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Storage: Poll: How many partitions do you have on your hard drive?
- 2/8/08 9:28 AM
Separate Page File Partition Question
by anna3333 - 2/11/08 2:40 PM In reply to: 6 partitions, 4 for Windows & 2 for Linux, 2 hard disks. by MendietaWinXP Home SP2 with one patch, Zone Alarm Firewall, Linksys Hardware Firewall, Avast Anti-Virus, Spywareblaster (all with auto-updates), Smart Popup Killer. Safety Tweaks & Service & Port Disables.
I have two hard drives, each with two partitions.
On Drive 1 (120GB):
Partition C is the OS (registry) & Programs. I saw no point in putting Programs on a different partition, since installed programs are so intertwined with the registry that they obviously need to be imaged & restored as one unit.
Partition D is Data (mine and that of any application that allows its data to be relocated - my email store is here also), because anything on this partition is unaffected by the restoration of partition C from an image file (or the re-installation of the OS).
On Drive 2 (300GB):
Partition E is for maintaining (via SecondCopy) an uncompressed NTFS duplicate of partition D, plus a few files cherry-picked from C that I wouldn't want lost from being overwritten in a C-partition-image restore). Occasionally this goes onto DVDs & offsite.
Partition F is for image files (Acronis) of the C-partition. I keep key ones of these, going back to my initial OS install. I keep a log/diary of key changes made between images so if I restore an old one, I have a pre-written script to catch everything backup to speed quickly. Occasionally these go onto DVDs and offsite.
(I also use Express Assist 8 to keep readable (or restorable) backups of Outlook Express - including rules, signatures, etc., as well as Browser settings, favorites, etc. - also occasionally stacked onto a DVD.)
QUESTION 1 ??? - Would there be an advantage of making the page file separate? If not, would it be better on partition E (the first (and smaller) partition on Drive 2)?
My single page file is on partition F, which is my least used, but largest, partition on a drive used only when backups are made (I let Second Copy update the data mirror I keep on E at the start of each day because it doesn't take long).
The reason I put the page file on F is because I think the page file is probably being used when Second Copy runs (backing up to E), and I thought maybe it was not in use during Acronis image creation (on F). I wanted it on a partition that didn't make much use of the paging file.
QUESTION 2 ??? - would there be any reason NOT to make the backup partitions E & F FAT32 partitions, so they could be accessed without windows (E) and since C-image files are very large anyway (F)?
I don't really understand the advantage of NTFS since I run as administrator (I know, I know, but I have a lot of great protection) and everything the least bit private (files or folders) is already encrypted (256-bit-AES with strong password) on my data partition. How exactly is cluster-size handled with NTFS as compared with FAT32? (I know FAT16 was bad.)
Four
by chanhdat - 2/10/08 7:36 AM In reply to: Poll: How many partitions do you have on your hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Two for Win. And two more for Ubuntu. ( Always one for OS, and the other is for data ). That makes me easier to back up my OS when crashed.
Two, not by choice
by openearja - 2/10/08 8:44 AM In reply to: Poll: How many partitions do you have on your hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have two partitions on my hard drive, but that was not by choice. When I purchased my Dell laptop, the hard drive came already partitioned, and with a trial version of Norton Ghost that never worked properly, and was supposed to create a mirror image backup of the C drive on the D drive. I've never used it, so I sometimes simply use the D drive to store certain types of files. I also have an external hard drive that I use for back-up.
eight
by scott_789 - 2/10/08 10:12 AM In reply to: Poll: How many partitions do you have on your hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Vista recovery, Vista, storage, Ubuntu 7.04 (root, /home, and swap), Xubuntu 7.10 (root and /home)
Multiple Operating systems
by DavidNSB - 2/10/08 2:49 PM In reply to: Poll: How many partitions do you have on your hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Generally have two partitions on my first hard drive. One for Windows, one for Linux with data stored on second/third hard drives At times, I've added more partitions for other operating systems or multiple Linux distributions but two is the most common number.
The more the better (6)
by PC_Nerd-Henry_Chan - 2/11/08 3:06 AM In reply to: Poll: How many partitions do you have on your hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
At least two partitions for safety methods.
I recommend 5 for good partition. Why? Because Disk Defragmenter is dumber than most of us. Using partitions can solve all this.
This is my recommended layout:
c: System and programs, delete this partition when in failure.
d: Frequently Used Files
e: Internet / Firefox Cache / Pagefile
f: Infrequently Used Files
g: Backups
==================================================
If you know which data you use most, partitioning can actually speed up your computer.
The first partition is always the fastest, while the last is always slowest.
The first partition is most vernerable to malware attacks so always put data in another partition. The second is for data used most -- likely to be music and word docs. The third is for paging files (search for paging file and Firefox profilemanager on Google). Fourth is for longer term storage, such as Family Photos or downloaded executable files that you won't need until the next format. Fifth is for backups.
Always put backups in the last partition because the end of the drive is not usually touched so it's also safer if you always have I/O errors. Also when restoring backup images you must boot out of Windows, which then there wouldn't be as a big difference between the first sector and last sector read speeds as in Windows.
