Partitioning Your Hard Drive - Comments Page 1

I know your right but if you only have one harddrive and want to clone your HD you need a partition as most cloning software won't clone to same partition. I know most people add a second HD however most computers out of store only have one HD.

What can I do with my Acer Aspire laptop which comes from factory with a "second hard drive" D: that actualy is another partition, in order to run the Acer ERecovery utility?

EDITOR'S NOTE: I don't understand your question... do you want to get rid of the recovery partition?

I'm inclined to agree with a lot of what you say. These days, if you want performance, just buy a Raptor or some other blistering hard drive. I still however find it very convenient to have two partitions on a single hard drive system (e.g. my laptop) with windows and programs on one partition (typically C) and my data on another (typically D).

Once I have a system configured to how I want it as a baseline including programs I know I want such as Office (and including having the special folders pointing to folders on the data partition), I take an image of the O/S partition. (Along the way I may take images - particularly with Media Center Edition as it's somewhat flaky). I take periodic backups of my D drive - usually have at least 2 back ups on a couple of USB drives (no compression, just a straight copy).

If the OS or progams go belly-up or the system has just become bloated and sluggish over time and system restore doesn't fix the issue, I just restore the image. Because the O/S restored from the image already knows where my data sits, everything is back up to a reasonable level in 30-60mins. I'd be interested in your thoughts on this.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm surprised that you don't run into registry problems. I guess if you don't install any new software after making the OS image, it should be fine. I've never had to re-install Windows XP on any of my own machines, though.

What about a partition for back ups? I had a hard disk crash (single partition) and it was a very expensive data recovery geek (drove a Porsche to my front door) that got it all back on several dozen CD's - Yuk. Now I have a D-drive for backups. Suits me.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I think you have a separate hard drive as your D: drive, instead of C: and D: partitions on a single drive. At least I hope you do. As I said in the article, if you have a head crash on a drive, ALL of the partitions on that drive will be affected. Always backup to a different physical drive, whether internal or external.

Bob , I TOTALLY agree with your comments, computers running on Windows can be so negative , That one can get in enough trouble without looking for more.

Personally I find it simpler to keep assorted backup files, XP installation folder, assorted drivers in a separate partition so I can reinstall OS on C without having to fish out assorted CDs etc. I also keep my data on a different partition. If I want to reformat my OS partition I can. Everything is also backed up elsewhere but is is so much simpler and quicker to run installation from the hard drive.
Partitioning software is fast and efficient enough for my needs.
Having my Acronis 11 backup on an external drive reminds me that the days when you could back up to a single DVD or two are gone and even Blue Ray may not be enough as systems evolve. But this is another subject, the need for an external hard drive, that is.

Hey Bob... good articles, every time! But this one about partitions ... I have my doubts ...I do like my partitions. C; for windows, D for programs, E for pics, F for music etc ... You write that you'll get confused where your stuff is. But ... In my closet, I have a separate drawer for socks, a separate place for shirts, a seperate place for undies etc ... and I never went out with my undies on my feet ... Another advantage of having more (smaller) partitions, is that e.g. defragging goes much faster. You only need to defrag the partition where you have been messing. I guess that the partition with programs, doesn't have to be defragged often because you usually don't mess with program files. Even so the music partition. And if you're not "playing" with pictures all the time, the pic partition doesn't have to be defragged that much either. Defragging the partition where your operating system is on, really makes a difference in speed. So if you have AND your OS, AND your programs AND your pics, AND your music etc on one laaaaarge partition, a defrag (actually just in favor of your OS) is gonna take a loooong time... every time ... But ... this is just MY opinion .. *VBS* Friendly greetings!

EDITOR'S NOTE: Paul, having multiple partitions if you're a power user like yourself really can't hurt, unless you run out of space in a partition, then you're in for some hurting. As long as you're the only one using that computer, you'll do fine. But asking someone else to remember which "drawer" your "undies" are in could cause confusion. I run my defrags automatically during the wee hours of the morning, so they can crunch for hours if needed...

I disagree. I have my operating system on the C: drive, Programs on my D: drive. Pix and presentations on G:, Misc downloads on E: and other designations on other partitions. I regularly Image the C: and D: drives C: and D: are defragmented. I can defragment the system and programs without defragmenting the entire drive which I would have to do if I had one partition. I am hardly a novice, having worked with all aspects of computers since 1952.

Not long ago I worked on a friend's system that had a 1TB C: drive. It took ages to defrag and scan for viruses. It was super slow to use.

I agree with you 100%. Most of my geek friends love to partition, but I like to keep my computing as simple as possible. I auto backup my important files to an external WD hard drive every night. I also defrag nightly during the wee hours as you do. If it ain't broke, why "fix" it?

Hi Bob, What about those of us who need to work in plain old DOS once in a while? Many of the radio programming applications are still in DOS. Especially for some of the older (10 years or more) two-way radios. What is your feeling about a second partition to operate the 'puter in DOS ?

EDITOR'S NOTE: That would qualify as a distinct operating system, so a bootable partition seems appropriate.