Storage Solutions Need advice for proper partitioning.

Leave around 100-120GB for OS. Rest you can try doing 4*200GB or 1*200GB + 4*150GB. Do note that with default tool which comes in Windows, somehow does not partition more than 4 partitions. I am NOT sure but this is related to something about primary and extended partitions.
 
vyral_143 said:
Leave around 100-120GB for OS. Rest you can try doing 4*200GB or 1*200GB + 4*150GB. Do note that with default tool which comes in Windows, somehow does not partition more than 4 partitions. I am NOT sure but this is related to something about primary and extended partitions.
Click to expand...
Yes, no more than 4 primary partitions.
So, the first partition should be primary (suppose 100gb) for OS. Second one extended partition (remaining 900gb).

Inside the extended partition you can create many logical partitions (don't know the limit). Fe, inside the 900gb extended partition you can create 2*200 + 2*250 partitions.
 
nimod said:
Yes, no more than 4 primary partitions.
So, the first partition should be primary (suppose 100gb) for OS. Second one extended partition (remaining 900gb).

Inside the extended partition you can create many logical partitions (don't know the limit). Fe, inside the 900gb extended partition you can create 2*200 + 2*250 partitions.
Click to expand...

Thanks and thanks.
 
creative420 said:
Hi all,

So I just picked up this laptop from Microsoft store in US: https://www.microsoftstore.com/stor...Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.5073147000

I was wondering if I should partition the 1TB disk that it comes with.

What should be the ideal partition? And how to go about doing it? I've never done anything like this, so seeking your expert advice.

TIA.
Click to expand...

if you make 2 partition for ex. 1tb is partitioned to 250gb and 750gb then the 250gb partition will be faster and that should be used for OS as the outside of the circular platter is moving fast compared to the inside so u will get faster speed if you write on the outside part compared to inside.

U can watch linus video on ncix channel on YouTube.
 
Just a caution. There will be one 100 mb partition that is only visible in disk management. Do not touch it. It contains all the boot related information required for booting the laptop. Leave as it is.
 
Crazy_Eddy said:
You can clean install your OS in the OS partition without losing the rest of your data.
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I am not a big fan of partitioning. its waste of time. installing os in a different partition never helped me.

Serious Sam said:
1tb is partitioned to 250gb and 750gb then the 250gb partition will be faster and that should be used for OS as the outside of the circular platter is moving fast compared to the inside so u will get faster speed if you write on the outside part compared to inside.
Click to expand...
this is BS and you are confused, you cannot control which sector is used for which partition. That kind of optimizations are already handled by OS and you dont need to worry about them.

Hard drive technology matured a lot over the years. so I just suggest that you just put everything in one place and keep an eye on the SMART data. Just replace that $hit when you see errors instead of trying to fix it.

creative420 said:
So I just picked up this laptop from Microsoft store in US: https://www.microsoftstore.com/stor...Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.5073147000
Click to expand...
Usually they partition when you buy the laptop and its standard practice for the OEM to create a small 10-15G partition to keep the recovery/reinstall files in that and they usually hide it. The laptops dont come with the windows key and you are expected to reinstall windows from that recovery partition.
Now, if you repartition with your own layout, then you wont be able to reinstall windows without calling the customer support. So, what I suggest is that keep it as it is, just dont change the partitioning or anything else, just keep running it until it fails. saves a lot of time and blood and sweat.
Ideally, if windows goes kaput, you should be able to hit something like f11 during boot and recover it fully. so dont worry and dont waste your time trying to repartition.
 
booo said:
I am not a big fan of partitioning. its waste of time. installing os in a different partition never helped me.


this is BS and you are confused, you cannot control which sector is used for which partition. That kind of optimizations are already handled by OS and you dont need to worry about them.

Hard drive technology matured a lot over the years. so I just suggest that you just put everything in one place and keep an eye on the SMART data. Just replace that $hit when you see errors instead of trying to fix it.


