Multiple partions

MS recommends using a 2gig partition for the OS and the rest of your drive for a second partition that contains all of your applications and user files. I set my machines up this way because I seem to have less problems with performance.

To partition or not - there is no truly wrong answer. However there are some considerations when deciding:
1. Likelyhood of having to reinstall an operating system. With a single partition, if your OS gets corrupted to the point you need to reinstall it, you can't just wi[e the drive and start over like you could if the OS was in its own partition.
2. Fragmentation - Partitions which host the OS (particularly if the pagefile is set to dynamically resize itself) tend to get more fragmented, faster. From the defragmentation standpoint it makes sense to separate your data/apps from the oeprating system on different partitions.
3. Safety - Since everything is on a single disk, if the disk goes bad, you lose no matter how many partitions you have set up.
4. Applications - Realize that if you install applications on a partition other than the boot partition, there are still many files that will be installed in various locations on the boot partition (.dlls, drivers, common files,etc.). Id decide to do this, make sure you leave enough room on the boot partition for these files.

Continuing on from the last answer. You've also got the security aspect to consider. If you put your OS files on a separate 2 gig partition as suggested, then you can lock away the OS partition and avoid many problems that can occur if/when users or hackers try to access the network.

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