computer before logging on the net.

Hence my question, "Is partitioning your harddrive bad?", comes to mind. Does it slow down the computer? Does anyone use partitioning?

 

[Petros]

Well, you could wait for perris (the resident file system expert here ), or I could give you the short answer: no, it does not improve speed in anyway, and can cause slowdown in some cases. When you partition it, you scatter the data across a wider area of the hard drive, which means more and longer seek times.

 

[Perris Calderon]

I never partition my drive anymore...my computing is simply faster with out doing it, reading writing, moving files is faster on one volume...also, the xp perfortmance optimizing protocols don't cross volumes, so they become not as efficient

but plenty of experts do partition, and they find a pleasure and a convenience doing it

I say give it a shot...if you find more convenience, then that's what suits your needs...use your computer the way it suits you, and your fine

 

[Petros]

A good rule of thumb if you do partition--never use a partition if a folder will do just fine.

 

[Maveric169]

Well I am running 4 partitions on my 80GB drive. 1 10GB Partition for my OS, 1 40GB Partition for programs, 2 Partitions 12.5 GB each for Personal files and media files. On my 2nd drive (60 GB) I have 2 partitions. A 25 GB partition for my primary disk backup, and a 32.5 GB partition for Business Documents.

So no Partitioning your HDD is not a bad thing, just another way to seperate types of data, like an advanced version of file folders.

I just got done rebuilding my 80GB drive, and my system is running a bit slow, but Win XP needs some time to build it's index file system, "learn" what programs you use often to optomize loading of those programs. make sure to defrag your drive, and DL your updates and then give things a wekk or so to sort themselfs.

 

[Perris Calderon]

my entire drive is organized as conveniently as any partitioned drive...as unwonted says, I simply create a file system that emulates partitions...I like to call my file system "virtual partitions"

for instance, instead of a partition for my programs, I have a "virtual partition" (in other words a file) that I call ...(now get this, it's sheer genious) "progralms"

and voiala

 

[Perris Calderon]

one other thing;

most people that do like to partition like to puit their programs on a seperate partition from the os.

this is counter productive, and you will cripple the xp optimization if you do it that way...if you are going to partition, try to keep the programs on "c"

also, I would set up your temporary internet files on a partition all by themself

ok guys...carry on...I don't partition, so I can't add much to this discussion

 

[Grandmaster]

I prefer partitions, as it keeps everything on my drive more organized.

 

[Blade195]

Well, the only reason why i mentioned partition is not particularly to "organize" but to keep my songs,movies, and most importantly, the system essential files like drivers and security programs backed up when I have to format my system. It's a pain to download them again after reformatting.

I could go out and get myself a blank CD but I'm lazy right now and just thought if this was a bad way... if not i would just do it. After all, unless it's a CDRW, i when a new updated version of the driver/program comes up, I'll have to throw that CDR disc away...

 

[Petros]

Heck, if you got $100 laying around, you can grab a 160GB hard drive.

 

[Maveric169]

I was going to post a thread on this but since we are on the subject......
Is there a way to re-assign the default "C: program folder" to a different partition?

I wanted to do it this way as then if I have to re-install XP I don't have to reinstall all my programs.

one other thing;

most people that do like to partition like to puit their programs on a seperate partition from the os.

this is counter productive, and you will cripple the xp optimization if you do it that way...if you are going to partition, try to keep the programs on "c"

also, I would set up your temporary internet files on a partition all by themself

ok guys...carry on...I don't partition, so I can't add much to this discussion

 

[Petros]

You can move all your folders, run Partition Magic's Drivemapper, and find the registry key to change the default C:\Program Files to whatever you want.

 

[ElementalDragon]

Maveric, that's not a very good thing to do (which others will probably back me up on as well). If you want to create another partition separate from your OS for programs JUST so that you don't have to re-install them if you have to re-install windows, you're in for quite a shock. Just about every program you will ever install on your computer adds a tidbit of information to the registry that could either change the way something looks (not very important), or... it could allow the program to actually be run on your computer. Some programs, when installed, will actually put a file in it's installation folder to patch the registry with the information needed, but not that many.

 

[Bytes Back]

Just to add some more ideas here

Partitioning isn't inherently bad, very handy for backing up stuff in case of the dreaded reinstall. However, if you are constantly accessing those partition things will slow down

Far better to have lots of hard drives !

If you can get away with it, buy a PCI IDE controller and put a hardrive on every channel ( Not two now, thats ruining the point )

This makes for a very fast system as the harddrive work independently from each other and there is no slow down, Copying files from one to other is disgustingly fast.

So, dont partition, just get loads of hard drives.

 

[yoyo]

You won't notice the theoretical slowdown caused by partitioning your harddrive.

But it is always a good idea to keep your data files away from your operating system and programs, on a different partition or a different drive.

 

[onimkron]

So it's actually bad to install programs on a different partition from where Windows XP is installed?

Looks like I have a bit of uninstalling to do. Does this apply toother programs, such as games? I always thought that they only served to fragment the drive, and thus made XP slower.

 

[Perris Calderon]

bad is relative...if you find some kind of convenience putting your apps on a differant partition then the os, the convenience could out way xp's optimization utility...the optimization simply puts the files on an optimum spot on the disc...the optimization obviously won't cross a volume, so if the optimum spot is on a differant partition, that won't be able to happen...as far as games which can use 100% cpu...seems to me I'd like this activity as close to the operating system as possible

I'm still stuck on this partition thingy...I still don't understand the fetish, and I don't see the convenience everyone talks about...to me it's inconvenient using partitions, moving files, etc...I have all my data files on my virtual partitions, and these are just as if not more convenient then actual partitions.

the only benefit would be if you aren't backing up your data, you'll get some kind of protection using the hardrive as the backup

but as everyone is going to tell you, using your hardrive as your backup is a horrible idea...tot much to risk hoping that a crash won't involve the hardrive...best to back up off the box, that's for sure

I don't mind the idea of a mirror image of your os on a seperate partition...though a horrible waste of space if you need space, if you don't need the space, this seems like a good idea.

 

[yoyo]

Perris, I never understood your term of "virtual partitions". They are just folders, aren't they?

 

[ElementalDragon]

it's like what i do on my second partition that i use for downloads. i have a separate folder for Music, Movies, Programs, Games, etc...

 

[rushm001]

My Setup :-
HDD1 - 80GB unpartitoioned - Windows XP and Applications

HDD2 - 80GB - 3GB for Documents; 37GB for users desktops, songs, downloads etc 40GB for Games etc.