Performance & no of partitions

[Pranav]

I've got Sony Vaio with 80GB hardisk & 512 MB RAM. Initially it was
having one unnamed system partition of 10 GB for system recovery &
other partition(C of 70 GB, which was having Win XP.
Now I've repartitioned 70 GB partition as C: - 15GB, D: - 30GB, E: -
25GB, keeping system partition as it is. So in total there are 4
partitions, with Win XP in C15GB).
After doing all this, my laptop has become quite slow & taking long
time to boot. Can dividing disk in 4 partitions be the reason. Is there
any limit on no of partitions for best performance.
Also should primary partition(C with OS be a bigger one, so that %age
of empty space is morein it. In my case C: drive is about 45% free.
Kindly help

Pranav...

 

[DL]

Partitioning doesnt cause slowness.
However since you have a recovery partition that will put the sys back to
supplied state if you ever need to, then all your partitions will be lost.
So IMO its a waste of time, or only helpfull if you have a retail winxp cd.
Also if your hd fails you could lose all, so its no help for backups either.

 

[JS]

Take a look at CCleaner as a tool to remove temp files and other junk, this
may help speed up things.
http://www.ccleaner.com/

Also try Autoruns from the new Windows SysInternals (formerly Sysinternals)
site:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Autoruns.mspx
This will show all apps/etc. that load/run when you first boot and
selectively allow you to stop any that you don't want.
Note: To get additional details on an item in the list you may need to
highlight the item (right click) and use the Google option to get the
details, especially useful for the more obscure items in the list.

Finally, you may be able to eliminate some unnecessary services
Services Startup Type Descriptions:
Disabled - This service will never start.
Manual - May be started when needed by an application or another service.
Automatic - Started when Windows boots.

For more info on what service are needed or can be stopped see:
http://www.beemerworld.com/tips/servicesxp.htm

JS

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I've got Sony Vaio with 80GB hardisk & 512 MB RAM. Initially it was
having one unnamed system partition of 10 GB for system recovery &
other partition(C of 70 GB, which was having Win XP.
Now I've repartitioned 70 GB partition as C: - 15GB, D: - 30GB, E: -
25GB, keeping system partition as it is. So in total there are 4
partitions, with Win XP in C15GB).
After doing all this, my laptop has become quite slow & taking long
time to boot. Can dividing disk in 4 partitions be the reason. Is
there any limit on no of partitions for best performance.

For best performance, you should have only a single partition. That keeps
everything on the drive close together and decreases the time it takes for
the drive heads to move from one file to another.

But especially in these days of fast hard drives, that effect should be a
small one, and should not necessarily be the overriding consideration in
deciding how to partition your drive. If you are noticing a significant
slowdown, I doubt very much whether this is the issue.

These days the most common cause for performance issues is malware
infestation. The first thing to do is always to be sure you are free of
malware. I recommend that you go to Malke's Malware Removal site at
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware and follow
the instructions there.

Also should primary partition(C with OS be a bigger one, so that
%age of empty space is morein it.

No.


In my case C: drive is about 45%
free. Kindly help

There are no "shoulds" here that are right for everyone. How to partition
your drive is mostly a matter of personal choice, and should be based on how
you use your computer. But in general, my view is that most people's
partitioning scheme should be based on their backup scheme. If, for example,
you backup by creating a clone or image on the entire drive, then a single
partition might be best. If, on the other hand, you backup only your data,
then the backup process is facilitated by having all data in a separate
partition. Except for those running multiple
operating systems, only seldom does it make sense to have more than two.

Note that many people advise separating programs on a separate partition
from the operating system, because they think their programs will remain
intact if they ever have to reinstall Windows. However that is not true, and
if Windows is reinstalled, almost all your programs will have to be
reinstalled too. So I believe that programs should normally be kept on the
same partition as Windows.

 

[Rock]

I've got Sony Vaio with 80GB hardisk & 512 MB RAM. Initially it was
having one unnamed system partition of 10 GB for system recovery &
other partition(C of 70 GB, which was having Win XP.
Now I've repartitioned 70 GB partition as C: - 15GB, D: - 30GB, E: -
25GB, keeping system partition as it is. So in total there are 4
partitions, with Win XP in C15GB).
After doing all this, my laptop has become quite slow & taking long
time to boot. Can dividing disk in 4 partitions be the reason. Is there
any limit on no of partitions for best performance.
Also should primary partition(C with OS be a bigger one, so that %age
of empty space is morein it. In my case C: drive is about 45% free.
Kindly help

No, partitioning the drive should not significantly effect the perceived
speed of operation. Why did you partition as you did. In general there is
no practical advantage to putting programs on a separate partition from the
operating system. If the OS needs to be reinstalled so do programs, and
some programs insist on being installed on the partition where the OS
resides. Keeping data on a separate partition has value. That said how you
partition is mainly a matter or personal choice, your drive toward
organization and most importantly, as Ken said, how you do backups.