partisions

[KoolDrew]

i only have a 40gb hard drive and im wondering how many particions shoould I have, how big they should be, and whihc ones should be NTFS or FAT32. I read this..

http://www.geocities.com/ptilsen/ntfs_vs_fat32.html

and it was pretty helpful. I was looking at the Gamers; enthusiasts; single-person systems part but im not really sure what do set them too for my 40gb hard drive. I want the best perfomrance, but since i only have a 40gb hdd i dont want to waste a whole bunch of space since FAT32 takes up more space then NTFS.

EDIT: Also I am reinstalling Windopws XP, and in the guide it says move the my documents folder but keep the game saves on the FAT32 partision. How do i do that because every game i paly it automatically saves it to the My Documents folder unless im mistken.

[wayout44]

I use 10GB as the XP/Office partition and the rest for games and other data.

[Yawgm0th]

Hehe.... Someone finally found it.
Set it up based on how many games you play. If you're going to be using practically the entire thing for games, you might as well just put the whole damn thing in NTFS (there are good reasons to do this anyway). If you might use 10-20GB for various files, having two partitions -- one in FAT32 for OS and games, one in NTFS for misc. files -- would be good.

What I meant was don't try to move your save games around or something stupid. Just leave them where the game puts them. If that means it goes over to your NTFS partition in the my documents folder, it's no big deal.

But if you're really worried about space going all out NTFS may be the best choice. In that case, you'd probably want to do the same thing Wayout44 does.

[KoolDrew]

k i jut reformatted and i made a FAT32 8gb partision for my OS. Now im creating more partisions via the disk manager, but when i choose to create a new partision it asks me if i want to create a "Primary Partision" or a "Extended Partision". Which one do i want?

[wayout44]

An "Extended Partition".

[01001101]

omg this thread is scary. Yawgm0th, please don't tell me you wrote that article...

FAT32 should only be used if you need write access from a win9x or *nix OS. Reading (that includes copying from) NTFS partitions with win9x or *nix is extemely simple. Never make the root partition of a NT install FAT32. ALWAYS make it NTFS unless it is absolutely nessesary to use FAT32. Also, don't use extended partitions unless you plan to have more than 4 partitons (in the case you want more than 4, make the first 3 primary). Use some common sense people.

The number and size of your partitions is purely personal preference. Depending on the size of the drive and number of Hard Drives available, I generally put 1-3 partitions on the primary hdd and make any aux. drives 1 solid partition. Generally speaking, I set aside the first 10-20 GB for the main OS, the rest just depends on how big the drive is.

In your case, i would either make one big partition or 10GB+~30GB (all NTFS) and more the My Docs to the second partition

[Yawgm0th]

You're certainly right on the partitions, however...

If you'd like to actually post reasons (that I didn't already mention) to use NTFS, that'd be great...

[KoolDrew]

01001101 I dont want more then 4 i want exactly 4. so i shoudl choose extended right? and what should the other partisions be? and it asks me for "allocation Unit Size." what do i want to put for that? does it matter?

[amd_man2005]

You're certainly right on the partitions, however...

If you'd like to actually post reasons (that I didn't already mention) to use NTFS, that'd be great...

One, its much more secure. Two, its all around better. Yes from what I've seen Fat32 is faster than the untweaked NTFS, but IMO when NTFS is tweaked properly, there is no reason not to use it over Fat32. That and how files take about damn near the exact amount of space on disk of their true size, which is untrue of Fat32.

[Yawgm0th]

One, its much more secure. Two, its all around better.

But I already said that (in the thing I wrote).

You can even get files to take less disk space than they take up actual space with compression.
Really, I do agree that NTFS is better all-around, however I see no reason to "never make the root partition of a NT install FAT32."

Yes from what I've seen Fat32 is faster than the untweaked NTFS, but IMO when NTFS is tweaked properly, there is no reason not to use it over Fat32.

Tweaked Properly? It simply is slower in most operations, as it should logically be. Plus FAT32 is just easier to use in many situations. There are certainly reasons to use it over NTFS, but in most situation the reasons to use NTFS outweigh them.


Kooldrew, if I recall correctly, you can set it to automatic or something like that for the allocation unit size. Just do that.

[KoolDrew]

k i did that and it worked out. thanx