partitioning a laptop HDD?

[kujoe2002]

I'm going to get an inspiron 15r with a 500 GB HDD and win7 64bit. I know I want to configure the HDD and setup different partitions. How easy will it be to do that?

The config I want to use is:

500 gb hdd = 485 avail. keep 35 free=

450gb to use:

100GB: C:/
=350

30GB: docs and pics/website
=320

30GB: install files
=290

muic: 75GB
= 215

50GB:misc media
=165 GB free space

These are all PARTITIONS. the 165 I would keep unused. Now how hard would it be to make all these partitions WITHOUT having to reformatt the entire HDD to create them? I dont know if I'll even use 50 GB for my OS and Programs but if I remember right, if you have a bigger amount of space on the C drive, it runs better. Seeing as this is only a 5400 RPM HDD.

[fluffmonster]

why all the partitions? not sure what you think it gets you. I can only think of disadvantages.

[wh666-666]

Exactly fluff.

According to MS and every tech under the sun, having multiple partitions slows down a computer drastically.

[kujoe2002]

oh really? I was doing it because of the concern that if my OS got corrupted and I had to reformatt, I would lose everything if it was on one partition.

I would definitely want my docs to be on a separate parition. What about 3 then (OS/programs, docs, media/drivers)

how badly would i be messing up this? if I should only use 2 partitions, then I will get a smaller HDD. Im wondering if I should just get a 7200 RPM hdd with 4 GB of RAM or get a 5400 RPM HDD with 6GB of ram

I will be using it for:

- windows 7
- office
- cs5
- FTP
- dreamweaver
- sonar 8
- firefox
- music player
-

would having 6 GB of RAM vs 4 GB be better or should I just go with the 4 GB with a 7200 RPM HDD instead of a 5400? which combo would be better?

[fluffmonster]

You definitely want the 7200rpm drive without question. At most 2 partitions, one for the os/apps and the other for everything else. Really though, you're better off with 1 partition and off-machine backup of important files. You can get an external drive for less than $100 to backup files on. A separate OS partition only benefits you if the OS gets corrupted...it offers absolutely no protection against hdd failure.

[wh666-666]

If windows gets corrupted, you dont need to reformat.

That is the whole point of a repair install, it deletes c:\windows only and re-installs.

[Steve R Jones]

According to MS and every tech under the sun, having multiple partitions slows down a computer drastically.

I've never heard that and have always used at least two paritions.


A 7200rpm will be much faster - will run hotter and use more battery...

[wh666-666]

I've never heard that and have always used at least two paritions.

Well you obviously havnt heard very much then, no offense!


Partitioning is unnecessary and counterproductive. It fragments the virtual memory, slows your computer, increases drive thrashing and the risk of head failure.

It has always been known that one partition is better from the system perspective.

[ua549]

One physical drive = one partition for best performance.

Think about what is entailed maintaining 2 volumes on a physical drive instead of one including maintaining separate directory tables, I/O journals, directory structures, ... All of that extra stuff requires head movement and I/O latency delays.

[Steve R Jones]

But what about:

"Large hard drives with only one NTFS file system typically have a very large sequentially accessed Master File Table (MFT) and it generally takes more time to read this MFT than the smaller MFTs of smaller partitions."

And in regards to using the outter tracks of a drive:

"installing a 2TB drive and using the first 1TB is substantially faster than using a 1TB drive, by about 25%."

wh666-666 - if the page file is on the C drive - explain to us why having a second partition would have anything to do with fragmentation.

[ua549]

AFAIK the MFT once read resides in memory and is only accessed for changes.

Notebooks don't have very large drives and techniques used on desktop/server file systems aren't typically useful on notebooks.

[Steve R Jones]

So the MTF would be accessed a lot depending on the user and the larger it is the more time it takes to read/write to it

Because of the importance of the MFT to NTFS and the possible impact on performance if this file becomes highly fragmented, NTFS makes a special effort to keep this file contiguous. NTFS reserves 12.5 percent of the volume for exclusive use of the MFT until and unless the remainder of the volume is completely used up. Thus, space for files and directories is not allocated from this MFT zone until all other space is allocated first.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/174619

[ua549]

I've never seen a fragmented MFT since basic defrag programs such as Diskkeeper manage the MFT.

[kujoe2002]

well the new laptop I just ordered is coming with a 7200RPM/500GB HDD. Seeing as I'll actually be using about 485GB I still want to make partitions and will only make 2. It will be my OS/Program files partition and my larger partition with everything else (all data, drivers, installation files, doc, audio, etc). My current (broken) computer is only utilizing 30 of my 250GB for the C drive. I WAS thinking about making the primary partition on the laptop 100 GB but I'd be wasting about 70 GB. Would having a large partition (even if I dont use 70 GB of it) better then having a 50 GB partition?

As it is, this laptop HDD is going to be 2x bigger..

[Steve R Jones]

The Dell Support software and Windows 7 both have re-partition software buiilt in. Just read the help file and partition away.. Do it before adding any of your software in case you kill the machine.

Be certain to make the recovery DVD before proceeding.