Usually they partition when you buy the laptop and its standard practice for the OEM to create a small 10-15G partition to keep the recovery/reinstall files in that and they usually hide it. The laptops dont come with the windows key and you are expected to reinstall windows from that recovery partition.
Now, if you repartition with your own layout, then you wont be able to reinstall windows without calling the customer support. So, what I suggest is that keep it as it is, just dont change the partitioning or anything else, just keep running it until it fails. saves a lot of time and blood and sweat.
Ideally, if windows goes kaput, you should be able to hit something like f11 during boot and recover it fully. so dont worry and dont waste your time trying to repartition.
Click to expand...

its not bullshit it is real ...... windows automatically fills the platter from the outer radius yes it is automatically fill by windows and windows also recommends to make only 2 Partitions on a hard drive.
 
@Serious Sam you should read a little bit more about Disk geometry, LBA etc... What I am trying to say is that platters and tracks are very hardware specific, you cannot make an assumption that the first partition will always be on the outer platters. the technology changes rapidly and trust me that video is already out dated.

Simple example is that ssds dont have platters/tracks/sectors newer generation hard drives implement various types of caching techniques to improve the IOPS and technologies like SMR (shingle) drives implement completely different strategies. Dont even get me started on RAID :)

So, take that video with a grain of salt.
 
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booo said:
@Serious Sam you should read a little bit more about Disk geometry, LBA etc... What I am trying to say is that platters and tracks are very hardware specific, you cannot make an assumption that the first partition will always be on the outer platters. the technology changes rapidly and trust me that video is already out dated.

Simple example is that ssds dont have platters/tracks/sectors newer generation hard drives implement various types of caching techniques to improve the IOPS and technologies like SMR (shingle) drives implement completely different strategies. Dont even get me started on RAID :)

So, take that video with a grain of salt.
Click to expand...

that probably is true ...... need some hard evidence that it does or does not ..... but I couldn't find anywhere i guess no one cares about hard drives anymore ..... but in India hard drives are still important as ssd are quite expensive.
 
Serious Sam said:
need some hard evidence that it does or does not
Click to expand...
Operating system dependencies
Operating systems that are sensitive to BIOS-reported drive geometry include Solaris, DOS and Windows NT family, where NTLDR (NT, 2000, XP, Server 2003) or WINLOAD (Vista, Server 2008, Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2) use Master boot record which addresses the disk using CHS; x86-64 and Itanium versions of Windows can partition the drive with GUID Partition Table which uses LBA addressing.

Some operating systems do not require any translation because they do not use geometry reported by BIOS in their boot loaders. Among these operating systems are BSD, Linux, macOS, OS/2 and ReactOS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_block_addressing
You need to understand certain things like LBAs and how they work. Basically Windows asks BIOS to write something at x LBA and hdd's firmware handles the translation betwen LBA to track/sector etc... which means this logic changes from hdd to hdd brand. Thats why I was telling that operating system knows how to handle disk geometry and as a user you should not worry about it.
 
TNk25


Alright. this is all very technical to me. So, do I partition the disk or not? It's a 1TB disk, currently in this state: http://imgur.com/a/TNk25
 
This i assume takes care of all or most issues i have and will come across (except when whole harddisk dies)

Partition 1. OS Size approx 100 GB. (Primary Partition)
Parition 2. Data 1: For important data like photos or documents (Logical Partition inside extended partition)
Partition 3. Data 2: For timepass data, something you can afford to lose like games or movies etc. (Logical Partition inside extended partition)
Partition 4. Secondary OS: Helps in emergency when you cant touch your primary os due to some data loss of trouble with os. Or in case once decides to dual boot with another os like linux etc. Size approx 70GB. (Primary Partition)

I use disk images for os. So i can start using machine by flashing os to primary os partition if feasible or secondary partition within 15 mins with all apps installed everything setup.
Two data partitions help when data on one of the partitions is lost etc. and one wants to recover lost data on another partition.

Also i dont keep separate boot partitions etc and maintain all os related things on one partition only.

I keep this structure for harddisk irrespective of its size, whether its 1TB or 2TB or 3TB.
 
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