Partitioning a Hard Drive

[Guest]

I'm going to be installing a new hard drive. My present one isn't
partitioned. What is the reason for partitioning a hard drive? Since my old
drive wasn't partitioned and it worked with no problems, what would the
benefits be for partitioning the new one?

 

[Jon_Hildrum]

The old drive was partitioned. It would not have worked if it was not.

Partitioning provides a logical organization of the hard drive which allows
installing operating system specific information onto the partition.
You can have several partition (4 primary) on a hard drive but whether one
or more the drive always need to be partitioned.
Thus once a drive is partitioned, the operating system specific information
such as file system is installed by formatting the partition.

Most likely your old drive only had one partition but that does not mean it
was not partitioned.

Thus, you must first partitioned the drive then after partitioning you must
format the drive. Then you can install the operating system.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Jon, for responding. My Windows folder is in my C drive, not
partitioned from the other files in My Programs folder. Is this Windows
folder different than the one you mentioned that contains "operating system
specific information onto the partition?"

Also, I don't see a partition. Is this normal?

And last but not least, when I partition the hard drive and install Windows,
will Windows automatically put the operating system info into the partition
or will I have to do it myself?

Denise

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I'm going to be installing a new hard drive. My present one isn't
partitioned. What is the reason for partitioning a hard drive? Since my
old drive wasn't partitioned and it worked with no problems, what would
the benefits be for partitioning the new one?

The old drive was partitioned. It would not have worked if it was not.

Partitioning provides a logical organization of the hard drive which
allows
installing operating system specific information onto the partition.
You can have several partition (4 primary) on a hard drive but whether one
or more the drive always need to be partitioned.
Thus once a drive is partitioned, the operating system specific
information
such as file system is installed by formatting the partition.

Most likely your old drive only had one partition but that does not mean
it
was not partitioned.

Thus, you must first partitioned the drive then after partitioning you
must
format the drive. Then you can install the operating system.

Thanks, Jon, for responding. My Windows folder is in my C drive,
not partitioned from the other files in My Programs folder. Is
this Windows folder different than the one you mentioned that
contains "operating system specific information onto the partition?"

Also, I don't see a partition. Is this normal?

And last but not least, when I partition the hard drive and install
Windows, will Windows automatically put the operating system info
into the partition or will I have to do it myself?

You misunderstood.
Essentially what you were told is that even your old hard drive (which you
said was not partitioned) was - indeed - partitioned.
It's almost a play on words.

You are thinking of partitioning as splitting into more than one part -
when, in matter of fact, one partition (the whole thing) is how your old
hard drive was partitioned. Without creating a "partition" - a defined
storage space on a hard drive - you cannot utilize the drive effectively
with the operating system of your choice. So when you say, "I don't see a
partition. Is this normal?", I say, "If you see your data, you are seeing a
partition."

Your definition/meaning was to infer you were thinking of making more than
ONE of these partitions. So you had - for example - drive C: and drive D:
as usuable partitions on the one physical drive. That is fine. There are
reasons to do this - like if it helps you organize more effectively, if you
plan on rebuilding the operating system partition on occassion and want to
keep your saved data seperated, if your operating system doesn't support a
drive of the size you are using.. etc. Not so good reasons would include a
thought process where one believes they are better protecting their data or
gaining some sort of performance out of the multiple partitions. I have
seen cases where someone partitioned into C & D and the synchronized their
data from C onto the D partition and thought they were protecting their data
from catastrophic disaster. While - depending on how they synchronize - it
may help recover from "I didn't mean to erase/overwrite that file"
incidents - if the one physical hard drive dies - both partitions will
likely go with it. I have also seen the rather lengthy arguments about
"swap files" and having it on a different partition makes a performance
difference - but the fact is - you are still physically accessing the drive
through a single cable, so whether your swap file is on C: or D: partition
of that single physical drive - you have the same choke-point.

Personally - I make single partitions as buy more drives to make more single
partitions on (or I might RAID a few drives together so I have one large
partition spanning over several drives - perhaps even with some
replication/safety built in..) I see very little reason to split the drive
up into partitions - but different people think in different ways.

Think of a filing cabinet - it is the hard drive..

