Partitions - Any Advantage

Capricorn

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Any advantage in installing XP Pro on one partition, and Program Files on another partition, on the same Hard Drive?
 
There really isn't any noticeable performance advantage. However, if you reinstall Windows often and only have one hard drive, it doesn't hurt to store your MP3s, program installers, etc. on another partition so you don't lose them when you reinstall windows.
 
Yeah .. cause if O.S is affected those programs will not longer be available ( workin' ) ..

Cosmin
 
I recommend at least 2 partitions on a single drive system, one for the OS and programs and one to store items such as music, documents, etc.
 
As was already stated, there isn't a performance advantage at all. Some people used to think that creating a second partition to store the page file, would give you faster performance. But that isn't true because it's no the same physical disc.

As most have said, it just makes re-installing easier for you. This way you don't have to burn to removeable media or to an external device things you want to keep before formatting and re-installing.
 
kcnychief said:
As was already stated, there isn't a performance advantage at all. Some people used to think that creating a second partition to store the page file, would give you faster performance. But that isn't true because it's no the same physical disc.

As most have said, it just makes re-installing easier for you. This way you don't have to burn to removeable media or to an external device things you want to keep before formatting and re-installing.


I create several partitions... not for performance, but for backup/music/misc data. :)
 
partition strategy was to accommodate the inability to access large volumes, ntfs files system eliminated the need

in point of fact, there is a performance hit when you partition if computing with xp...this is because xp moves portions of files to the front of the disc as needed, and this process won't cross volumes

for convenience, partitions are fine for those people that need to keep organized, and those people that don't want to back up their files

they can possibly Saxe their data if the OS fails and the hard rive remains healthy, so if you don't back up your files you should partition

of you're looking for performance you probably should not, however there are a few strategies that will indeed speed performance if you hold a vigil

for instance if you put your temporary files on their own partition, you can defrag just that partition and speed the down time

however as far as other convenience, the perception is only psychological.

I can create a file and call it "music partition" and it will give me all the convenience of a separate partition for music

anyway, carry on
 
Rule of thumb, though, if you decide to start partitioning:
Don't use a partition for anything a folder could accomplish.
Now that I have three hard drives, I don't partition anything.
 
How do you delete partitions?
I wanted to completely reformat my hdd and i can't it wont give me the option to delete the partition i want as well...
I ahve 2 windows installations on one hdd and i cant get rid of the one i dont want :(
 
You can delete partitions within Disk Management through Windows. Or, when installing XP, you have the option to blow away all partitions.
 
I am unsure of the validity of this - since I may be out of date with HD technology, particularly in respect of error handling and correction. But it is just possible that you could gain an edge in longevity of a drive via partitioning. The structure of a drive is (I think this is still valid) in tracks and sectors... there can be heads and cylinders also for high capacity drives (this goes back to mainframe storage, but let's not get into drums or anything). Anyway - when a HD is new all is fine and dandy - over time there will come a point that the ferous charging/discharging "wears out" (you may also have mechanical failure of stepping motors and such or the head alignment screwing up that flies over the platter - these are chatastrophic failures, often with noises and usually with total data transfer loss - a dead HD to you and me (though not to a specialist recovery otufit)).

So anyway, when you get failures at the ferous level these are meant to be picked up by SMART as signs of a drive being on the way out. But at the same time the drive will "mark" sectors and suchlike as unusable (anyone who's run CHKDSK /F will know what I mean). Now likelihood such damage is localized.

So if my theory follows then for large HD's (say above 80Gb at current technologies) partitioning them into (for the sake of argument) quarters COULD mean you are able to continue usefully using a drive that is showing it's age more readily. I have such a drive (120GB) Maxtor that has remained in active use for my XP3000+ machine over a year after SMART detected issues with the drive. Issues may remain with any low level parograms that operate beyone partition boundaries (EG, Ghost, DriveImage, TrueImage etc) but you continue to get some bangs for your buck from an aging drive.

If that appeals to you paritioning may help manage the process (you would stop using one partition with the errors rather than the whole drive). Even if your approach is to replace an HD at that point in it's life - the partitioning may help you manage the process of getting your data off a little....

I would not go mad with partitioning - but it is a useful way to break stuff down at a high logical level.... Just bear in mind the limits as to how many you are able to have and your overall physical drive stratrgy plus you general data requirements (if you have over 20 GB music for example I would suggest a partition unto itself for that to be highly recommended).

Did not mean to bore people with my ramblings - also interested if my extrapolations from my possibly outdated knowledge of the underlying mechanics and technology hold true today...

Hope this is useful and pretty much correct.

Discuss....
 
kcnychief said:
You can delete partitions within Disk Management through Windows. Or, when installing XP, you have the option to blow away all partitions.
Thats what i try to do but for some reason it wont let me delete them.
What i want to do is a quick reformat but it will not let me do it on the disk windows is installed on, even if the cd is in.
 
Capricorn said:
Any advantage in installing XP Pro on one partition, and Program Files on another partition, on the same Hard Drive?

Just realising from the original question I digressed massively! :eek:

IMO - No. :p

In fact I'd go further - might be a disadvantage! Why? Because program files operation often relies upon the drive letter being C: (Windows certainly does!) and even if not relied upon it CERTAINLY matters if it should change... so to keep it simple and straightforward and pain free to look after leaving it with C: really makes the most sense to me...

Now if he'd asked about "My Documents" or the kind of things Petros already identified - well that is another story and definitely worthwhile keeping out of the Windows partition, as I suspect Capricorn is well aware.

Side note to Vanquished - just low-level format and make sure you NEVER get Windows onto more than one partition again - that is asking for trouble.
 
mfg: with larger hard drives.... i think that's where NCQ (Native Command Queuing for those who don't know) plays a role. even with partitioning... you're still going to be accessing data on most parts of the hard drive, and the read/write heads will still be moving at near non-visable speed. if anything partitioning might make it WORSE... since the heads will have to move a farther distance to access data on the second partition. say you have a 250GB hard drive.... and you partitioned it in half. that basically means that the drive was split at right about the 125,000MB mark (partition a = 0-124,999MB partition b = 125,000-250,000MB). so instead of having all the files on one partition, nicely in order, you have them on a completely different half of the drive platter.... causing excess movement..... which is also probably another role where NCQ comes into play.

as for whether there are any advantages or not...... i'd say probably more along the not side. even if you format one partition to reinstall windows.... that often seems to really leave the drive in a mess. hell i've made backup dvd's of my hard drive shortly after a reinstall, but never used them. always found a fresh install to be more satisfying.... because then you KNOW there's no excess crap.
 
ElementalDragon said:
mfg: with larger hard drives.... i think that's where NCQ (Native Command Queuing for those who don't know) plays a role. even with partitioning... you're still going to be accessing data on most parts of the hard drive, and the read/write heads will still be moving at near non-visable speed. if anything partitioning might make it WORSE... since the heads will have to move a farther distance to access data on the second partition. ...

as for whether there are any advantages or not...... i'd say probably more along the not side. even if you format one partition to reinstall windows.... that often seems to really leave the drive in a mess. hell i've made backup dvd's of my hard drive shortly after a reinstall, but never used them. always found a fresh install to be more satisfying.... because then you KNOW there's no excess crap.


that's a great post, let me add a little bit of extra info for the original poster

putting program files on a separate partition wll impede performance, the closer an app is to the partition the better

if you need to partition, the only real use would be to possibly save files from a crash, and of course putting temp files like temp internet files on a separate area to make defragging those files easier accomplished
 

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