To partition or not to partition in Win7

[DayLaborer]

I have a brand new (not yet powered up) Windows 7 Home Premium PC with a 320 GB HDD. I have two knowledgeable friends who are advising me two different ways: one says partition the drive into two: (1) OS/installed apps and (2) data on the other drive.

The other friend says leave the drive unpartitioned. He argues that creating a partition only causes headaches down the road, e.g. running out of room on the smaller drive.

I'm inclined to partition: 80 GB for OS/installed apps, with the remainder for data. I'm leaning towards this based on the seeming simplicity of:
[ul][li]Creating a new partition

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2674-partition-volume-create-new.html

[/li]
[li]and resizing a partition (if needed down the road):

http://www.killertechtips.com/2009/05/05/how-to-resize-partitions-in-windows-7/

[/li][/ul]
Questions:[ol]
[li]Would I be correct that these are both as easy as they appear - even in Home Premium?[/li][li]Would you agree or disagree with my inclination to partition as I plan?[/li][/ol]

Thanks,
Eliezer

 

[aich69]

Personally - I use 2 partitions, one for OS other for data. It makes life easier if you need to re-install/repair the OS as your data resides on the second partition so need to worry about backing up before you start (although for obvious reasons backing up is always a good idea kids!).
Pointing your 'My Docs' 'My Music' etc to the second partiton is no hardship.

As for the actual partitoning side of things...again a personal preference, but as this machine is brand new I'd would go for a clean install (getting rid of the extra stuff you might get on it from the outset) and do the partitioning as part of the install process.

Depending on how many apps you want to install I would say 60Gb would be plenty for your OS partition, but thats just my spin.

I used to have a handle on life... but it broke. Cpt. Red Bull

 

[DayLaborer]

Aich, could you please explain what you wrote:

as this machine is brand new I'd would go for a clean install (getting rid of the extra stuff you might get on it from the outset) and do the partitioning as part of the install process.

What "extra stuff" and how do you partition "as part of the install"? Is that an option during install?


Also, this article:

http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=326

now has me thinking that leaving the drive with just one partition might be the best thing to do...

Thanks again,
Eliezer

 

[vacunita]

I'll have to agree partitioning is always a smart choice: separates data from OS.

Not sure what headaches your other friend may be referring to. Other than if one of your partitions develops bad sectors, there's a good chance they'll spread to the other partition, corrupting the data. Which is why a good backup is always the smarter choice regardless of how you distribute your drive.

With that said, and since you mention it already has win 7 installed,Partitioning it may be a little harder than expected.

Since basically all the drive is set to a single partition, you'll have to re-size the existing partition, and create a new one on the freed-up, un-partitioned space.

Resizing partitions is not without risk, so I would be sure
to have the OS restore disks handy just in case.







----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[vacunita]

Yes, partitioning is an option during the installation of the OS.

The Install wizard should give you the option.

As far as the extra stuff goes, I think he is referring to all the extra software the manufacturers like to put on machines when they ship them out. Most of the time its useless shareware apps, or 30 day trials of things such as Antivirus etc..

running a clean installation gets rid of all that.

I forgot to mention, for Re-sizing partitions: windows in my experience does not opffer a way to dot his, so you'll need a 3rd party app, such as Partition Magic to perform the resizing of the existing partition.

Starting from a clean Install lets you do this before any files are put on the drive, precluding any possibility of messing up the existing installation.

----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[DayLaborer]

Not sure what headaches your other friend may be referring to.

He said that now, 80 GB may seem like plenty for an OS/app partition - but down the road, it may not be, and then you're out of space and in trouble.

 

[vacunita]

80, may eventually get a little tight if you are in the habit of not deleting anything.

You could make it 100Gb or 120GB for OS, and 200 for Data.
I doubt you will use up that much up for Os and Apps.

Its likely you'll use that much up with data first.

Having data and Os in the same partition ends up worst, as Data will still take up space as will all the apps. So eventually you may run out of space all the same. Difference being that if all your data is separate you have easier choices down the road. also if the Os dies on you as was mentioned, your data is safe, rather than risking it being lost when trying to repair the OS.

Buying an extra internal HD at some point and moving your Data onto the other HD, and extending the old HD back to its full capacity for the OS to use is also an alternative for extra space should you require it.

----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[aich69]

Sorry, just got in from work...
Yes, as vacunita says, the 'stuff' I was referring to was additional software/bloatware/utilities/free stuff that you tend to get with a new PC. I clean build as a matter of course just to know my new machine is going to run as fast as possible and have as much free space as possible... making sure I have the driver s first of course.

And again, to confirm what vacunita has said, partitioning is part of the inital phase of the Windows 7 setup process.

I used to have a handle on life... but it broke. Cpt. Red Bull

 

[tf1]

I favour a primary partition for the OS and other partitions for the data - which includes a Download folder to store all the updates. I also keep separate partitions for Documents, Music, Photos and Movies. Each partition can then have custom display setups in Windows Explorer.

This system provides the convenience that when you want to upgrade your OS or do a maintenance reinstall, you can reformat the primary partition and perform a CLEAN install. All your data in other partitions is unaffected, so there's no need to reinstall all your data - saving considerable time.

What is a good size for a Primary partition? I'd be surprised if 100GB was ever too small. My Windows 7 Ultimate folder uses just 27GB.

