Large Harddisk | NTFS | Split or not?

[Tibby]

Hi ppl,

clean install of WinXP.Prof. on one ide hdd, 120gb.
I will use the ntfs.
Some ppl say, that the disk should not be splitted into two or more
partition,
some of them says 'go ahead, separate system from data'.
Some of them even put the swap on a separate partition...
A friend of mine splits an 120 gig disk into four FAT32 partitions..
Isn't this a bit...unwise?

Where can I find some materials about this Q.?

Thx in advance,

Tibby

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

clean install of WinXP.Prof. on one ide hdd, 120gb.
I will use the ntfs.
Some ppl say, that the disk should not be splitted into two or more
partition,
some of them says 'go ahead, separate system from data'.
Some of them even put the swap on a separate partition...
A friend of mine splits an 120 gig disk into four FAT32 partitions..
Isn't this a bit...unwise?

Tibby,

I never use more than one partition. I don't see any significant
advantages of more than one partition, but I see one clear
disadvantage---your are splitting up your most valuable
asset---your free disk space.

Multiple partitions are sometimes advantageous with some very
special backup strategies. You may also need them when you have
more than one operating system installed. Otherwise they are
useless.

Hans-Georg

 

[Tegger®]

Hi ppl,

clean install of WinXP.Prof. on one ide hdd, 120gb.
I will use the ntfs.
Some ppl say, that the disk should not be splitted into two or more
partition,
some of them says 'go ahead, separate system from data'.
Some of them even put the swap on a separate partition...

That's a UNIX/Linux/BSD approach. Not necessary with Windows.

A friend of mine splits an 120 gig disk into four FAT32 partitions..
Isn't this a bit...unwise?

Why would it be?

I split any drive I set up into two: System and Data.

I set all programs to save their data to the D: drive and redirect My
Documents to a My Documents folder on the D:.

Outlook Express is also set to keep its folders and its address book in D:.

One does not fully appreciate the wisdom of this approach until one's OS
becomes corrupted and unrecoverable. The only drawback is that some older
programs make it difficult or impossible to save their files to a non-
default location.

 

[George Ellis]

To add to the response the Hans-Georg gave you (he is a VERY GOOD source of
advice if you are new to this forum):

The separate data partition comes from the days of NT 3.x and early NT 4.
The OS could crash and require a rebuild more frequently than desired. So
yes, keeping it in a separate partition made a lot of sense. If you would
feel more comfortable doing so, I would actually use another drive for the
data.

FAT usage is another holdover to NT 3.x days for the same reasons, there
were no tools for recovering either the OS or data that was reliable.

If you plan to start editing video (not that you are), you DEFINITELY do not
want to split drives. A one hour tape is about 13.5GB on the drive.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

You might find this helpful:

Planning Your Partitions
http://www.aumha.org/a/parts.htm

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

One does not fully appreciate the wisdom of this approach until one's OS
becomes corrupted and unrecoverable.

Tegger,

I don't even appreciate it when the OS becomes corrupted and
unrecoverable. I would simply install a new one. You don't need
a separate partition for that. Folders fill the need quite
nicely.

Hans-Georg