This is not very good advice!
by rbsjrx - 2/11/08 3:43 AM In reply to: The more the better (6) by PC_Nerd-Henry_Chan> I recommend 5 for good partition. Why? Because Disk Defragmenter is
> dumber than most of us. Using partitions can solve all this.
Then get a decent defragmenter! I use and think Diskeeper is the best, but there are other options. As always, what comes bundled with Windows is inevitably the worst performer.
> The first partition is always the fastest, while the last is always
> slowest.
So far, so good...
> The first partition is most [vulnerable] to malware attacks so
> always put data in another partition.
A good security suite eliminates this as a consideration. I use Zone Alarm's suite and have never been the victim of a successful malware attack in the years I've been using it. There are even good free alternatives, but you have to do your homework to find out which ones are good.
> The second is for data used most -- likely to be music and word
> docs.
If your machine is secure, the need for this partition goes away.
> The third is for paging files (search for paging file and Firefox
> profilemanager on Google).
Setting up your paging file(s) on a separate partition is generally a good idea, so no argument there.
> Fourth is for longer term storage, such as Family Photos or
> downloaded executable files that you won't need until the next
> format.
Because of the speed issue you brought up, this really isn't egregiously bad advice. As always, though, the trade off with any partitioning scheme is economy of scale. It's more economical to maintain one large partition rather than multiple tiny ones.
There are obvious parallels with large efficient countries versus those which are highly tribalized. The former Yugoslavia may have been a terrible regime, but it was much more efficient than its constituents have proven to be since it split up.
> Fifth is for backups.
Backing up to a partition only provides the illusion of security. A physical HDD crash will wipe out every partition on the disk, while an OS crash can sometimes wipe out the partition table. For secure backups, always use a different drive (internal or external HDD, CD-RW, etc.)
Yes, (more then one machine.)
by sysopdr - 2/11/08 6:23 AM In reply to: Poll: How many partitions do you have on your hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
On my primary work Windows system I have one partition on my primary drive. Using Windows and having many network drives to access and the network drives being backed up but the system drive not all that is on this systems Hard drive is the OS and a bunch of applications that can be reinstalled if anything happens. I also have a backup system to go to while rebuilding this one if I need to.
My other primary work system is a Linux system and instead of many partitions on one drive I actually have one partition over 3 drives (plus a boot partition and a swap partition on one of the drives.) By using a raid function (Striping I believe) creating this Uber drive is great for the work I do on that system. (No not many mount-points but a single partition over many drives)
Performance is the main issue and getting enough disk space for very large files. One of my database files is larger then the size of a single drive.
On my Main Windows home system I have two partitions the system partition and the data/gaming partition. Separating the kids data areas onto the second partition make sure that the main one never over fills and kills the system.
On my main Linux system at home I have a ton of partitions, /boot, /var,, /root /etc, /lib, /usr, /home, /tmp, /usr/local, /opt, /prod_dev ...
Again stopping filing up the /root and keeping tmp and other areas seperated makes for less crashes.
Two partititions
by yechezkel - 2/11/08 11:19 AM In reply to: Poll: How many partitions do you have on your hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The 137 GB barrier
The 137GB "barrier"
by anna3333 - 2/12/08 2:33 PM In reply to: Two partititions by yechezkelI don't think there is such a thing any longer, since SP2. Am I wrong, y'all?
I have bigger partitions than than and did nothing special.
Two Separate Drives - Separate Hibernation??
by anna3333 - 2/12/08 2:52 PM In reply to: The 137GB "barrier" by anna3333I have all my backups on one drive and I use them only at the start of each day.
I don't want to hibernate my primary drive because I'm using it pretty much constantly.
Is there any way (WinXPSP2) to cause ONLY the backup drive to NOT spin except when I'm actually doing my daily backups (about 30 minutes out of 24 hours)??? I only see a way in Power-Options to hibernate BOTH of them together. If I set them both to hibernate after 30 minutes of non-access, will they do this independently of each other? Both drives are IDE.
Or at least, if I let them both hibernate, will the backup hard drive not begin spinning again if it is not called on - or will it start spinning just because the primary hard drive does?
Thanks,
Anna
3
by Stocky - 2/13/08 7:52 AM In reply to: Two Separate Drives - Separate Hibernation?? by anna3333one of 48 or so for MSxpPro...Windows...
One of 3.. but doesn't show lest you look real hard...
it's the Acer bak-up...
And one with Mint (ok...ubuntu)
Thinkin' bout' grabbin some serious space from the linux partn, and given it up to MS. Thinkin' also about breaking free from ms completely... just thinkin'.
GL,
Stocky
Hard Drive Partitions
by IMP - 2/14/08 2:59 AM In reply to: Poll: How many partitions do you have on your hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I use three partitions c:\ 60GB D:\20GB E:\about 120GB,
I will not use drive D:\ as a back up drive ever. Reason I was caught out twice when doing a re-install from a backup, you think it is a software problem, but sometimes it is hard drive. If the backup cant see drive C:\ it will take the next drive as C:\ and thats drive D:\, so if you keep backups on D:\ they are wiped out. I only use D:\ for temp downloads etc, and always try to keep two backups, in different locations.
imp.
Hard Drive Partitions
by iceheart2007 - 7/4/09 3:58 AM In reply to: Poll: How many partitions do you have on your hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
two partitions
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