new harddrive partition size

When I install a new hard drive I leave drive C: kinda small because when you run defrag and scan disk it dont take as long. And if the registry or the C: drive becomes to corrupt its easy to move things to the other drives and reformat c: for a clean install. Also I make 3 or 4 other drive letters for testing demos, one for the kids and the wife. Its easy for them to have thier own space. And if a file or program goes bad it wont hurt the C: drive.

How, or if, you divvy up your hard drive depends on your operating system, what you are planning to do with your machine and your personal taste. If you have Win9x and are creating a FAT-32 partition, you can use the entire drive as one volume if you have a relatively new motherboard (one that has updated INT13 extensions). Without these extensions or under WinNT using NTFS, the system volume is limited to 7.8 GB; using FAT-16 on WinNT (FAT-32 is only supported on NT as of WinNT 2000) or Win9x the limit is 2 GB for the system volume.

Outside of the system volume limitation, you are free to create partitions of any size. FAT-16 has a limit to 4 primary partitions, or 3 primaries and an extended partition.

I'd be happy to provide more information if you have specific questions or concerns.

The Question you are asking is all a matter of taste.

I know some people who chop up the drive into a bunch of small partitions. I know some who run it wide open.

The first posting is correct in that having a small "OS" partition is nice because it quick to defrag, scandisk, or format. But, having too many partitions becomes a hassel also.

I know a guy who choped his up into 3 partitions.

1st => OS
2nd => Programs/Applications
3rd => Data

I like to have only 2 partitions. One is around 2 to 3 GB for the OS and small programs or applications and the other for mostly data and large applications.

HTH
Gary

Partitioning the hard drive will depend on your how you plan to use the space.
Consider if you will using the hard drive set up software that comes with the drive and also will the BIOS detect the full size of the drive,if all considered then thereis a number of ways,if you are not sure about adding more than one operating system,then I would partition using a fat file system,this way you have options open for later.
You can use the drive setup software suggesstion or specify your own and use partition the drive in a formula of
50%-Application
30%-Programs
20%-Data
Make sure you take in consideration the operating system you are using to partition,before selecting the file system.

Both your system board and operating system will see the entire 30gb of the hard drive, so you are safe there.

Years back, partitioning hard drives was a common practice, both because of Operating system limitations, and the way applications behaved. For the most part, they were not integral to windows, and you could easily remove programs simply by deleting their directory.

Today, you will have a nominal ( 2-3% ) increase if all information is contained on a single drive.

If you have a large amount of data files, that require periodic backups, having a separate drive is a good idea, although you still have to copy the files to a separate media such as zip or tape or CD-rw. Reason being, if the drive goes south, both partitionsare usually lost. If you have room in your case, I would change your old ( and slower ) drive to a pure data drive, and use it to back up files from your C: drive.

Managing a large drive is not troublesome, if you follow a regular schedule of maintenance, ie run a full scandisk and defrag every Monday night for example. Start it before you go to bed, and shut it off when you get up.

BTW, it is considered good practice on this board to 'Add a Comment' to your original post when giving new info. Rejecting a response in order to amend or clarify your position WRT a specific user's comments is not only considered lazy and insensitive but rude because there are other means available to deliver the new content without removing the possibility of giving the user (point) credit. Usually, if you need to communicate directly with the user, you can send him or her a message throughTechRepublic by clicking on the user's name (to pull up the Peer Directory) and then on the link in the Contact: entry.

You're forgiven.

Unless your skill or a particular application provides a compelling reason not to, I'd stick with a singlepartition (I think your system will support it). I've found that no matter what "ideal" size for the system partition I start with, the installation outlives the expectation and I wind up working around the initial size.

Using a single partitionovercomes this -- if you run out of space in this situation, you need a new drive.

This is the KISS principle.

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