Rocky 1,224 Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 I eventually went ahead and ordered a Deskstar180GXP 123.5GB UDMA100, question is, do I need to partition it? 'Cause that word scares me,.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ReconSnake 0 Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 You don't have to, but I would if I were you. It will help a little with your speeds. Here is the article I used as a walk thru last year. It's pretty simple. RS Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pave Low 16 Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 123GB, oh yeah I'd partition that up equally into a bunch of Drives. O/S, applications, files, utilities, games1, games2, Ghost recon, web stuff, Etc. . . . I highly recomend getting Partition Magic , its a fantastic tool that takes all the hassle and worry out of partitioning. Can even resize existing partitions with out loosing a byte of data. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocky 1,224 Posted June 25, 2003 Author Share Posted June 25, 2003 Cool, thanks for the info, I'll read up on this tonight so I am ready for tomorrows delivery. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Specter 0 Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 It all depends on your personal preference as to how many partitions you make Rocky, but I would do 3. I would make an 8GB partition for the OS alone, and any drivers or really picky software you have that needs to go on the OS partition. Then I would split the remain ing space into 2 or more, at a minimum, one for data and one for apps. This way Winblows is always in its own partition, and should anything ever happen and it requires a reload of Winblows, everything else is safe, and doesnt need to be touched. IF you plan to experiment with dul booting and different OS's, take this into acount also when choosing how many partitions to make. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocky 1,224 Posted June 25, 2003 Author Share Posted June 25, 2003 I would make an 8GB partition for the OS alone, This is where I am a little confused I plan on leaving my OS (WIn XP) on the current HD (40Mb) and installing this new 120Gb HD as a slave. Is there a problem with that? The only reason I am doing it that way is 1. This PC only came with a XP recovery disk not a full install 2. I don't feel confident enough messing any deeper than I have to, I have too much to lose if I make a mistake Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Specter 0 Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 (edited) No, thats cool Rocky. I didnt realize you were keeping your current drive. What I was recommending saves you alot of trouble if something happens to Winblows, as it keeps all your data safe, and your apps installed. I would then split the 120GB into maybe 3 partitions then. 2 for data, and one for apps. Use the 2nd data partitions to make copies of all your really important data, so tht you have it in 2 places. Splitting into a bunch of smaller partitions can be a headache for you as time goes on and data collects. The more smaller ones you have, the more you need to remember, and data starts to get hard to track over a bunch of partitions, especially small files. Partitioning the new drive is easy with XP, and can be done using the GUI in Admin tools and Disk Management. Partitioning a new, blank drive is easy, and if you mess up, its okay, you just do it again. Its only a blank drive, and nothing physical will happen to it. It wont mess the drive up. The only time you have to worry about screwing up partitions is if you are like me, and do alot of partitionng after data and OS's are already stored on them, and you cant lose the data. You need special software for that, such as Partition Magic, which allows you to even resize and move partitions on them, even with data stored on them, saving everything as it does it. There are a few things to consider when you are partitioning. How much space for apps, and how much for data, the primary function of the computer, and so on. Edited June 25, 2003 by phantom110565 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ruin 17 Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 If it were me, I'd leave it. I'd only partition it if necessary. I don't mind having one big drive, I prefer organizing with folders than a bunch of little ones... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocky 1,224 Posted June 25, 2003 Author Share Posted June 25, 2003 Partitioning the new drive is easy with XP, and can be done using the GUI in Admin tools and Disk Management. I have XP home, I found that section, but could not see any Partioning options. I searched XP help for partion and there was no return for partioning a drive, although there were some for deleting and renaming and dual booting etc lol. Maybe it's a XP Pro option only? For my circumstances I think I would lay my partitions out like this, look okay? Apps Games Files (websites/documents) Media (music/movies etc) Anybody got any other partioning sugestions? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocky 1,224 Posted June 25, 2003 Author Share Posted June 25, 2003 If it were me, I'd leave it. I'd only partition it if necessary. I don't mind having one big drive, I prefer organizing with folders than a bunch of little ones... Yeh, but defragging a 120Gb drive doesn't appeal to me heh. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ruin 17 Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 lol. Then do it often. I'm not even going to touch my old HD. It'd take me 4 weeks to defrag. I should do that with this one before it gets too bad. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Specter 0 Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Thats a good layout Rocky. And you are right, defragging that is a beast, unless yoou do it all the time. THe drive may not come partitioned and formatted anyway, so you will proly have to anyhow. Ill check into the partitioning for the home version. I run pro. Home may not have that by default install, but we may be able to install it from the CD. Ill check for ya. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ReconSnake 0 Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Definitely partition, no matter what the layout. Otherwise you will be kicking yourself when that HD starts to get about halfway full. RS Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Specter 0 Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Definitely ! ! NOT partitioning something that big is a very bad idea. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ScarfaceSAS 0 Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 What are your thoughts on having a seperate partition for the windows swap file(aka virtual memory)? I have had a seperate partition(2GB) for my swap file since i got my new computer and windows runs smoothly and almost never crashes.(i can't really compare it to my old computer b/c my new one is tons faster) IIRC that is how linux is setup and that is where i got the idea from. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocky 1,224 Posted June 25, 2003 Author Share Posted June 25, 2003 What are your thoughts on having a seperate partition for the windows swap file(aka virtual memory)? I read something about that when reading up on installing HDs earlier.. lemme see... ah yes here it is at tweak3d.net And by no means should your swap file EVER be on a slave drive. So I guess it depends where the partition is. http://www.tweak3d.net/articles/howtoinstallhd/3.shtml Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WhiteKnight77 1 Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 All I know is it takes a while to run ScanDisk and DiskCleanup on my 80GB HD. Defragging takes about 30 minutes as long as I do it every week. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NurFACE 0 Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 There are many options for your hard drive don't let defragging and scan disc discourage you. I believe you wanted to know should you partition the drive. Yes, you should partition. How to setup your partition is up to you and you have a planned with your layout. ( Partitioning allows you to manage your hard drive more efficiently. Your computer views each partition as a separate hard drive, automatically giving it a drive letter, allowing you to conveniently organize your hard drive and maximize the performance of your system. Dividing your hard drive into separate partitions plays an essential role in maintaining your computer-preventing conflicts, protecting data, improving efficiency, and increasing performance.) claimer from partion magic start/my computer right click/manage/disk management Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Specter 0 Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 (edited) With Winblows, it doesnt really matter one way or the other, unless your drives are different speeds, and have different cache sizes. It can use a slave drive, but not recommended, thus keeping VM operating at the same speed as Winblows, and cutting down the access time. It takes longer for it to have to go to another drive to access it. As for Linux, the reason its done on 2 partitions, is because the swap partition is a different type than the Filesystem partition, thus it has to have it's own. Also, Winblows wont use more than 768 MB for virtual Memory, so anything above that is a waste, because what happens is, when Winblows uses the swap, it will use all the space allocated to VM, and scatters the swap info all over, and if you go over 768MB, it can actually slow your system down, especially during memory intensive programs because Winblows would search the entire allocated area for what it needs, thus taking longer than necessary. So, in your case, you are using roughly 1.2 GB more than Winblows needs, that could be used for other things. I make VM for me and all my clients 768 minimum, 768 maximum, locking in the amount of HDD that Winblows has to access for VM. Edited June 26, 2003 by phantom110565 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocky 1,224 Posted June 26, 2003 Author Share Posted June 26, 2003 New HD installed, formatted and partitioned Pretty easy with XP, did it all through the disk management section. Thanks for the help. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocky 1,224 Posted June 26, 2003 Author Share Posted June 26, 2003 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NightCrawler 137 Posted June 27, 2003 Share Posted June 27, 2003 Glad to hear it went well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Specter 0 Posted June 27, 2003 Share Posted June 27, 2003 Yeah, the DeskStars are one of the best brands going bro. Very good choice. I have 2 of them myself. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocky 1,224 Posted June 27, 2003 Author Share Posted June 27, 2003 Yeah, the DeskStars are one of the best brands going bro. Very good choice. In the UK we have rows and rows of PC mags, but when it comes to hardware reviews there is one that is miles above the rest, it's called PC Pro. They have an A List which lists the top piece of hardware in every catagory - that drive is their top A list choice, so that's why I went for it. But then, after I ordered it, I went to the PC Pro website and checked it out there. In the comments section for that drive there is actually a fair bit of negative comment - for example, I didn't realise that this is the drve that IBM got taken to court over for lost data? You might need to sign up, but here's the link to the PC Pro page anyway...the comments link is at the foot of the review http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/reviews_sto...ry.php?id=35567 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Specter 0 Posted June 27, 2003 Share Posted June 27, 2003 Thanks for the link Rocky. I hadnt known about that minor bit of info either. I am running a couple of 13GB DeshStar's now, that are almost 5 years old, and not one issue. Nothing but excellent service from both drives, and still humming along, which, frankly, is unusual for an HDD, especially as hard as I run them. My machine runs non stop, 24/7 365 except for 4 hours on Sunday nites when I do maintenace on all my equipment. If you ever have any trouble with it, Id be very interested in hearing about it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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