If the drawers are large enough and you have enough file folders - you can
easily fit all of your file folders into one drawer of that entire cabinet -
so let's say you bought a one-drawer cabinet. That is like buying a hard
drive and not splitting the drive into many partitions - just one partitions
with all of your file folders (files & folders) in that one drawer -
organized. You use the file folders to organize your information.

Now - you could buy a multi-drawer filing cabinet (or partition your hard
drive into many parts) and use that. Let's say you bought a three drawer
filing cabinet. You store all of your necessary stuff in the top drawer,
all of your blank forms and document layouts in the second drawer and all of
your finished work in the last drawer.. That's like splitting your hard
disk drive into three partitions and using the first partition for the
Operating System (Windows) and the second partition as where you install all
of your programs (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc) and the last partition as
where you store all of your actual work - your pictures, text files,
spreadsheets, etc.

What you do is entirely up to you - it's how you think and only you know how
best to organize your stuff.
The operating system (Windows) could care less. You tell it what to do.
When you install it - it will have defaults - but you are the one organizing
your filing cabinet - do it how you see fit. Just do us one favor - make
sure that top drawer (first partition) has plenty of space to grow. I TRY
to maintain a 20GB partition minimum for the first partition where my OS
will be installed.

 

[Guest]

You misunderstood.
Essentially what you were told is that even your old hard drive (which you
said was not partitioned) was - indeed - partitioned.
It's almost a play on words.

You are thinking of partitioning as splitting into more than one part -
when, in matter of fact, one partition (the whole thing) is how your old
hard drive was partitioned. Without creating a "partition" - a defined
storage space on a hard drive - you cannot utilize the drive effectively
with the operating system of your choice. So when you say, "I don't see a
partition. Is this normal?", I say, "If you see your data, you are seeing a
partition."

Your definition/meaning was to infer you were thinking of making more than
ONE of these partitions. So you had - for example - drive C: and drive D:
as usuable partitions on the one physical drive. That is fine. There are
reasons to do this - like if it helps you organize more effectively, if you
plan on rebuilding the operating system partition on occassion and want to
keep your saved data seperated, if your operating system doesn't support a
drive of the size you are using.. etc. Not so good reasons would include a
thought process where one believes they are better protecting their data or
gaining some sort of performance out of the multiple partitions. I have
seen cases where someone partitioned into C & D and the synchronized their
data from C onto the D partition and thought they were protecting their data
from catastrophic disaster. While - depending on how they synchronize - it
may help recover from "I didn't mean to erase/overwrite that file"
incidents - if the one physical hard drive dies - both partitions will
likely go with it. I have also seen the rather lengthy arguments about
"swap files" and having it on a different partition makes a performance
difference - but the fact is - you are still physically accessing the drive
through a single cable, so whether your swap file is on C: or D: partition
of that single physical drive - you have the same choke-point.

Personally - I make single partitions as buy more drives to make more single
partitions on (or I might RAID a few drives together so I have one large
partition spanning over several drives - perhaps even with some
replication/safety built in..) I see very little reason to split the drive
up into partitions - but different people think in different ways.

Think of a filing cabinet - it is the hard drive..

If the drawers are large enough and you have enough file folders - you can
easily fit all of your file folders into one drawer of that entire cabinet -
so let's say you bought a one-drawer cabinet. That is like buying a hard
drive and not splitting the drive into many partitions - just one partitions
with all of your file folders (files & folders) in that one drawer -
organized. You use the file folders to organize your information.

Now - you could buy a multi-drawer filing cabinet (or partition your hard
drive into many parts) and use that. Let's say you bought a three drawer
filing cabinet. You store all of your necessary stuff in the top drawer,
all of your blank forms and document layouts in the second drawer and all of
your finished work in the last drawer.. That's like splitting your hard
disk drive into three partitions and using the first partition for the
Operating System (Windows) and the second partition as where you install all
of your programs (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc) and the last partition as
where you store all of your actual work - your pictures, text files,
spreadsheets, etc.

What you do is entirely up to you - it's how you think and only you know how
best to organize your stuff.
The operating system (Windows) could care less. You tell it what to do.
When you install it - it will have defaults - but you are the one organizing
your filing cabinet - do it how you see fit. Just do us one favor - make
sure that top drawer (first partition) has plenty of space to grow. I TRY
to maintain a 20GB partition minimum for the first partition where my OS
will be installed.

