how to divide up my partitions

[jimmyrules712]

Ive got 2 hard drives, 1 WD 120 gb 8 mb cache and 1 WD 160 gb 8 mb cache

ive got partition magic for my software

i want to divide up my hard drives into partitions that will make my PC run the best.

thisi s hwta ive done so far right now
on drive 1 i have a 5.85 gb partition for my OS only (OS and OS updates)
and the rest of the drive (143 gb) is primary storage including my documetns, etc.)

on drive 2 i have 20gb partitioned for where i install my programs
the rest (95 gb) is secondary storage

should i make any other partitions for anything? ive heard of people making one for cache, explain please?

[Statica]

5.85GB for your OS, if you are running Windows XP or 98 is too little. By the time the patches roll around, you are going to be pushing your luck. My suggestion would be to give at least 10GB for your OS and pagefile.
20GB is too little in my opinion for programs, when you've kept aside more than 238GB for document storage.

After that, while you're on your own with how you want to divide it up. I would recommend not keeping an entire hard drive or something to the tune of 100GB+ on a single partition. It makes defragmentation time consuming, especially when you can avoid it.
For example, what I would do on drive 1
OS: 10GB
Programs: 60GB
Documents: 50GB

Drive 2:
partition into something like 2 or 3 partitions to hold your media etc. I would recommend having about 10GB set aside for "temporary files" .. stuff like mp3s that you create for backups of your audio CD, that is on your hard drive long enough for you to burn onto CD.
The idea here is to create a partitioning system that will not take too long to defragment or check; that will not hinder you from installing or running out of space. Remember that hard drive storage is still very linear. When you delete a file, the space does not immediately get reclaimed as free space. The drive keeps getting filled before the filesystem comes back to the beginning looking for space to reclaim.

[Confused]

I agree with Statica about the OS partition, especially if you are running XP. I have XP Pro and originally went with a 6G partition and had problems with SP1 installing. I used Partition Magic to bump it to 10G.
Chas

[Theinkman]

I have two hard drives also-one 37GB WD Raptor and one 40GB WD IDE drive.
I put my OS on the first partition on the Raptor and moved my swap/page file to the first partition on the IDE drive. I noticed over time (relatively quickly) that my OS partition would become quite fragmented and consequently would run noticeably slower. I moved the swap file and the system runs faster with less fragmenting. Also, my apps were put on the next partition after the OS and I moved the Windows Temp file and Temporary Internet Files to a separate partition. BTW-you can change the default drive (partition) to load your program files:

If you like to install your software on a separate drive or partition, you might find this tip handy. It will allow you to change the default installation directory for new programs from 'c:\program files' to whatever location you'd like.

To do this open Regedit and Navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Windows\CurrentVersion\'

Double click the 'ProgramFilesDir' value. Change the value to the directory you wish to be the default installation location for your software.

[jimmyrules712]

well ive been running my current setup for 3 months and i like how i have my sizes arranged, my OS is using about 3 gb (with SP2 and most recent patches installed), and its been using htat for a long time, so i dont htink its going to use up much more space. and my programs have been using 6 gb for a while so i dont think i need to give that more then 20 gb. and im already maxing out my 230gb of storage space (i have 100 cds backedup onto it and a lot of my home dvds backed up.) i can always use partition magic to give thosep artitions more space if they later need it.

the only thing im really looking at changing is stuff like the swap file, windows temp file, and windows temp internet file, all in one little partition by itself (to lessen fragmentation on all the other partitions). Are there any more items like htose listed that i should include in this partition? how big should i make this partition, and how do i go about moving those items?

[Panama Red]

I'll share my method with ya. It's based in part on this article.
First partition is 12 - 15Gb. That's for XP and all programs. I tried running programs on a separate partition but found no performance increase and making sure to direct installs to the correct partition is a hassle. The programs have to "mix" with the Registry anyway so keeping them separate doesn't accomplish anything.

Second Partition is slightly more than 3 times the amount of installed memory and is dedicated to the Page File. Nothing is ever installed here. Page File is set to min of 1.5 x installed memory and max at 3 x. Ideally, this partition should be on a separate hard drive as outline in the article. In order to still provide some page file on the first partition allowing for a "dump", I set the C:/ page file to 32 min and 128 max.

Third partiton I call Documents. Since most folks Save files to My Documents, My Pictures or My Music, or files within these areas, I move the My Documents folder to a separate partiton. Any folders/files can be move from within Windows Explorer. Just right click on Start/explore to open Win Exp. Find the My Documents folder, right click and drag it to the Documents partition and drop it there. You'll be given a pop up option, select Move. The size of the Documents partiton varies by your needs. Usually 10-15Gb is fine for just files and folders. If you plan on large amounts of pictures or music, I'd recommend separate partitions for them too. Move the My Music and My Pictures folders the same way I describe moving My Documents.

Why do I think this system is beneficial? First off, the Page File will not be fragmented among your C: drive. Second, if you need to do a repair/install, your personal files will be isolated on a separate partition. Third, defragmenting small partitions is much faster than doing one large partition.

Rather than move Temp folders to a separate partition, I just set IE to empty the temp internet folder when the browser is closed and use Disk Cleanup weekly to empty the Windows Temp folder.

Keep in mind when partitioning, you will give up some space on each partition because Defragmenter needs 15% free space to function properly. Good luck.

[jimmyrules712]

did you notice any performance increase when you put yourp age file on its own partition? or did it just keep your OS partition form fragmenting easier

[Panama Red]

No measureable performance increase that I've been able to determine. Although, the MS article does indicate this:

"To enhance performance, it is good practice to put the paging file on a different partition and on a different physical hard disk drive. That way, Windows can handle multiple I/O requests more quickly. When the paging file is on the boot partition, Windows must perform disk reading and writing requests on both the system folder and the paging file. When the paging file is moved to a different partition, there is less competition between reading and writing requests."

Based on the MS article I'd say the performance increase is there. I just haven't found a way to measure it. "Feel" doesn't always mean a whole lot. I do know the defragging is faster and the C: drive fragments less this way.