Solved What are the Benefits/Drawbacks to Using Multiple Partitions?

[Robbie P]

Hello all. I am a newbie to this site, but have been using Win7 Home Premium 64 bit for a few years now. I have a 1T HD and I have never created any additional Partitions. I have only used about 25-30% of this HD to date, and I have 2 external HDs.

What are the benefits and drawbacks to adding a partition?

Did this (Dell Studio XPS with a 1T HDD) PC already have more that 1 partition right out of the box?

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

Robbie

 

[Callender]

Multiple Partitons

Hi,

Some benefits are outlined here:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...reate-move-during-windows-7-installation.html

and here:

How to Move Windows 7 Personal Folders Like My Documents to Another Drive

Personally I try to keep as much non-windows stuff as possible off the windows partition. I also have a couple of encrypted partitions for personal data.

Another benefit: System Image Backups can be stored on another partition. That way when there's a problem with Windows it's easy to restore the Windows Partition backup without affecting other data.

 

[LMiller7]

The file system will assign disk space to folders as needed. Not so with partitions. No matter how much care you use in choosing partition sizes in many cases one will eventually prove too small. The more partitions you create the more likely this will be. Even experts get this wrong. It is possible to resize partitions later but be sure to have a backup of all data, just in case something goes wrong. As sometimes happens.

Be sure to have a good and valid reason for creating additional partitions. With one OS there is rarely a good reason for having more than 2, maybe 3, user partitions. System created partitions don't count. Create as many partitions as you need, but no more.

 

[Robbie P]

Thanks for Responding

very clearly, so even I could understand.

Robbie

 

[Robbie P]

Thanks for Responding

The file system will assign disk space to folders as needed. Not so with partitions. No matter how much care you use in choosing partition sizes in many cases one will eventually prove too small. The more partitions you create the more likely this will be. Even experts get this wrong. It is possible to resize partitions later but be sure to have a backup of all data, just in case something goes wrong. As sometimes happens.

Be sure to have a good and valid reason for creating additional partitions. With one OS there is rarely a good reason for having more than 2, maybe 3, user partitions. System created partitions don't count. Create as many partitions as you need, but no more.

Sounds like good conservative response. Thanks.

Robbie

 

[lehnerus2000]

I have a stack of partitions (C:\ - K:\).

It makes:

• Backing up the OS partition quicker.
• Defragging the OS partition quicker (if you use a HDD, don't defrag an SSD)

OTOH, as LMiller7 pointed out, you run the risk of underestimating the size required for a given partition.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I run as few partitions as I can. My notebook has one drive with four partitions: system reserved, OS/Programs, data, and factory restore. I only see two partitions in My Computer: C: and Data.

The boot drive on my desktop has only two partitions: system reserved and OS/Programs; I only see the C: partition in My computer. My data drives have only one partition each. As LMiller7 so eloquently pointed out, using folders to organize data and allocate space is far more efficient than using partitions.

 

[Robbie P]

Thanks for Responding

I appreciate your input.

Robbie

 

[Robbie P]

Thanks for Responding

Your info cleared it up for me.

Robbie

Hi,

Some benefits are outlined here:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...reate-move-during-windows-7-installation.html

and here:

How to Move Windows 7 Personal Folders Like My Documents to Another Drive

Personally I try to keep as much non-windows stuff as possible off the windows partition. I also have a couple of encrypted partitions for personal data.

Another benefit: System Image Backups can be stored on another partition. That way when there's a problem with Windows it's easy to restore the Windows Partition backup without affecting other data.

 

[Robbie P]

Thanks for Responding

You Info helped clear it up for me.
Robbie

I have a stack of partitions (C:\ - K:\).

It makes:

• Backing up the OS partition quicker.
• Defragging the OS partition quicker (if you use a HDD, don't defrag an SSD)

OTOH, as LMiller7 pointed out, you run the risk of underestimating the size required for a given partition.

 

[Robbie P]

Thanks for Responding

Your info helped me understand.

Robbie

I have a stack of partitions (C:\ - K:\).

It makes:

• Backing up the OS partition quicker.
• Defragging the OS partition quicker (if you use a HDD, don't defrag an SSD)

OTOH, as LMiller7 pointed out, you run the risk of underestimating the size required for a given partition.