I just bought a brand new Dell i7 PC (XPS Studio 435) and the hard disks are not partitioned.
I have 2 options, one would be to format the hard disk, and then create the partitions, or use partition manager for the drive Windows Vista is on (500 GB) and do a normal partition on the 2nd hard disk (ITB)
My question is how safe is it to use partition manager? Does it have the same efficiency and effect as if you were to create a regular, clean partition or are there chances for corrupted/lost data or unusable sectors? In the long run will I notice performance issues, and even worse file corruption, or file loss if I use parition magic, as opposed to doing a clean format?
The main reason for using PM is because I don't have much time to reformat the computer and install all the drivers. Sure its a brand new computer, and if its my only option I might actually do it, but if using partition manager is a viable alternative, I'd like to pursue it.
On another note, is a partition really required? Like I said, i'll have 1 harddisk which is 500 GB, and the other which is 1 tb. The operating system will be on the 500 gb, and the 1tb will be blank.
I could just delay the partition for about 8 months until Windows 7 comes out, and then I could reformat the computer then and do a clean install.
But if I were to do a partition, how many would you guys recommend for my system, seeing that I have copious amounts of hard disk space. 5 partitions, 6?
I have 2 options, one would be to format the hard disk, and then create the partitions, or use partition manager for the drive Windows Vista is on (500 GB) and do a normal partition on the 2nd hard disk (ITB)
My question is how safe is it to use partition manager? Does it have the same efficiency and effect as if you were to create a regular, clean partition or are there chances for corrupted/lost data or unusable sectors? In the long run will I notice performance issues, and even worse file corruption, or file loss if I use parition magic, as opposed to doing a clean format?
The main reason for using PM is because I don't have much time to reformat the computer and install all the drivers. Sure its a brand new computer, and if its my only option I might actually do it, but if using partition manager is a viable alternative, I'd like to pursue it.
On another note, is a partition really required? Like I said, i'll have 1 harddisk which is 500 GB, and the other which is 1 tb. The operating system will be on the 500 gb, and the 1tb will be blank.
I could just delay the partition for about 8 months until Windows 7 comes out, and then I could reformat the computer then and do a clean install.
But if I were to do a partition, how many would you guys recommend for my system, seeing that I have copious amounts of hard disk space. 5 partitions, 6?