Thanks for the detailed explanation, Shenan. It made things very clear.

Since I'm used to working with one partition, I'll leave it that way.

Do I need a program to partition the drive?

How do I format it?

Is there anything special I need to know or do after I've partitioned and
formatted it prior to installing Windows?

Do I need to install SP1 and SP2 or does SP2 contain additional updates plus
all the info that's in SP1?

Denise

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Since I'm used to working with one partition, I'll leave it that
way.

Do I need a program to partition the drive?

Windows XP will partition the drive. You just boot from your installation
CD, when it asks where you want to install - delete and create partiton(s)
to your hearts content.

How do I format it?

XP will do that as well.

Is there anything special I need to know or do after I've
partitioned and formatted it prior to installing Windows?

Well - not really - as the partitioning/formatting is part of the
installation. =)

Do I need to install SP1 and SP2 or does SP2 contain additional
updates plus all the info that's in SP1?

SP2 is cumulative.

 

[Guest]

Windows XP will partition the drive. You just boot from your installation
CD, when it asks where you want to install - delete and create partiton(s)
to your hearts content.


XP will do that as well.


Well - not really - as the partitioning/formatting is part of the
installation. =)


SP2 is cumulative.

Thanks again, Shenan. I've been looking around the net and there seems to
be a lot of programs out there for purchase that claim that they are needed
to partition/format a hard drive. I guess I wasn't as naive as I thought
when I thought that my Windows XP disk would be all I need to set up the new
drive. I will, of course, move all of my programs/pictures/documentation to
another drive prior to removing my existing C drive. I'll sleep soundly
tonight

Denise

 

[dsteel0]

Thanks again, Shenan. I've been looking around the net and there seems to
be a lot of programs out there for purchase that claim that they are needed
to partition/format a hard drive.

"Claim" is the right word. They're *not* needed.

I guess I wasn't as naive as I thought
when I thought that my Windows XP disk would be all I need to set up the new
drive.

It *is* all you need - Like Shenan said, the format/partition is part
of the setup.

I will, of course, move all of my programs/pictures/documentation to
another drive prior to removing my existing C drive. I'll sleep soundly
tonight

Denise

Not sure if I've understood correctly, but it seems like you're still
under the impression you need a 3rd party app to format/partition.
You're XP CD will do everything you need as part of setup, and you
don't need to buy any other applications. Hope this helps.

DSt.

 

[Guest]

"Claim" is the right word. They're *not* needed.


It *is* all you need - Like Shenan said, the format/partition is part
of the setup.


Not sure if I've understood correctly, but it seems like you're still
under the impression you need a 3rd party app to format/partition.
You're XP CD will do everything you need as part of setup, and you
don't need to buy any other applications. Hope this helps.

DSt.

Hi DSt, Thanks for ensuring me that all I need to format/partition my new
hard drive is my Windows XP disk. I understand that I only need my Windows
XP disk and I won't be purchasing any programs such as Partition Magic, etc.
I originally thought that I needed only the Windows disk but after reading
the ads for partitioning/formatting programs, I initiated this post to make
sure that I didn't need to purchase them (I wasn't naive in thinking that all
I need is my Windows XP disk. . . it IS all I need). I only mentioned it in
my last post so that other people who might read this thread will also know
that those type of programs aren't needed if they have a Windows disk. But I
decided to partition the drive into 4 parts because it's a 300G drive . . . 1
partition will be for my operating system (about 20G), 1 for my programs
(about 25G), 1 for files that I work on, and 1 for files that I've saved but
will almost never be changed/updated. This way, when I need to defrag, I can
defrag one partition at a time, usually only the partition that contains the
files that I work on. I hoping it'll work this way.

