partitioning...? hidden partitions? download partitions?..

[ehd]

I was curious about partitions.. how big is the supposed hidden partition in the t42? also are there any benefits to partitions.. doesnt it slow down teh hard drive when it has to access two partitions.. i was thinking about having a partition to download junk too that i'd throw away such as anime and zip and install files.. is that a good idea? cause i dont like defragging.. and i know downloading and erasing really fragments up the drive.. so i figure if its partition it wont affect my system performance? but man copying files back and forth.. ie installing an install file from one partition to anotehr on the same disk just doesnt go too well on the speed issue.. and umm yeah my last t21 hard drive died and i was wondering if its cause i had two partitions haha. so basically the qeustion is it better to have 2 partitions.. one for windows and all its programs, and one for media basically... thanks =]

[Marc_G]

I'm a fan of partitioning. Here's how my current T30 with a 40 GB drive is set up:

C: WinXP and minimal programs that won't live happily anywhere else.
D: Most of my programs including MS Office and just about everything else.
E: Proprietary software used for my work.
F: Lotus Notes data files (these are big and fragment a lot).
G: Most of my data lives here
H: Archive. This is a big partition where I keep installers, certain backups, and so forth.

The benefits:
1. Most of these partitions (except the Lotus Notes and Archive) could originally be backed up as image files to a single CD, using compression (I use Drive Image).
2. Fragmentation of System and Programs is very much reduced, which speeds system performance.
3. Backups of the Data partition, the only one that needs frequent backup, go more quickly since there is less to back up. I'm not wasting time/CDs repetitively backing up the OS or programs. I just do that when something changes or I install new programs.
4. I like having an "Archive" partition where I can dump stuff. It's big, around 17 GB.

I'm "partition crazy" I'll admit. My strategy will change when I get my new T42P with DVD writer, as I'll be able to put much more on a single disk. Probably I'll combine the "system" and "programs" partitions.

Marc

[ehd]

doesnt that tax your system like really heavily? having all the partitions that is.. i can imagine ur hdd going crazy.. what about scratch partitions.. i remember u can change your virtual memory size and basically make a partition for that or something.. and have it a set size or something.. but i mean doesnt this just affect the hard drive having to read back and forth? and if one gets full thats troublesome isnt it? what about all the problems i heard of people getting funky hard drive noises when they changed the partitions (i think cause they were getting rid of the pre installed partition or something??)

[RonS]

I'm a big fan of single partitions. I have multi-terabyte RAIDS & SANS as a single drive letters. It's much easier to manage that way, and it frees up drive letters so you can map them to network shares on the fly.

It also makes for more efficient use of single hard drive, like your notebook. I manage the backup problem by making sure all application-related data is saved in known directory trees, and backing up those trees.

[JaneL]

And I'm a big fan of 2 partitions: one for the OS and one for applications and data. My backup strategy is to clone the drive weekly, and being able to restore just the operating system and be done has been really nice.

[Marc_G]

doesnt that tax your system like really heavily? having all the partitions that is.. i can imagine ur hdd going crazy.. what ... i heard of people getting funky hard drive noises when they changed the partitions (i think cause they were getting rid of the pre installed partition or something??)

No, it doesn't tax the system, at least not much in normal use. In fact in some ways it can be more efficient this way, as related files that may be used together are clustered together on the disk. But with today's systems, I think this is a minor point either way.

Also there should be no funky hard drive noises; this isn't a function of how the hard drive is partitioned. And I always get rid of the pre-installed partitions (recovery, etc.). I just keep backup CDs of the initial config.