Should Windows be on it's own partition??

[d3v]

Hey guys, I'm just waiting on my 3000+ CPU to be delivered and then I can get on with installing Windows on my new PC.

I have two Maxtor harddrives.

One is 40GB and the other is 80GB.

I'm gonna put each one on it's own channel cos I am using an external optical USB drive.

I want the 40GB harddrive to be used for movies, music and other multimedia and my 80GB drive for all my programs, games, ect.

Which drive should I install Windows on to? Does it matter?

And more importantly. Should I install Windows on a partition?

Does it really make PC's run faster?????

AIf so, I will do it, but I have a question...

When I first boot up my new PC and put my Windows XP Pro disk in my drive and go through the installation process, how, when I get to the stage where I must select what drive Windows is installed on, do I put Windows on to a partition of it's own?

Also, how big a partition should I use???

Thanks guys.

 

[billb]

Which drive should I install Windows on to? Does it matter?

And more importantly. Should I install Windows on a partition?

Does it really make PC's run faster?????

AIf so, I will do it, but I have a question...

When I first boot up my new PC and put my Windows XP Pro disk in my drive and go through the installation process, how, when I get to the stage where I must select what drive Windows is installed on, do I put Windows on to a partition of it's own?

Also, how big a partition should I use???

Thanks guys.

It doesn't matter.
You can only install it on a partition.
Does what make PC's run faster?

A partition is a formated portion of a drive.t can be the whole drive or a part of a drive. WINXP will allow you to create a partition of any size on any drive. After the install you can create as many or as few partitions as you want. Put the OS (and the pagefile) on the fastest drive.

 

[jcw122]

Yeah, you must put WinXP on one partition, unless you mean putting WinXP on one partition, and it's Virtual Memory (Page File) on another HDD, that would be a performance gain, but you'd have to figure out exactly how it's done, but it has been done.

 

[d3v]

Guys, would this config offer the greatest performance? If not, I'd appreciate it if you could correct me because It's a guessing game for me, lol.

prim IDE channel - Maxtor 80GB - Programs, games, ect but a small chunk, say, 5GB, partitioned and used exclusively for Windows.

sec IDE channel - Maxtor 20GB - Exclusively for movies, music, videos, kazaa downloads, bit torrent downloads ect ect

jcw122, you said the page file would benifit performance if on another partition.

Do you mean it would benifit being on a seperate IDE channel from the Windows?

For example, using my suggested config I typed above, do you mean the page file would be better off on the Maxtor 20GB which is on secondary IDE channel and Windows on a 5GB partition of it's on on the Maxtor 80GB which is on the primary IDE channel???

 

[ErikD]

Well I myself like to give Windows at least a 10GB partition of its own if I am installing it to its own partition. After installing all the updates, service packs, drivers, user settings, etc. it can grow a good deal. Give it plenty of room to get everything installed, and to move things around as needed to defragment.

As to which drive would be best, well if one of them is any faster than that would be the ideal drive. If they are both basically equal but in size than it wouldn't really make much difference except for space. If you really need that full 40GB for multimedia stuff, and you very well might as that stuff takes up lots of space, just use the 80GB drive with a partition for Windows.

The biggest advantage of having Windows on its own partition is that it makes reinstalling so easy. If you keep all of your data to a seperate partition you can format and install Windows whenever you like without worrying about keeping your data.

 

[d3v]

The biggest advantage of having Windows on its own partition is that it makes reinstalling so easy. If you keep all of your data to a seperate partition you can format and install Windows whenever you like without worrying about keeping your data.

Ya thats one of the main reasons why I need to do it.

And also, is it worth creating another partition for TEMP folders for Windows, Internet, apps, ect? Cos a lot of them need temp files and lots of crap and junk build up.

Thanks guys.

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

no

there is NO benefit to creating a partition on the same PHYSICAL drive as windows for those file - or for VM,

the only benefit is to move it to another PHYSICAL seperate drive.


As for moving wqindos VM / Pagefile it has been done and is very very very easy to do...