Denise

 

[Donald L McDaniel]

Hi DSt, Thanks for ensuring me that all I need to format/partition my new
hard drive is my Windows XP disk. I understand that I only need my Windows
XP disk and I won't be purchasing any programs such as Partition Magic, etc.
I originally thought that I needed only the Windows disk but after reading
the ads for partitioning/formatting programs, I initiated this post to make
sure that I didn't need to purchase them (I wasn't naive in thinking that all
I need is my Windows XP disk. . . it IS all I need). I only mentioned it in
my last post so that other people who might read this thread will also know
that those type of programs aren't needed if they have a Windows disk. But I
decided to partition the drive into 4 parts because it's a 300G drive . . . 1
partition will be for my operating system (about 20G), 1 for my programs
(about 25G), 1 for files that I work on, and 1 for files that I've saved but
will almost never be changed/updated. This way, when I need to defrag, I can
defrag one partition at a time, usually only the partition that contains the
files that I work on. I hoping it'll work this way.

Denise

You WILL, however, NEED to purchase one of the third-party
partitioning utilities IF you intend on repartitioning your HD
NON-DESTRUCTIVELY (keeping the same file structure, and all your data
and programs intact), since NO Microsoft product will
non-destructively partition your HD.

==

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread and newsgroup.
=====================================================

 

[Guest]

You WILL, however, NEED to purchase one of the third-party
partitioning utilities IF you intend on repartitioning your HD
NON-DESTRUCTIVELY (keeping the same file structure, and all your data
and programs intact), since NO Microsoft product will
non-destructively partition your HD.

==

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread and newsgroup.
=====================================================

I will be installing a new C hard drive, not reformatting or repartitioning
my existing one. I'll be moving all my files to an external hd and when I've
partitioned/formatted the new drive, I'll move them onto the new C drive,
into the partition that I will have made for them . . . Windows XP Pro (op
system) into 1 partition, my programs into another, a partition for working
on files, and a partition for files that I've saved that will almost never be
changed, only perused. If I'm wrong and it won't work this way, please let
me know.

Denise

 

[Donald L McDaniel]

I will be installing a new C hard drive, not reformatting or repartitioning
my existing one. I'll be moving all my files to an external hd and when I've
partitioned/formatted the new drive, I'll move them onto the new C drive,
into the partition that I will have made for them . . . Windows XP Pro (op
system) into 1 partition, my programs into another, a partition for working
on files, and a partition for files that I've saved that will almost never be
changed, only perused. If I'm wrong and it won't work this way, please let
me know.

Denise

It is better to put your programs in the Programs folder of C:\Program
Files on your Boot partition, not a separate partition. In addition,
many program installers (Office comes to mind) leave files on C:\
anyway, no matter where you install your programs.

Personally, I prefer folders to arrange my files, not partitions
(although I do use an external drive to store Program installers and
other important data on. Its easy to reinstall the OS, but not always
possible to restore the downloaded program installers and your data,
so its a good idea to store such data on separate partitions (or even
better, on separate HDs) in case the OS crashes too badly to restore.
Most programs are built from the ground up to use their own data
folders in either "C:\Program Files" or use
"C:\Documents and Settings\my profile\Application Data"


==

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread and newsgroup.
=====================================================

 

[Guest]

It is better to put your programs in the Programs folder of C:\Program
Files on your Boot partition, not a separate partition. In addition,
many program installers (Office comes to mind) leave files on C:\
anyway, no matter where you install your programs.

Personally, I prefer folders to arrange my files, not partitions
(although I do use an external drive to store Program installers and
other important data on. Its easy to reinstall the OS, but not always
possible to restore the downloaded program installers and your data,
so its a good idea to store such data on separate partitions (or even
better, on separate HDs) in case the OS crashes too badly to restore.
Most programs are built from the ground up to use their own data
folders in either "C:\Program Files" or use
"C:\Documents and Settings\my profile\Application Data"


==

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread and newsgroup.
=====================================================

Thanks for letting me know. . . I can now see the importance/sense of
putting my programs in the same partition as my operating system. I'll make
2 additional partitions. The hard drive is 300G and I'd prefer to have them
partitioned so that when I want to defrag them. it won't take as long as if I
didn't partition them.

I have hundreds of folders. I'm very organized and methodical and can tell
a person where any given document is located in my pc, and whether it's
complete or still needs work done on it, and how much work still needs to be
done on it. I need that space to work on multiple large files and then move
them to the "Completed Work" partition.

Thanks again to you and everyone else who've helped me with this project. I
might still come back when I actually get down to doing it.

Denise