Computer help forum: Need help to Partion a 2TB hard drive

Well, for starters degragmenting is completely unnecessary. Stopped providing any real tangible benefits to about 99.9999999% of us decades ago. So no worries there.

Then, assuming you do partition it, how does that help you if the drive suffers a mechanical failure, or you pick up some virus that's perfectly capable of jumping partitions? That is another rather outmoded idea you've managed to pick up on. You're probably best just leaving it as is, and not worrying about things so much. For the most part, computers are pretty self-maintaining these days, and all the so-called tweaks that are supposed to speed up your computer, either have little to no effect, or sometimes actually have the opposite effect. Almost all of them are based on very outmoded ideas, most of the rest are based on an incomplete understanding of one or more crucial detail.

Rather than fretting over trivial details, why not just spend some time enjoying your new computer instead?

Using any special s/w may not always provide the best final result. Only because if something happens you will need that special s/w to best recover. Basically, you're putting another layer of difficultly using any special s/w, I say special s/w as in use for retaining the current data yet reconfiguration of the HD to this or that partitions. I find it best to simply save the data, use image s/w or backup s/w for that purpose. Gather any or all discs you received as well for later use that came with the PC. -OR- get what you need before doing anything , get ready. Once safety done, then use the makers own setup s/w to partition the HD as you like it. Usually if it didn't come with the PC or HD kit, then the support website will offer it as in free in most cases. Yes, it may tale some time to reformat or setup the HD again, but is the best way to do this. Any shortcuts *may* work but again the time and effort are worth it, so take the time. Find out who made your HD(note exact model#), visit their support website and review any FAQ or setup guides they may provide. Print them out and read them, they explain better and refer to their product and use of any s/w gotten from them. You can do it.

tada -----Willy

Sorry I didn't get back to you in the other thread, but I'm glad you reposted where more members could give you their opinions and advice.

I will lock that other one so you can concentrate on this one;
http://forums.cnet.com/7723-10149_102-558613.html

But I tend to agree here. Leave the 1TB as it is. I haven't defragged a drive since my XP days, and I only ever did that once.

As to partitions, in effect they are just like 'other folders' unless you are thinking of installing other OSes on a different partition in the future and working on a dual boot system. Not something that many do.

I would just say, while a 2TB drive will be great for storage, don't forget to back up your personal files and data to other storage devices, as having only one copy of files on a hard drive is risky If the drive fails, then you lose everything.

Good luck.

Mark