 

[TheGreySpectre]

I always run a seperate windows partition, not for performance, but so that I can reformat whenever i want to without having to go through ttons and tons of backup

 

[d3v]

no

there is NO benefit to creating a partition on the same PHYSICAL drive as windows for those file - or for VM,

the only benefit is to move it to another PHYSICAL seperate drive.


As for moving wqindos VM / Pagefile it has been done and is very very very easy to do...

What does VM mean????

I need to get this clear for me...

Do I do this?...

prim IDE channel: Maxtor 80GB - games, apps, programs and a 5GB partition for Windows.

sec IDE channel: Maxtor 20GB - multimedia + paging file.

Would that be the best configuration or is there a better one???

Thanks.

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

VM = Virtual Memory / Page File

putting your programs on a seprate aprtition is almost useless - since once you reinstall Windows - none of those programs are likely to work anyways because of registry settings. But installing programs / games on 2nd physical HD - could se a bit of speed inprovement loading etyc, here is what i would do


Main drive - 15g Windows + programs (IM / FireFox / Office)
- 65g - My Documents / downloads
Sec IDE - One fat partition - Games / Programs as well if you dont put programs on 15g drive and just want windows.

Put your Page file on the 2nd IDE drive - or if you plan to game alot - leave the page file on your C drive.

How much Ram will be in this computer ?

If you think you will have more then 50g of multimedia stuff then put it on your 2nd drive.

 

[JigPu]

Mr.Guvernment is correct. Some people make partitions exclusivley for Windows, but programs will "break" if installed to a different partition and you reinstall (since reinstalling Windows will wipe the registry, which the programs doubtlessly have loads of stuff in).

A Windows/Programs partition and a Data partition is great though. Data obviously won't "break" because you reinstalled windows (it's just data afterall ), so sticking it on it's own drive or partition makes backups easier as well as better organized (at least in my experience).

My personal layout would probably be like this:
80GB - IDE0 - 40GB Windows/Programs (the 15GB Mr.Guvernment mentioned sounds a bit small if you are going to have several games, but if not, go for it ) / 40GB Data
40GB - IDE1 - 40GB Data

You can split the 2 data partitions however you want (eg 1 for movies, the other for music/bittorrent/etc). As for the pagefile, I would split it between the two drives (stick it on the Windows/Programs partition of the first drive) since this theoretically is even better than sticking it only on the non-windows drive (though honsetly, no matter what config you use I doubt you'll "feel" a difference )

JigPu

 

[Beginner]

thanks everybody for your posts and d3v for asking the question. this is helping me in my own data management.

the only thing is i don't know how to set/change the pagefile to a different partition as recommended. i'll use the search function for that one

thanks again

 

[TheGreySpectre]

While my games may not work when I reformat, I still have all my saves + all the non program files that I want to keep

 

[TimoneX]

I must be in the minority here, as I greatly prefer to place Windows on it's own partition(12GBs) and installed programs on their own partition. The reason I do this is several fold...first I always have multiple OSs installed and usually more than one MS OS so installing each application to the program partition means I very seldom have to waste the space required to install the same application to multiple partitions. You still have to run the installer on each OS of course, but you can in nearly every circumstance elect to overwrite the install from the other OS rather than having to waste the space for two installs. Additionally windows fragments quite quickly and the installed applications fragment to a lesser degree, so defragging a relatively small windows install partition is just quick and dirty. Lastly I tend to forget one bit of info or another when I re-install my OS, so having all the important data files on a partition other than the windows install partitions means that when I crank up ghost or Acronis and format/restore a windows install I have 0 chance of losing anything important because 100% of my data files are on my programs partition or my archive partition. So long experience has led me to partition my drives as C (primary(active)XP32) D (XP64 logical) E (PROGrams logical) F (ARCHive logical) G (Linux boot) H (Linux swap) I (Linux root). Everything just works perfectly for me this way.

Yeah I know...I'm long winded.

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

in XP Control Panel / System / Advance

Under "Performance" "settings"

Advance Tab "Virtual Memory" / Change