Question on hard drive partitioning

[MMarks2]

I got this setup

one 120 gb ibm drive bj 8meg buffer...unformatted

one 40gig maxtor used with winxp

one 20gig western dig 3 year old drive

I wanted to know:

1. what drive to run xp from. If it would be faster to run it off of the 120 since it rated as one of the fastest drive OR just to chop up partitions into small partitions and use that for storage of mp3 and video.

2.what should i make the partition size in the 120 gig. Is 20 or 40 gig spaces good. Whats faster.

Thanks for any info you have.

 

[GiGoLo]

<< one 120 gb ibm drive bj 8meg buffer...unformatted >>



IBM doesn't make a hard drive with an 8mb buffer Link To IBM specs

If you mean the WD- JB Special Edition Drive (which i'm assuming you do if this drive really has an 8mb buffer), then yes it is the fastest IDE drive on the market and I would recommend installing XP on this drive.

As far as partioning is concerned, its really up to you. I personally like to have separate partitions for mp3'z, moviez, and programs/games... maybe 30gb for programs/appz, 15gb for windows and system files, the rest for mp3'z and moviez.

 

[MMarks2]

yea i meant IBM.

Thats what i was planning to do with my drives. I gotta transfer alot from the old WD over to the 120 because im not sure when it will fail. I got it in 1998 and its 4 years old. Still ticking though without a problem. One of the best drives i have ever had.

 

[mee987]

4 years isnt really that old, most drives are designed to last 10 years or more... I still have a quantum 210 meg drive sitting around that still works (not the fastest drive around, but it works)

 

[kermalou]

on a side note, can someone tell me what is the good thing about a partition?

 

[mee987]

you mean what is good about splitting a drive into multiple partitions? there are no speed improvements, the only reason to split a drive up is for a way to help keep your stuff organized

 

[Latts]

I have my 60Gb drive split up into:

2Gb - Win98
5Gb - WinXP
15Gb - Programs/Apps
Rest(Approx 38Gb) - Documents, files, movies, sounds, etc

 

[mee987]

oh, i did forget one advantage -- if you only have one drive, splitting it up allows you to format the partition with the OS on it and not lose all of your other data (mp3s, movies, games, downloads)