Best partitioning scheme for games

Hi,

I have an Acer laptop with a 100gb hard drive that I use for computer games. Since I think it's time to do a clean install of Windows XP, I was wondering which is the best way to partition a laptop hard drive, particularly on a laptop used for gaming. While I of course know that no partitioning scheme is going to magically make the computer 5 times faster, if there's a way I would like to partition it in a way that gives the best performance and speed for for this.

Which is the best way to do this? I've on some forums how you should have a separate partition for the system's paging file, but other posts say this won't help. If no partitioning scheme actually helps the computer performance-wise, which is the best way to partition the hard drive otherwise (like for data integrity)?

Thanks for your time,
John Bowman

 

Well mate partitioning wont make your computer 5 times faster, it is just a software thingy. It is good if you run games tough.

I recommend 3 partitions: 1 for Windows, 1 for your files and music and videos, 1 for games. That would be optimal I think.

Charlie-Peru

 

I don't know if I'd go 3 partitions... 1 for OS and one for data is generally the way people go. That way if windows F's up, you can reload it and still have all your data intact.
On a 100G drive, I would probably do ~10G for Windows (no less than 5G) and the rest for data. And make sure you get a good defrag program.

Too many partitions can actually slow you down. If you think you need more than 2 or 3, you're better off getting a second hard drive.

 

I used to have 2 partitions, until I realized, 100GB is not enough space for me if I'm going to have partitions.

The problem was my 40gb windows + programs + games partition was filling up. I constantly had to worry about either partition getting close to full, wasting some space. Now it's just one I have to worry about and I can fill it more.

 

10 gig for windows? A lot of programs install to /program files dir to run correctly, not sure if 10 would be enough, id say 20/80 on the size.

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear.
You install windows to the first partition. You can easily set up a Program Files directory on the second partition. I have yet to see a program that does not give you the option to "specify the directory" where you want to install it. As long as the installation program knows where you are telling it to install, it will create all the necessary file/folder associations with no problems.
The ONLY thing in the first one is the Windows install. What good is partitioning if you have to install your programs into the OS section?

The only situation where this might differ is if you are installing Windows Server or something, where you do need to put certain things in the same partition as windows. But I've done a lot of those, and we still rarely gave the "OS" partition more than 15-20G. With a home machine, Windows doesn't use that much room.
On my current PC, the Windows folder is 2.83G. So leave some room for the swap/page file, future windows updates, and maybe a temp folder and 5-10 Gig is plenty.

 

Yes I agree!

I have 60 GB for Windows, 20 GB for my files, music and video's... Because if you install a game it always goes to C rogram Files and that is where Windows is. So I recommend Windows to be in your case no less then 40 GB...

Charlie-Peru

 

Windows is NOT in the Program Files directory. Windows has it's own folder.
The Program Files directory is a purely arbitrary default location. It has nothing to do with Windows running correctly.
You could delete your entire Program Files directory and Windows would not care one bit!

Every program with an install feature will give you the option to install it to whatever folder you want. It makes no difference at all!
40G for an OS partition is a crazy waste of space.

 

i couldnt agree more....10 GB for JUST windows is more than enough....have a default folder (u can call it "program files" to make u feel better) on the other partition for all ure installed software...when u're installing it gives u the option of picking where to install the program...many ppl miss it cause they keep pressing "ok or "next" till the software starts installing, but it's there...so just browse and pick the folder in the other partition and VOILA ure done.
That way if windows screws up (and we all know it does!!) u can just uninstall/reinstall it from the 10 GB partition and STILL have all ure stuff there!!
Just realized this is pretty much a repeat of what was said before.....ill stop typing now!!

Enjoy

 

Interesting, will resize when vista beta 2 comes out.

 

ok i understand what yall are saying about the partitions and windows knowing were they are cause i have changed were i want programs to install so that all good. BUT if you have to reinstall windows on the 5-10gig part of the hd and all your programs are on the 90-95gig part of the hd then how do the programs show up on the start menu or on the desktop once you have reinstalled windows? im sure there is a resonable anwser but i dont know so im asking.
thanks

 

I may well be wrong, but I think backing up your registry everytime you install anything may solve that problem.

 

When you reinstall windows you cant just go back to what you had.
Windows relies on the registry to know where anything is. So, you will still have to reinstall your programs to recreate the registry entries. Just rerun the install for the program and you're done. You would have to do this anyway if you wiped the whole drive. But, you can be certain you don't lose data when you wipe the OS.

I have not tried a registry backup method, but I am leary... Think about how gunked up the registry gets under normal usage. Would you really want to restore a clogged up registry after reinstalling windows? Half the reason for reinstalling is because of all the crap that gets in the registry.

The programs are not the important part, it's any data that might be hiding in the program directory. Many programs today still save files under the program directory, unless you tell it to save somewhere else (like MyDocuments). This way, you can safely nuke the OS partition and reinstall, and you can be positive that no data is lost. (unless you program is really poorly written and saves stuff under the windows dir. In which case you are probably better off without that crappy program anyway. )

And separating the OS from the programs can have a slight speed improvement, if simply for the fact that it's a lot easier to defrag the OS partition by itself. Thus keeping a happy filesystem for windows to run on.

 

ok i get it, so you may have to reinstall the firefox program but you wont lose any of your settings like bookmarks and what not. right

 

Uh, 10gb is too small. I recommend 40gb for windows and all your programs, so that they work together nicely. I hate it when I install a program on D and it puts files all over C, so I just made C be programs and windows.
The rest is for my documents and games.