About partitions
* Partitioning allows the distinct separation of operating system, program, and data files. To a new user this may seem like a minor point, but if you've ever suffered a system crash or virus infection where everything on a partition has been wiped out, this one item alone is worth the time and planning it takes to implement an advanced partitioning scheme.
* Partitioning allows you to create a selective backup scheme that targets the areas that need frequent backups while paying less attention to items like system and program files.
* Partitioning allows for faster and more efficient disk maintenance. Like it or not, hard disks require maintenance. Not the kind of maintenance where you disassemble the hard drive and clean it out, but more along the lines of organizational maintenance such as defragmenting. It's much quicker to perform these maintenance tasks on smaller partitions than one huge, non-partitioned drive.
* Partitioning allows for better data directory and file organization. Setting aside a specific partition allows it to be organized much more efficiently than having it strewn across a single, huge partition.
* Partitioning allows the paging file to be placed in it's own partition which will eliminate the fragmentation problem of the system drive when the paging file is constantly resized due to varying virtual memory requirements.
* Partitioning allows the creation of separate areas for what are commonly known as scratch disks that are used by some programs as a temporary work area. Adobe Photoshop and many other graphics and multimedia editing programs that work with very large files experience a substantial performance benefit from having a separate, defined scratch partition.
* Partitioning allows one system to contain multiple operating systems on separate partitions. Depending on what operating systems are involved in the multi-boot scheme it can impact the file system that must be used, but the capability is available.
* Breaking a hard drive down into smaller parts makes sense to me. Toss 400 - 500 gigabytes of operating system, applications, data, music, and other miscellaneous items onto one large partition and you're asking for trouble. Something is bound to go wrong with something and it's much easier to diagnose a problem when the drive contents are separated into smaller chunks.
* Years ago, there were reasons for partitioning that had to do with efficient cluster size, but that's not so important with ntfs.
by keeping all your install files on a separate partition, you save countless hours digging up programs, serial numbers and so on, you install the basic o/s, complete with the drivers you previously backed up to your last drive, and start installing all the files from the install directory.
You rarely, if ever, lose or have to reformat/reinstall anything but the c drive, be it to a virus or user stupidity, or to simple bloat of the operating system.
I've used the above for years, and find it works, makes for lower maintenance, and allows you to back up your data from one location, without suddenly (after the reformat) remembering you didn't back up a batch of files you can't remember where you saved......
End of lecture.
Hope this helps
