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    XPS M1330 owners, how did you partition your drive

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by digitalman1973, Apr 14, 2008.

  1. digitalman1973

    digitalman1973 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I plan on purchasing a Dell M1330 with Vista. I plan on doing a clean install of the OS (without Media Direct), which gives me the opportunity to reformat the partitions of the hard drive (250GB). As this will be me first Vista machine, I am not sure how if partitions of the drive provide any benefit (access speed of files, defragmentation effeciency etc.). I would be interested in hearing how some of you have your machine partitioned (# of partitions, size of each, application of each partition). Thanks
     
    digitalman1973, Apr 14, 2008
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  2. mystery905

    mystery905 Notebook Deity

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    Using Acronis DiskDirector, I made my 250GB hard drive one huge partition.

    I nuked MediaDirect which I never use, the Dell diagnostics partition, and the Recovery partition.
     
    mystery905, Apr 14, 2008
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  3. darthsat

    darthsat Notebook Deity

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    I got rid of the recovery partition as well as mediadirect, so I now have one partition of 147GB. The reason why I don't have a separate OS partition is because I backup my data constantly on an external HDD, so I don't really fear an OS failure. So I just like having everything I need on one drive letter.
     
    darthsat, Apr 14, 2008
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  4. booji

    booji Notebook Deity

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    64 GB SSD - 1 Partition - OS and Daily/Weekly Programs + Documents
    500 GB SATA II external drive connected by eSATA in two partitions of ~220 GB each.
    Partition 1 - Programs, documents, music, and pics not used on a daily basis
    Partition 2 - Incremental Backups
     
    booji, Apr 14, 2008
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  5. ifti

    ifti Undiscovered

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    I tend to use the same standard format for all my systems. Im looking to buy a M1330 very soon, so will do the same with that....with my current M1730 I have the following partitions....

    C: (35GB) - Main OS partition (vista), and all programs. 35GB is more then enough for me with all my porgrams. I still have over 20GB spare even after all my programs are installed.
    D: - Optical Drive
    E: (10GB)     - Documents: For general documents etc.
    F: (100GB) - Multimedia: For all my Photos and Video clips etc. Also used as a work in progress area when basic video editing.
    G: (100GB) - For game installations.

    Still have about 120GB spare and unallocated for any future partition/s.

    Backups
    I create an image of the C: once all my programs and setting sare the way I want them.
    I backup the E and F drives onto my external 500GB HDD.
    Dont bother backing up the G drive, since I have the game discs should they ever need re-installation etc.
     
    ifti, Apr 15, 2008
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  6. Khris

    Khris Yes I am better than you!

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    35 + 10 + 100 + 100 + 120 = 365GB

    I thought the largest HD you could get for a laptop right now is 350GB?
     
    Khris, Apr 15, 2008
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  7. Kreeeee

    Kreeeee Notebook Evangelist

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    60GB vista + apps, 100GB storage.

    Have 1.8TB of networked storage for music and media.
     
    Kreeeee, Apr 15, 2008
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