Hard Drive Tips

[darkangel]

Hi,

I have just brought a 160GB hardrive and I am planning on what i am going to do with it. I was thinking splinting the hard drive into 4, 40GB, hardrives. I already have a 40GB hardrive so that means I will have 5 Hardrvies each with 40GB.

Also I was thinking about formatting the 40GB hardrive I have at the moment to get all the rubbish of it.

So if anyone has any tips on the best way to do this it would be Great and do you think this good idea or should i do something else?

Thanks

 

[bodhi]

Well, if it were me i would find that having 5 x 40Gb hard drive a bit of a pain in the ass. Plus, 40Gb isn't that big now-a-days, so you might find your boot drive getting full after a while. If you are determined to logically partition drives then why not make your 'C' drive 100Gb and they have a 60Gb 'D' drive and then your other 40Gb drive. But thats just my humble opinion. :-/

 

[floppybootstomp]

Whilst not agreeing with bodhi that 5 x 40Gb drives would be a pain in the rump I would agree that his suggestion of drives of 100, 60 & 40 would seem more realistic. It all depends on what you're going to use your computer for.

Much storage of music? Pictures? Movie files? Games? Office files and documents?

For partitioning, Partition Magic 8 software does a good job.

 

[ChristopherP]

you wont get the full 40gig per partition... you will get (usable) a few gigs less...

Why do you want to partition your hard drive? I have done it a couple times and i did find it a pain in the "rump" as i had to select which drive to install things to etc etc as opposed to just finding the right directory.

Because there is only 1 physical drive there would be no speed increase.

 

[darkangel]

Most of the space on my Hard drive at the moment is music so i might do the 40gig hardrive i got at the moment and make that just for music, then i would make 10gig hard drive for all my documents and then i would be left with a 150gig hardrive for all the program files and games.

Is this a better idea??

 

[ChristopherP]

I believe that you get the best performance out of your hard drive if you dont partition at all... something to do with accessing different bits at different times...

Why can you not have 5 folders in the C: directory with all your stuff? surely this would be easier...

 

[Quadophile]

The best way to prepare the hard drive is to use the software for installation from the Hard drive manufacturer itself. I have a new Western Digital which I recently purchased and I use the software from WD which did a wonderful job of partitioning and formatting. It takes only 5 minutes to do all that and is not a pain at all as some say it is. If you bought Seagate they also have a similar program which you can download.

Remember Windows formatting is no good as it takes the default of 512b to create a cluster, whereas if you use the software from the hard drive maker you have a choice of 512b 1K, 2K and 4K cluster size. I would go for 4K cluster size as it makes the file system much faster.

I go through the Advanced menu but you can always do an Express Install and everything will be done by the software automatically based on the size of Hard Disk and Operating System installed. You will be asked for input and you can provide the answers to simple questions like which OS and what service pack in use.

I hope this helps

 

[KGB-911]

I agree with Chris, Just use it as it is, why do you want to partition it?

 

[Quadophile]

I may also add that too big a partition and too many files will make the ssytem very slow in long run if you do not maintain it, meaning, using the defragment utility etc. Ideally you should defragment your drive partitions at least every fortnight otherwise it takes ages to do that. The faster processors are surely fast but the data over the years have also become huge so it almost takes the same time as it used to be. I remember back in mid 90's defragmenting use to take few hours if not done on a regular basis and still takes that much time if you are lazy.

Defragmenting the system is necessary for everything to be lightning quick - provided you have a lightning quick machine.

 

[KGB-911]

Hey!

I have just noticed..

PINKY's BACK! when did that come back Quad?

 

[Quadophile]

Just a few hours back, looks like you too are in favour of the Pinky!

 

[KGB-911]

We all like pinky!

KGB

 

[darkangel]

Firstly I like to say thanks for all the advise.

I was thinking about buying a Maxtor but i don't know if they have the software but i will check.

I am moving torwards not partioning it at all because it woould be a lot easier. My plan now is to have the 40gig hardrive i have at the moment and use that for Music and installion files and then i would use the 160gig for program files and documents.

 

[Spooky Mouse]

I have 2 drives one is partitioned effectivly making... C,D,E Drives..... I like Partitioning as its great for organisation.. for example i can have all my games on E..... Leaving D for applications.. and C for the OS.... i just find it easier.. i havent a clue if its any good for the computer... but hey who cares this machine works for me..... i dont work for it!...

 

[Quadophile]

darkangel:

Yes Maxtor also have the software on thier site. In fact all hard drive makers have them, and most bundle it with thier drives when you buy one from retail. If you did not get it you can always download it from their site.

Spooky:

that is what I call ORGANISED. Yes, the computer is a tool for us to get the job done, whatever that maybe. I too have my drives partitioned for different things, like video, music, data files, programs, backup etc. What I did was to have the back-up of all my data on the other drive as well so that if one fails I have the data on the other. I have always done that since I know what hard drive failure means, I had a few fail on me. Last month I lost my 60 gig boot drive so I got the WD and all my data was safe on the other one (SATA).

All those who have two drives in one rig should back-up important files this way. Ideally what you have in MY Documents folder.

 

[Spooky Mouse]

Quad.. im really glad to see pinky back.... and what you say about backing up important data.. yes i agree.. if its important you dont want to lose it... a drive can contain many years of hard work...

I agree with you totally sir...

 

[GONNA-GET-U]

when u spilt ur harddrive - just remember to have anogth space on the OS - alot of program will only install on the OS drive - but not all

For spitin it - i'm sure virus will only install on the OS harddrive and can't jump across the partition

i would suggest 60 gb for the OS, 100gb for anything and the 40gb harddrive for anything