Why create multiple partitions on large HDDs?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by rustysavage, Dec 9, 2013.

  1. rustysavage

    rustysavage Sergeant Major

    I'm running Windows 7 (sp1) 64-bit on a 2 year old Hewlett-Packard p6774y with the following hardware:

    Tweaking.com - System Information v1.0.2
    -----------------------------------------
    1. Computer System
    -----------------------------------------
    Bootup State: Normal boot
    Part Of Domain: False
    Domain Role: 0 - Standalone Workstation
    Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
    Model: p6774y
    Number Of Logical Processors: 4
    Number Of Processors: 1
    Status: OK
    System Type: x64-based PC
    User Name: owner-HP\owner
    -----------------------------------------
    2. CPU
    -----------------------------------------
    Architecture: 9
    Caption: AMD64 Family 16 Model 10 Stepping 0
    Current Clock Speed: 2900
    Current Voltage: 1.5
    Description: AMD64 Family 16 Model 10 Stepping 0
    Device ID: CPU0
    Family: 1
    L2CacheSize: 2048
    L3CacheSize: 6144
    Manufacturer: AuthenticAMD
    MaxClockSpeed: 2900
    Name: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 840T Processor
    NumberOfCores: 4
    NumberOfLogicalProcessors: 4
    -----------------------------------------
    3. Drives
    -----------------------------------------
    Caption: Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 SATA Disk Device
    Description: Disk drive
    InterfaceType: IDE
    Manufacturer: (Standard disk drives)
    Model: Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 SATA Disk Device
    Partitions: 3
    Size: 931.51 GB
    -----------------------------------------
    Caption: ioSafe G3 USB Device
    Description: Disk drive
    InterfaceType: USB
    Manufacturer: (Standard disk drives)
    Model: ioSafe G3 USB Device
    Partitions: 1
    Size: 2.73 TB
    -----------------------------------------
    Caption: Seagate Backup+ Desk USB Device
    Description: Disk drive
    InterfaceType: USB
    Manufacturer: (Standard disk drives)
    Model: Seagate Backup+ Desk USB Device
    Partitions: 1
    Size: 2.73 TB
    -----------------------------------------
    4. Hardware
    -----------------------------------------
    Caption:
    Device ID: ROOT\SCANNER\0000
    Manufacturer:
    Service:
    Status: Error
    -----------------------------------------
    Caption: 802.11n Wireless LAN Card
    Device ID: PCI\VEN_1814&DEV_3090&SUBSYS_663211AD&REV_00\4&125A0B80&0&0028
    Manufacturer: Ralink Technology, Corp.
    Service: netr28x
    Status: Error
    -----------------------------------------
    Caption: ACPI Fixed Feature Button
    Device ID: ACPI\FIXEDBUTTON\2&DABA3FF&2
    Manufacturer: (Standard system devices)
    Service:
    Status: OK
    -----------------------------------------
    Caption: ACPI Power Button
    Device ID: ACPI\PNP0C0C\AA
    Manufacturer: (Standard system devices)
    Service:
    Status: OK
    -----------------------------------------
    Caption: ACPI x64-based PC
    Device ID: ROOT\ACPI_HAL\0000
    Manufacturer: (Standard computers)
    Service: \Driver\ACPI_HAL
    Status: OK
    -----------------------------------------
    5. Memory (Ram)
    -----------------------------------------
    (Installed Physical Memory Modules)
    BANK1 - Size 2.00 GB
    BANK2 - Size 2.00 GB
    BANK3 - Size 2.00 GB
    -----------------------------------------
    (Page File Info)
    Name: C:\pagefile.sys
    Allocated Size: 5887 MB
    Current Usage: 1253 MB
    Peak Usage: 3002 MB
    Temp Page File: False
    -----------------------------------------
    (Memory Stats)
    Memory Total: 5.75 GB
    Memory Used:: 3.19 GB
    Memory Available: 2.56 GB
    Process Count: 115


    As you can see I have a 930 GB system drive and two 3 TB external HDDs. I only use about 65 GB of the system drive which is split into a 12 GB recovery partition with the rest constituting the bootable C:\ system partition. What legitimately useful reason do I have for chopping it up into 3 or 4 separate partitions? What would I be able to do on a multi-partition system that I can't do on a system with one giant partition? Same question goes for the external HDDs. In other words, what would you do with my hardware, were you to take over my system?
     
  2. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    I wouldn't do anything differently.

    I need a reason to chop a drive up.

    For example, I chopped my 3TB drive in half, so I could have half dedicated to backup, and half to file storage and virtual machines.
     
  3. rustysavage

    rustysavage Sergeant Major

    I just defragged my system drive and it made me wonder whether Windows copies files all over that 930 GB drive, and if it does, wouldn't you think that such indiscriminate drive head wayfaring would slow down a system? I suppose that frequent defragging would help avoid such scattering of data bits. Just a thought.

    Is your 3TB drive an external HDD or do you have a 3TB system drive? I didn't know that one can create virtual machines on an external drive.
     
  4. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    Defragmenting isn't something I do very often.

    My drive is external (256GB SSD internal).
     
  5. rustysavage

    rustysavage Sergeant Major

    Just curious. How come you don't defragment very often?
     
  6. JonnyBB878

    JonnyBB878 Private E-2

    I guess different uses.

    I have only 1 2TB Drive which I don't use all of it since I like to keep it empty.

    My partitions:

    C: - 80gb - System Drive
    D: - 850gb - All my files go here
    F: - 100g - VMWare player drive, I use this rarely and only when testing large stuff on my virtual machine.

    Also quick question out of topic, is it bad if I defrag every day? I tend to download latest software versions everyday to keep my tools up to date and I always defrag those.
     
  7. rustysavage

    rustysavage Sergeant Major

    Johnny, are you saying that you keep only your OS on C: and install all of your programs to D: ? Is there an advantage to this strategy over installing programs to the same drive as the operating system?

    Just a few days ago I started researching the same question about defragging. I haven't gotten very far but I've seen a few posts in various forums and knowledge bases stating that defragging is abusive to HDDs and may shorten HDD lifespan. I was planning on starting a new thread asking about defragging but wanted to have at least a rudimentary knowledge of the pros and cons before I started asking questions.
     
  8. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    The performance gains are minimal, although these days, the only HDDs I use are external, so why bother?

    IMO, It takes a long time to fragment a drive heavily using current filesystems, so doing it once every 4-5 months is sufficient. That means you will be doing it 3 times a year, max.
     
  9. ACE 256

    ACE 256 MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Overclocking Expe

    In my experience windows has a bad habit of placing files in any free spot on the drive at random. There seems to be no prioritization towards the beginning of the disk, or any area of the disk for that matter. See my post in your thread HDDs: To frag or not to frag.
     

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