Re: Partitions & technological efficiency
From: Kent W. England [MVP] (kwe_at_mvps.org)
Date: 07/07/04
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Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2004 18:56:42 -0700
Kirby wrote:
> I'll be switching to Windows XP later this week when a new
> motherboard and CPU arrives. In preparation, I've been giving some
> thought to the differences between Win98 and Windows XP because of
> the time I spent using Windows 2000. Part of my thinking preparation
> is about partitions and dividing up the 'tasks' and locations of the
> OS and types of files, for improved efficiency in the technological
> way anyway, of less wear-and-tear and increased ease or whatever the
> word would be, of accessing and reading/loading system files and
> running programs.
>
> So far, my thinking is to have a partition for only Windows XP --
> i.e., installing Windows XP into that partition and no programs. So
> only the system files and only the folder 'Program Files' and
> 'Documents And Settings' and then of course any and all other folders
> and files that are created and installed when the operating system
> is being installed. Of course I know that installing Windows XP to
> its own partition means having to allow for extra disk space required
> by Windows XP so the partition needs to be created with plenty of
> excessive space, an example being additional system files that are
> put into various places in the Windows folder when programs are
> installed.
>
> Then, also have a partition for installing programs into. Making two
> partitions on drive C.
>
> Then on a second hard drive (since I have two hard drives), a
> partition for only the swap file and also temporary swap/working
> space that some programs use (for example, audio programs while doing
> edits and changes) before the file is again saved.
>
> Then on that second hard drive, another partition that uses the
> remaining space for anything and whatever....but the main point being
> on the second hard drive, to have a partition for only the Windows
> swap file (also called 'Page File') for increased efficiency and less
> wear-and-tear by the swap file being isolated and separated.
>
> I already know that having the swap file isolated and separate
> increases efficiency and decreases wear-and-tear and fragmentation.
> If a 2nd hard drive exists, definitely use it for the swap file even
> though Windows will still work decently well with the swap file being
> on the same drive as Windows. "As excellently and as best as
> possible," is what I'm driving at here. I know that computer
> manufacturers ship their computers with only one partition on the
> hard drive and the operating system and programs installed all on the
> same drive and it's only one partition. But I'm driving at going
> beyond "what is common" and "what is commonly provided because it
> still works OK."
>
> But how much increased efficiency and how much decreased
> wear-and-tear and searching/racing around by the drive heads will
> result from having WinXP installed in its own partition separate from
> programs? Seems like the biggest benefit would be significantly
> reduced fragmentation. The drive heads would still have to go from
> one partition to another as a program is run when various Windows
> system files need to be read while that program is being loaded, but
> it seems that the reduced fragmentation would be a good benefit. Any
> input?
>
I'm with Carey. Your thinking is good as far as FAT partitions are
concerned, but NTFS can deal with a lot more of these issues than FAT. I
tried XP on several NTFS partitions and found maintenance more trouble
than it's worth. The only reason I would separate user data from the
OS/apps is to allow multi-booting, but it's hard to separate OE
settings, for example.
You're really better off with just one big partition.
-- Kent W. England, Microsoft MVP for Windows Security
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