Windows 7: Would this be a good idea (hard drive)? New

The last topic had a 100% bad idea poll. So i have backed off my last idea. Now, if i buy a one terabyte hdd...what now?

Hi,

My hard disk is 1 TeraB and devided to 5 local disks. Is this a good idea:

I want to install windows seven on C.
Windows XP on D.
Install all my extra softwares on E and nothing but E (is THIS a good idea?)
and leave the other two for me and my parents to put whatever we want in them.



I actually want to devide my hard disk to six. If its a good idea how much space should i give to each part and wont installing all the softwares on one local disk slow the computer?

Thanks

Hey i just faced problems with too many partitions:
See the link below (Voted NO)
C: is a dynamic drive, having problems....

Here it is (this is the thread you should look for)
You are allowed four basic partitions on a disk. Two common configurations are:
(1) 4 primary partitions. OEMs (store bought computers) are often configured this way.
(2) 3 primary partition + 1 extended partition. Now the extended partition can contain any number of logical partitions.
Less commonly and not generally desirable for an average PC user:
(3) Dynamic disks which have dynamic partitions. In this case the whole disk is dynamic - every partition.

(3) often happens by accident. When you start out with configuration (1) go into disk management and say "I want to make another partition". Windows says fine - but converts you're whole disk to dynamic. It will warn you but I guess people just say ok. Unfortunately you started with this according to post #1. You have 6 partitions to deal with.

Normally Disk Management allows you to keep adding primaries up until you have 3. Then when you want to add another it says fine - but starts making logicals.

I faced a lot of problems on this one having 6 partitions

Tell us why you think 6 partitions might be a good idea. Why 6 rather than 2, 4, or 8?

Why use a detailed partition structure rather than a detailed folder structure?

Only you can judge how big they should be because only you knows how much data you have or will generate. I wouldn't put a lot of effort into your estimates because they will likely be wrong regardless.

Window 7 and a reasonable amount of applications takes anywhere from 20 gigabytes on up, depending on your definition of reasonable.

Buy a couple of disks. Run Windows 7 on one, XP on the other. Use only 1 partition on each. You just waste space and efficiency and speed by unnecessarily partitioning the drives.

Well the real reason is because both me and my dad and sometimes my mum and our guests use the computer a lot and download a lot. And we are very messy at this!

Although i have different maintenance programs yet my computer is dead slow! This way, i want a fully organized PC where i can re-format and start from nil (for a better performing PC) easily.

Two questions, is that new drive the same as the one in your specs, or do you have two drives? If you have two drives, then put XP on one, and Windows 7 on the other. Instead of using a boot menu generated by the OSs, using the Popup Boot Menu created by the BIOS. This is more reliable, and less prone to problems. Second question is that I noticed that the drive in your specs sounds like a WDC1002FAEX, which is the same as 3 of my drives. I am having a problem with all 3 of mine making noise when under a load, like defragging. Have you tested your's in such a fashion, and do you hear it/them rattling?

Put the OS on different HDDs if possible. Boot the non-default OS from the BIOS Boot option menu, as mentioned above.

Make One partition for Windows 7 and all software.
Another partition for Winxp and all software.
It's better to keep the OS and added software in the same partition, if you re-install the OS you will have to re-install all the software whether it's in a different partition or not.
After OS and software is installed and the OS is activate make an image backup, the free Macrium Reflect is highly recommended on Seven Forums, you can restore it later and it will be the same as the day you made the backup.

Make one or more partitions for personal data, this will not be affected when you restore the OS/software partition.

OS and software will run better in a smaller partition, mainly because the OS doesn't have to search the entire 1TB HDD for files. This will save wear and tear on the HDD also.