How full can my hard drive get...

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  1. Posts : 19
    7 Home Premium 64bit
       #1

    How full can my hard drive get...


    Okay, I am about to set up my new HP computer which has Vista Premium
    64 bit and a 750 gig hard drive.

    With all the mp3's, lossless audio and avi's I have on various
    external hard drives, 750 gigs isn't really "that big" anymore!

    So:
    How full can I make my 750gig hard drive, before it causes sluggishness or
    other problems, using Vista Premium 64bit?

    Note: I am thinking of shrinking the C partition into various
    partitions:
    about 20gigs for a cd/dvd ripping area
    about 100gigs for Vista and programs and desktop working area" (C
    drive)
    about 400 gigs for mp3's
    and the rest for .avi movie files


    Is this a reasonable plan?

    And is it okay to shrink it and divide it after I'm already up and
    running with Vista, internet, etc.?


    Thanks for the info!
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 155
    Windows 7, Windows Vista
       #2

    When it Will start to get sluggish depeds on ur system spizing your stuff coulld make your life easier.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 19
    7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Doh! I posted this in the 7 forum instead of the Vista forum. I had 2 open windows and got confused...

    But what does "spizing your stuff" mean?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 5,747
    7600.20510 x86
       #4

    Ehh, unless you are an audiophile with high end gear, convert those lossless files to a quality mp3 codec such as lame on high settings. If encoded correctly, you will not be able to tell the difference on most gear. It could save you tons of storage space.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 3,141
    Vista Ult 64 bit Seven Ult RTM x64
       #5

    Hello pdsnickles,

    Welcome to the Seven Forums.

    The more stuff you have on your hard drive the slower things will work. When/if it becomes noticeable depends on the hardware. Other than that, a lot depends on how you use your computer. The C drive will need some free space so that defrag can function properly. 15% I've read. Also keep in mind that the C drive will normally have the pagefile and restore points stored on it. It's a pain to have to delete (turn off) these features to get enough room for defrag to function. Fragmentation occurs from constantly adding and removing files. If you usually only save avi and mp3 files and seldom delete anything, fragmentation shouldn't be a huge problem there. If you are going to use the 20GB partition to rip and then move those files elsewhere that won't be a problem there at all. All in all it seems reasonable to me, but I don't know how much you add, remove or rearrange things over time. When my drive started getting full/sluggish, I bought an external HDD and moved little used items there. With plenty of room to save an Image of the C: drive just in case I needed it.

    Gary
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 19
    7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    torrentg said:
    Ehh, unless you are an audiophile with high end gear, convert those lossless files to a quality mp3 codec such as lame on high settings. If encoded correctly, you will not be able to tell the difference on most gear. It could save you tons of storage space.
    Thanks but yeah, I'm an audiophile. On some music you cannot really tell the difference and on some you can. Some day hard drive space will be so easy to come by, it will be easy to keep the lossless files.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 19
    7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    garysgold said:
    Hello pdsnickles,

    Welcome to the Seven Forums.

    The more stuff you have on your hard drive the slower things will work. When/if it becomes noticeable depends on the hardware. Other than that, a lot depends on how you use your computer. The C drive will need some free space so that defrag can function properly. 15% I've read. Also keep in mind that the C drive will normally have the pagefile and restore points stored on it. It's a pain to have to delete (turn off) these features to get enough room for defrag to function. Fragmentation occurs from constantly adding and removing files. If you usually only save avi and mp3 files and seldom delete anything, fragmentation shouldn't be a huge problem there. If you are going to use the 20GB partition to rip and then move those files elsewhere that won't be a problem there at all. All in all it seems reasonable to me, but I don't know how much you add, remove or rearrange things over time. When my drive started getting full/sluggish, I bought an external HDD and moved little used items there. With plenty of room to save an Image of the C: drive just in case I needed it.

    Gary
    Thanks Gary.
    I do a lot of downloading so what I want is to create a space for downloading, processing (combining rar's or ape's or whatever) then moving those files once I've previewed them.

    So someone told me creating a separate partition for that such as a 20-30-40 gig area for downloading and ripping files might be a good idea, so it doesn't fragment my c drive.

    Then, I'd either delete or move those files to a partition used for archiving them, plus copying them to an external drive for backing them up.

    You mentioned backing up an image of the c drive. What's a good (preferably cheap) program for making an image for backup? and let's say I have a 100 gig area for my c drive, programs and such, how much space would the image typically take up on my external drive(s)? Can you compress the image? Thanks.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 16,129
    7 X64
       #8

    Hi,

    Normal compression is about 45% of the used space - this is great

    Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 72
    Windows 7 Beta (and others, multiboot)
       #9

    Personally I go with this scheme:

    OS installed into a 20GB partition (extending that to 30GB for win7 now that im using it instead of xp64), the rest in a single storage partition. I install games, CD images, Virtual Machines into a directory on my storage partition, and also use it for all backups and storage files (which FYI I copy the backup files to another system via gigabit)

    With this setup I have filled my D: (storage partition) to 100% and gone "oops" without noticing much of any performance degradation... I watch my C: quite closely and don't let it get above 75% full... I also use JKDefrag64 with task scheduler every night while I sleep to keep the partitions fully defragmented.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 4,925
    Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
       #10

    If you have a budget, you might also want to consider getting another drive just for your mp3s.
      My Computer


 
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