Advantages of partition size?

[Stubby]

Okay guys, and girls, another newbie question! What are the advantages, if any, to keeping the partition size to 8 gigs or less? Case in point, I have a 30 gig Maxtor and I read somewhere on this forum that by keeping the size below 8 gigs helps. Something about keeping file sizes to a minimum thus saving space and increasing speed? I'm running 98SE at present. I read this about 3 weeks ago and I wish I could remember where I saw it. Any suggestions or comments? If it does help, I'm going to re-format and re-partition my drive. Thanks!!!!!!!

[mairving]

The main advantage to partition is organization and some what speed. I usually split a hard drive into Windows, Programs & Documents. That way if I have to reinstall the OS, I can just wipe the Windows partition and reinstall. It also makes it easier to backup files and to find them. In addition, certain utilities like scan disk can be done more quickly.

Currently I have a 45GB divided into 6GB-Windows, 10GB-Programs, 28GB-Documents and then a 20GB HD that is just one partition.

[Stubby]

Thanks for the quick reply Mairving! Okay, now let me see if I got this right, okay? On one partition you have just the OS, on another you have the programs like Publisher, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. and the third, for me, would be games? I like the idea of having the OS on it's own part that way, like you said, it would be ALOT quicker to re-install the OS without having to re-install everything else. Now that's an idea I can live with!!!! I was always under the impression that the programs had to be on the same drive as the OS, but I can see now that I was mistaken! Or rather the damn fool that told me that was mistaken!! Thanks for the tips, I really do appericate it immensley!! (now if I could just learn how to spell )

[reboot]

The key is in the cluster size, not necessarily partition size. The DOS fdisk supplied with Windows will give you a 16k (sometimes 32k) cluster size if you use it's defaults and fdisk a whole 30 gig drive as one. Split the 30 gig into about 6 or 7 partitions, and the cluster size will drop to 4 or 8k.
What this means in real life is much better use of space on a HD.
If a file is exactly 137k, on a 32k cluster system, it will actually take up 5 clusters (5*32=160) using 160k, not so on a 4k cluster drive, which would only take up 140k (35*4=140).
File properties in Windows2000 and XP will show you this actual difference.
AFAIK, Partition Magic is the only program that will change cluster size "on the fly", otherwise you need to use the destructive fdisk.
Keep your partitions less than 8 gig each, and you'll get the smaller cluster sizes.

[archie]

Keep in mind that you will still have to reinstall many, if not most of the programs ... depending on what the install files sent to the windows folder/registry. Still, it's worth partitioning ... just having the OS apart from the rest of the software is worth it, let alone the more efficient use of disk space ... and while cluster size may well be an issue, there are others too. This is not meant to suggest that my method is THE way to do it or even the best for that matter ... it's just another way of looking at it.
Partitioning the drive is especially worth considering when there are no other HDD on the system. Sure you could back up onto a CDR but why not back up on a 10GB partition instead. If the hard drive fails, all is gone? Not necessarily, and that applies whether the drive is partitioned or not. Another advantage is evident when considering defrag [the boot drive needs it more often IMHO].
Probably the most difficult decision to make is how many partitions to have and what size they should be ... no matter what you do, you'll eventually wish it was somehow different. Also, depending on user, there are more than one 'good' way of doing it. This is where Partition Magic comes in for some [others]. I'm not too fond of having too many partitions though. The debate that everything is more organized is not convincing in the least. To keep it organized, keeping less folders at the root of the drive/partitions ... ie. all games go in a Games folder is more effective, avoid something like c:\my shooting game\, c:\myracinggame ... instead have c:\games\my shooting games\ and c:\games\myracinggame. [when the program doesn't go into something like an existing folder such "c:\program files\" folder by default in the case of a system with just one drive/partition]
On a 30 GB HDD of that size, one way to partition it could be:
C: = 4 GB for OS
D: = 20 GB for most
E: = 6 GB for backup, sharing etc.
Even in this sample, the user could find that more space for games is eventually needed, there is too much free space left on the boot drive, etc. There is nothing to prevent games from going to the E: ... but it does point to the drawback of having too many partitions from a file management perspective.