whats the best way to partition my laptop hard drive?

[scott7saunders]

Hey,

I have a pretty decent spec laptop with a 750GB hard drive, at the moment there is just big "C" drive within both the OS, installed applications and my library files on it. Is there a better way of using the space with multiple partition etc and if so what are the idea ways that some of the more "PC Friendly" people currently use?

Thanks

 

[gregrocker]

You can always keep another partition for storage. A purpose to keep another one for data is to move the User folders to it so it keeps the C partition smaller for imaging purposed. Then if C ever becomes irreparable you can reimage the OS and Programs to C in 20 minutes while your data is waiting and current in D partition.

To do this shrink C to create a new partition, copy your active User folders (Docs, Pics, Music, etc) there, rightclick each to add to related Library - Include a Folder - Windows 7 Forums.

Once everything is there you can delete the content of the User folder on C. But keep C in the Library so you can see if anything gets written there.

If you use another imaging apps besides Win7 you can actually move the User folders themselves to the data partition as shown here: User Folders - Change Default Location. However with Win7 backup imaging it would deem the new data partition a System partition and force inclusion of it in the image, which defeats the purpose of keeping C smaller for imaging purposes.

Once you're working with your user folder data like this you can also consider a modern backup and syncing method like shown here in Sync, Backup and Store your Files to the Cloud with Skydrive - Windows 7 Forums