Of course, this does not substitute the need to keep a separate backup for all your Data though!

Regards: Terry

 

[Nocandu]

Hi

For what it is worth, I just looked at my new computer and Windows plus the software that is installed on the main drive takes about 128 gigabytes with no data on it.
So you might want to consider making the partition a little bigger.

I don't know how much you have to install but I have a few games and a lot of Adobe Software.

I have a second drive that I keep my data on plus a backup on two external hard drives.
One of the external drives also has a restore for drive C\.

Mike

 

[vacunita]

Seriously 128GB? Most of it I'm sure its Adobe stuff, which is not something usually found on regular users systems. At least not all of the (what is it 5 DVD's) of the Adobe Creative Suite.


I just reinstalled my PC, an its using 28GB barely. It has Office 2007, AVG Antivirus, and a couple other things normal users wouldn't have.

Heck I don't think I've ever gone above the 80GB mark of installed software/ Windows Updates/ Downloads etc....

I think 100GB is fine. By the time it fills up with updates and new apps etc, you'll likely be looking at a new PC with a larger drive.



----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[tlcscousin]

With the price of drives coming way down i always use two drives one for the OS and one for data. This saves my data in case of an OS failure or hard drive failure of the main drive.
I also use Acronis to make a weekly image in case i have to restore the OS.

 

[Nelviticus]

Things can get pretty big once you start installing some apps - for instance the game Mass Effect takes up 12GB on my system.

However most apps let you choose where to install them, so I install all my games to the data partition and everything else to the OS partition.

There's no right or wrong way to do things so whichever choice you make is fine; a separate data partition means you can format your OS partition if you ever need to re-install Windows, but also means that you're more likely to run out of space in the OS partition.

My OS partition is 60GB and I have many, many apps installed with plenty of room left.

Regards

Nelviticus

 

[kjv1611]

Definitely split the data between 2 partitions. On the size issue, I'd imagine that if you're using that much storage space for your OS/apps, then it's more likely that you'll need/want a new hard drive before you'd run out of space anyway. Even if you are installing large games, you could always only install certain ones at a time. Also, the type of folks who would install say 128GB on a single system wouldn't likely be asking this question to begin with, I suppose.

I've helped many different folks, myself, with different backgrounds, different financial situations, different needs/desires for their computers over the past handful of hears, and I've yet (regardless of Windows version) seen one that used up even close to 80GB in OS and apps. It's just not likely it'll be worth worrying about it.

I agree with what some others have said on a plan to action. I'd go with a 100 or 120GB OS parition, and the rest for data... or as I like to do, the OS partition, then one just for virtual memory/swap file, and then the remainder for data. 6 to 10 GB should be plenty for the swap file partition. But that's just my personal opinion.

Otherwise, lets say you are still using the same system exactly as it is today, 3 years from now. If you did need to change the partition sizes then, you could do so with free downloadable tools. For instance, you could use tools on a bootable ISO, such as UltimateBootCD (UBCD) or similar.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[Nocandu]

I agree with kjv1611 that you should go with something like 120 gigs.

I looked at my hard drive after Vacuntita's comment and 50 gig of the space on my hard drive is use by 3 games.

Windows itself uses just under 14 not counting the things that are not installed in the Windows folder and there are quite a few of those in the Users and Program files folders.

So this already gets me to about 64 gigs used.

All my Adobe stuff actually uses only about 5 gigs and that includes Premiere as well as Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, etc.

If you aren't a gamer then you probably can get away with less but the games keep getting bigger and bigger.

Age of Conan alone uses 28 gigabytes.

So it really does matter what kind of things you are going to run.

Of course there is really no reason that you can't install software on the second partition if you run out of space anyway.

Mike

 

[linney]

It might be interesting to know if "DayLaborer" has a Retail DVD, or just the OEM's Hidden Partition, or Recovery Disk made from the Hidden Partition, or a proper OEM Windows 7 DVD (which should be similar to a Retail DVD)?

Some of the options mentioned might only be available with Retail media, things like Format for instance. OEM's might only allow for a return to the factory defaults? Both media will allow for Resizing and Formatting unallocated space, but OEM's would probably need an installed operating system or third party tools to Format a blank hard drive.

OEM's if restored to factory defaults would probably undo all your resizing etc. too. Of course a full Image (third party Imaging software, Complete PC, whatever, as long as it is of the whole Partition (including booting files) would circumvent this.

It is unlikely the Retail media will install too much unnecessary programs, whereas OEM's fill your drives with plenty of rubbish.

 

[kjv1611]

Well, if they sent him an OEM Windows 7 DVD, then it'll work exactly the same as a retail disk, so the only difference would be:

1. Windows DVD
2. "Restore" Disk(s) - if not solely an OS disk
3. "Restore" Partition

The default would probably be the Restore Partition definite, and the Windows DVD optional, assuming purchased from a retailer.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[DayLaborer]

It's an HP PC. There's a "restore" partition on the HDD from which I can burn a "restore DVD". I'm busy removing all the junk that came pre-loaded on the system...

How moronic...

Eliezer

 

[kjv1611]

I'm busy removing all the junk that came pre-loaded on the system...

Then you haven't met The PC Decrapifier.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me