maximum drives?

[Guest]

Can anyone help? I have 2 hard drives in my pc the first is partitioned 3
times, the second twice. Is it possible that this is too many partitions for
xp pro? What is the maximum amount of partitions aloud? I'm getting problems
running defrag and am wondering if this is whats causing it? Thanks in
advance.

 

[DL]

Its not too many, haveing too little free space can cause various sys tools
to fail

 

[Jerry]

You are limited in the number of partitions by the letters in the alphabet -
Z is the last partition you can have.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Can anyone help? I have 2 hard drives in my pc the first is partitioned 3
times, the second twice. Is it possible that this is too many partitions for
xp pro?

No, but see below.

What is the maximum amount of partitions aloud? I'm getting problems
running defrag and am wondering if this is whats causing it? Thanks in
advance.

No, it's not what's causing the problems. From a practical standpoint
it's hard to deal with more partitions than the number of letters in
the alphabet permit, but other than that, you can have as many as you
want.

But *should* you have five partitions? You don't say what you are
using them for, but my guess is that you shouldn't. How many
partitions to have is a matter of organization, and it's your choice
how to organize your drive(s).

Reply back with information on what each partition is used for, and I
(and probably others) will comment on those uses. I think five
partitions are much too many for almost everyone, and my guess is that
your partition scheme is based on misunderstandings of how some things
work.

I think many people over-partition, but that doesn't mean it's always
bad to have more than one partition. 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 of 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, there is seldom
any benefit to having more than two partitions.

 

[Gerry]

Dave

Please provide details of the problems running Defrag and a copy of the
Analysis Report.

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Can anyone help? I have 2 hard drives in my pc the first is partitioned 3
times, the second twice. Is it possible that this is too many partitions
for
xp pro? What is the maximum amount of partitions aloud? I'm getting
problems
running defrag and am wondering if this is whats causing it? Thanks in
advance.

The short answer is No, at 5 you don't have too many partitions and *that*
isn't causing problems with defrag - the maximum would be 24. A and B are
reserved for floppies, C is the default first hard disk, and you can go to
Z. In an ordinary system you'd have at most 23 available, because there
will be one optical drive.

The longer answer starts with other questions - like what exactly are the
problems you're experiencing with defrag?

If you happened to choose to have 22 extra partitions, other issues would
arise, such as what happens when you attach a USB drive or attempt to map a
network drive.

HTH
-pk

 

[Lil' Dave]

Can anyone help? I have 2 hard drives in my pc the first is partitioned 3
times, the second twice. Is it possible that this is too many partitions
for
xp pro? What is the maximum amount of partitions aloud? I'm getting
problems
running defrag and am wondering if this is whats causing it? Thanks in
advance.

Drive/Partition letters are limited to c through z. You can have more using
folder names instead of letters. I don't know if there is a limit. Most
people have at least one CD/DVD device, this will take a drive letter.

Other than the 3 OS partitions, I use 3 data partitions on 1 physical hard
drive.

Defrag can crap the bed for a number of reasons. None of which, I think, is
what you're guessing. Is there any reason provided by defrag for its
failure?
Dave

 

[M.I.5¾]

You are limited in the number of partitions by the letters in the
alphabet - Z is the last partition you can have.

Not correct. Partitions can be mounted as folders within an existing drive
letter.

 

[dobey]

Not correct. Partitions can be mounted as folders within an existing
drive letter.

I think people are just using the terms "drive" and "partition" in too loose
a fashion for this argument.
;-)

<snip>

 

[M.I.5¾]

I think people are just using the terms "drive" and "partition" in too
loose a fashion for this argument.
;-)

You are probably right, but it should be remembered that not everyone who
reads this newsgroup is necessarily very knowledgable on computers. Some
newbie could walk away with the idea that 24 is the hard and fast maximum
number of partitions (as in drive letters) that XP will allow you to use
(plus the 2 floppies of course).

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

You are probably right, but it should be remembered that not everyone who
reads this newsgroup is necessarily very knowledgable on computers. Some
newbie could walk away with the idea that 24 is the hard and fast maximum
number of partitions (as in drive letters) that XP will allow you to use
(plus the 2 floppies of course).

Although you're right that it isn't really the "hard and fast
maximum," from a practical standpoint it doesn't matter very much.
It's hard to imagine a good reason for anyone to have anywhere near
that many.

Unless you are booting multiple operating systems, having more than
two partitions is counterproductive for most people.