optimum size for partitions

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momzilla

I have an 80G HD that I am partitioning. What is the
optimum size for a C drive which is intended solely for
programs, with data and other files being place on other
drives. Thanks.
 
In
momzilla said:
I have an 80G HD that I am partitioning. What is the
optimum size for a C drive which is intended solely for
programs, with data and other files being place on other
drives. Thanks.
Click to expand...


The answer is "it depends."

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to that question that's
right for everyoneone. Since nobody here knows how many and which
programs you will install on that C: drive, nobody can give you a
correct size for it to be.
 
Hallo momzilla,

I have an 80G HD that I am partitioning. What is the
optimum size for a C drive which is intended solely for
programs, with data and other files being place on other
drives. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Well, that more or less depends completely on the amount of data,
versus the amount of programs you plan to use.
 
"momzilla" said in news:[email protected]:
I have an 80G HD that I am partitioning. What is the
optimum size for a C drive which is intended solely for
programs, with data and other files being place on other
drives. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Divide it in two. Install the OS and all your applications in the first
partition. See how much free space is left and decide how much you want
to keep for future installs (simply doubling the currently used space is
a starting point). Then use PartitionMagic to resize the first
partition and enlarge the second partition. If you find later that you
need more room in the first partition, use PartitionMagic to shrink the
second partition and enlarge the first one. Eventually you'll need to
get another drive if there isn't enough room to enlarge one partition
when the amount of used space in the other partition prevents it from
being shrunk.
 
momzilla said:
I have an 80G HD that I am partitioning. What is the
optimum size for a C drive which is intended solely for
programs, with data and other files being place on other
drives. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Depends on how many programs you will be installing and how large they
are and how much data you'll be saving.
 
momzilla said:
I have an 80G HD that I am partitioning. What is the
optimum size for a C drive which is intended solely for
programs, with data and other files being place on other
drives. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Depends on how many programs you will be installing and how large they
are and how much data you'll be saving.
Click to expand...

I no longer see any benefit to partitioning.

Having a separate hard drive on a separate channel.. Sure.. But the same
physical hard drive split into partitions provides only the benefit of
organization and may cause trouble in the future of lack of space on a
necessary partition.

Personally - I think you would be better off going and buying another 80GB
hard drive.. Putting it on your second IDE channel and using it for your
data. That way if your C drive fails, your data is safe on the D drive.
However, in your case of partitioning the 80GB drive into two partitions..
If the hard drive fails - you lose everything. Not to mention that you get
no speed benefits from partitioning if you use NTFS to format your drives.

My opinion on the matter is (and I do it with all machines I install) - one
large partition for OS and applications. Save personal files on a separate
hard drive/RAID array or backed up network location. In any case - backup
personal files on a schedule to some form of removable media.
 
momzilla wrote:
Click to expand...

I use a 7.99G FAT32 for C:, which gives me processor-swap-friendly 4k
clusters (above 8G, cluster size goes to 8k in FAT32).

But if you are slack about your system management - i.e. you let apps
install where they like, leave each user account to waste 256M of IE
web cache, don't relocate bloated "My ..." locations off C: etc., then
the benefit of a small C: will be lost and you'll run out of space.
I no longer see any benefit to partitioning.
Click to expand...

Oh, I still see a huge benefit in intelligent partitioning. Dumb
partitioning won't speed things up and can make things worse, sure.
Having a separate hard drive on a separate channel.. Sure.. But the same
physical hard drive split into partitions provides only the benefit of
organization and may cause trouble in the future of lack of space on a
necessary partition.
Click to expand...

Yes, you can get space issues - that's why you'd need to control what
goes where (leave it to MS, and you will end up with a mess - masses
of music files and malware bloating and polluting the data set, etc.)

But IMO there are still benefits to partitioning:
- choose the right file system for the job
- keep high write traffic away from your data (safety)
- keep the high-traffic C: small and fast
- reduce time taken to maintain "always in use" C:
- locate large, seldom-used material on "far" disk
Personally - I think you would be better off going and buying another 80GB
Click to expand...

Or 120G, which is the happy point nowadays.
However, in your case of partitioning the 80GB drive into two partitions..
If the hard drive fails - you lose everything.
Click to expand...

Yes, if it fails outright, or you were dumb enough to trust NTFS. If
FATxx and gradual failure, partitioning can help you recover data,
which is easier if volumes are FATxx rather than NTFS.
Not to mention that you get no speed benefits from partitioning
if you use NTFS to format your drives.
Click to expand...

False; intelligent partitioning will always help, and NTFS's smarts
about what goes where may be off the mark.

For example, let's say you have a 60G file set, of which 54G is seldom
used, 1G is very seldom used, and 5G is always in use.

You could locate the most often used 5G within an 8G C:; that way, no
matter how off-beam NTFS's idea of where things should go may be, you
will always have this material in the first 10% of the HD. And if
heavy write traffic blows C: away, that's all you lose.

It may take ages to ChkDsk or Defrag the bulk of the HD, but that's OK
as activity on "always in use" C: doesn't interrupt the process.
OTOH, ChkDsk and Defrag of C: is fast, because it's so small.
My opinion on the matter is (and I do it with all machines I install) - one
large partition for OS and applications. Save personal files on a separate
hard drive/RAID array or backed up network location.
Click to expand...

We don't all have the luxury of extra HDs or handy LANs :-)


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