Questions on benefits of partitioned hard drive

[Mason]

Greetings all,

My new laptop had a second hard drive port which was compatible with the HD from my previous laptop, so I was able to successfully install it as a second hard drive. The new drive (containing the OS and everything else) is 250 gigs with no partitions, and the old drive is ~140 gigs with one 86 gig partition and one one 56 gig partition. Both partitions on the old drive are entirely empty unless there is a hidden restore partition that I haven't found (if such a partition exists, is is expendable) I have been able to reformat both partitions, but haven't found a way to remove the partitions to make it a single, unpartitioned drive. The new computer is running Vista 64 while the old drive comes from a Vista 32. Both partitions have been reformatted using the 64 OS, so will there be any compatibility issues, or does it even matter?

So, what would be the benefit to keeping the partitions on the one hard drive? The partitions are empty so now would be the time to remove the partitions, if ever, but I haven't figured out how to do it. And, if there is a benefit to partitioning, is it possible to create a partition on an existing drive without destroying the existing data?

Thanks,

[Soapy Sam]

Control Panel \ Administrative tools \ computer management\ storage \ disc management

Then format the whole drive.

Unless you plan installing two OSii, I see little need these days for multiple partitions.
In Vista you can always create a new partition anyway using the same MMC snap-in
ETA- If Disk management is not active in the management console,
Tupe MMC in the Run window.
File
Add Snap-in
and select Disk Management.

[dtugg]

The new computer is running Vista 64 while the old drive comes from a Vista 32. Both partitions have been reformatted using the 64 OS, so will there be any compatibility issues, or does it even matter?

It doesn't matter.


So, what would be the benefit to keeping the partitions on the one hard drive?

I think that the biggest benefit is that they can keep stuff separate. For example, on my main laptop drive, I have two partitions, each about equal size. One for the OS/programs files and one for music/pictures/videos/documents. That way, if my Windows somehow got messed (it's happened before, my fault), I could wipe that partition and all of my music/pictures/videos/documents would still be there. You can also have two different OS's on the same drive.


The partitions are empty so now would be the time to remove the partitions, if ever, but I haven't figured out how to do it.

I am using Windows7, but if memory serves me correctly, the steps I am about to describe are the same as in Vista.

1)Right click computer, and select "manage".
2)When that pops up, select "disk management".
3)When that comes up, right click on the second partition of the hard drive that you want to merge partitions and select "delete volume."
4)After that is done, there will be some unallocated space on the drive. Right click on the first partition and select "extend volume." This should put all of the unallocated space that used to be the second partition on the first one.


And, if there is a benefit to partitioning, is it possible to create a partition on an existing drive without destroying the existing data?

Yes. Go to step 2 from above.

3)Right click on the drive you want to do this to and select "shrink volume." The amount you shrink will be the size of the new partition.
4) Right click on the newly created unallocated space and select "new simple volume." Just keep on clicking next and the wizard will do it for you. One thing though, the default for the format is FAT32, I would chose NTFS instead though because the FAT32 system can't have files larger than 4GB.

I hope this was all clear enough. Feel free to ask me to clarify if not.

[Salerio]

I always partition a home user into two drives, C: for operating system and installed programs, D: for all the data files. Then redirect My Documents, My Music, My Videos etc onto the D: partition.

Usually in the form D:\<user name>\< everything below for the user>

Then backups are easy, just image D:, if the OS screw up you can simply reinstall all the apps and redirect the My Docs bits, then you're back up and running. Don't forget to do email as well :)

Separate spindles is even better, but not too many new systems have more than one spindle.

[Mason]

Awesome info, very clear. Thanks a lot guys!

[shadron]

Another thing I like to do is to create a partition for the virtual memory file. That keeps the virtual memory file resizing (which is a constant thing in Windows) from fragmenting the other files.

[Mongrel]

I think that the biggest benefit is that they can keep stuff separate. For example, on my main laptop drive, I have two partitions, each about equal size. One for the OS/programs files and one for music/pictures/videos/documents. That way, if my Windows somehow got messed (it's happened before, my fault), I could wipe that partition and all of my music/pictures/videos/documents would still be there. You can also have two different OS's on the same drive.

Nowadays, with the cost of new hard drives, I just use an ailing hard drive as an excuse to upgrade. If the Windows drives starts to frell up I just buy a new and bigger drive, plug it in and do a fresh install and bump the current OS drive to ':D'. Drives that are 'kicked out' of the tower get fully formatted and relegated to "the stack that I use in my external caddy"

I don't wipe my OS drive, so all of my information, saved files and configs are still there and if after six months or so I haven't touched a file I can generally delete it in good concious

[El Greco]

I recently installed two copies of Windows on the same hard disk, in different partitions. I wanted the two installations to be invisible to each other because they are meant to be used by two different persons whose ability to not screw the whole of the system I don't trust at all. So I used a boot manager that can hide/unhide partitions at boot time, and I now have two different copies of Windows that they are both C: and totally oblivious about the existence of each other.

[Soapy Sam]

Gods. TWO lots of updates!
Are you some sort of masochist?

[I Ratant]

I did the partition thing for awhile, but now I just have separate directories.
Two HDs in the computer box, and an external USB HD with all my thousands of photos.. these take a skillion bytes of room.

[Mongrel]

Gods. TWO lots of updates!
Are you some sort of masochist?

Between that or fixing two peoples mistakes on the same same version of Windows - it's close but two OS installs sounds better

[Oliver]

So, what would be the benefit to keeping the partitions on the one hard drive? The partitions are empty so now would be the time to remove the partitions, if ever, but I haven't figured out how to do it. And, if there is a benefit to partitioning, is it possible to create a partition on an existing drive without destroying the existing data?

Thanks,


I always used partitions for oversight. One Partition for the OS [Win, Linux, etc], one for Programs, one for own files, one for Games, one for Media such as MP3/Videos/Pictures and so on...

It's also handy to create 4,7 Gig Partitions for your favorite Data so you simply burn all of the partition down to DVD's once it's running out of space.

Also, useful partition software is able to move the data before creating partitions - you just need enough free space to move the data around. It also isn't a matter of the OS you're running but a matter of the file-system/-'s in place:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_system