Partition OS/Programs and Data... or Not?

I have run the past two years with separate OS and data partitions. Overall, I am pretty happy but if you want to increase the OS partition it is a pain. I just bought a new drive and I am going to build it up from scratch so to speak - kind of like a clean install. Just wondering if I should even go to the trouble of partitioning again - in two years I never really needed it (never had to do an OS re-install). Opinions?

 

You will definitely find two groups of opinions on the matter. I used to be in the group which has a separate OS and Data partition. I found after time that data between partitions eventually became convoluted no matter now careful you are keeping things separate. With most (all) programs wanting to install on the C: drive (where your OS resides) a person has to be somewhat anal to keep everything in order.

I eventually gave up, and with HD now having such large capacities, I have only one partition on my drives for both OS and Data. I do deep my personal data confined within My Documents folder for easy backup or sync to my other computers.

The the above said, I would go back to separate partitions, if I had a two disk system where I installed a SSD for my primary OS and a large HDD for data storage. At least while SSD's prices are still outrageously high per GB.

 

Back in the day when I had to reinstall Windows 98 twice a year, I found the multiple partitions really helpful. But like OP mentioned, I just don't find the need to reinstall much these days, and the data division does become messy. So I'm gonna put a vote down for no.

 

I personally think partitions are a waste of time. They add an awful lot of unnecessary complexity to your disk and operating system configurations. So much so that any marginal benefits get canceled out by the complexity.

 

I have never regretted building a system with separate partitions and never having to re-install and/or recover from it. Yes, it is a little more work, but just like insurance is a waste of money when you don't claim against it - when you need it it is priceless.

Complexity? This can be made as complex (or not) as you need it. But my suggestion is to always have at least two partitions if not more.

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...-hitachi-7k500-benchmark-setup-specifics.html


Of course, the link above is in the 'if not more' partitions vein.

Hope you get something useful from the link provided and for the record: Partition - Just do it!

Cheers!

 

The beginning of a Hitachi 7K500 can read at 109 MB/sec, the end can read at 50 MB/sec. Similar story for access times.

By keeping your OS and programs in a first, smaller partition you're getting more performance.

I'd partition it in 100GB for your OS and programs, 400GB for less used data, like movies pictures etc.

I haven't done that lately but I thought it was pretty easy, with a bootable USB key.

 

Similar thing with my toshiba M3252GSX hard disk... partioning helps a lot especially in burst speed...

 

OK, thanks for the input everyone. And Phil, based on your feedback I guess I'll go ahead and do it again.

As for changing partition size - I even tried it with PW on a bootable CD and could not get the OS to expand beyond the 40GB I had it set to.

 

I've always had good experiences with Acronis software. Maybe the trial version of Disk Director can do it, I'm not sure.

 

I don't see much of a reason for separate partitions unless you're like me and made a small partition for the OS so when I eventually buy a small ssd I can clone over the OS

 

Well double the read speeds and half the acces times seems like more than enough reason to me.

But on another note, if you get a SSD I always recommend a clean install for a couple of reasons but most importantly your system will perform a lot faster.

 

I think the partitioned drive could be agood ideal as long as the OS partition is big enough. On my old desktop the OS partition was only 20GB and with updates over the years it quickly filled up and the system became very slow due to the partitioned sector being so full.

It can also be a bit of a pain because you have to decide what programs you want to install in to program files in the OS sector whereas without partitioning i am able to install my programs to the default program files location.