Partitioning for Windows 7

Discussion in 'Windows 7' started by techman28, Jul 26, 2009.

  1. techman28

    techman28 MDL Novice

    Jul 26, 2009
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    I am buying a new, larger, hard drive for my laptop and when I get it I am planning on installing windows 7 as my new OS. My question is how should I partition my new hard drive, if at all? Should I leave it unpartitioned? Should I make 2 partitions, one for the OS and one for my data and other stuff? If I have a separate partition for the OS how much space, in terms of GB, should I make the partition for windows 7?

    Any and all help you can give me is much appreciated.

    Thanks.
     
  2. Dreuzel

    Dreuzel MDL Member

    Apr 22, 2009
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    1I use 40 gig system
    users and progrom files on other disk
     
  3. HSChronic

    HSChronic MDL Expert

    Aug 25, 2007
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    I just use the whole disk and keep a copy of my roaming profile on my DC and use offline files with folder redirection.
     
  4. Riemen

    Riemen MDL Novice

    Jul 23, 2009
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    I have a 50 GB system partition and another for my data. I have moved my user folders like documents, music, desktop, outlook data file etc. to the d: partition.
    When I have installed windows and all my programms and everything is configured correctly, i create a backup of the windows partition with an Acronis True Image booted from CD. When anything goes wrong with the system, or if it simply becomes slow, I only have to boot Acronis, restore my backup and can work on with my fresh system. All the data is in place and everything works as before...
     
  5. Dutchman01

    Dutchman01 MDL Member

    Sep 6, 2007
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    I got its also that way only differents are here

    80GB system partition

    And i use Norton Ghost 14 for the backup/restore job.
     
  6. Aradria

    Aradria MDL Novice

    Apr 23, 2009
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    There's not much point in partitioning unless you're going to install 2 operating systems. It won't improve performance. In fact, it may even slow it down slightly due to less free space on your main system drive.
     
  7. tomorrow

    tomorrow MDL Addicted

    Jul 3, 2008
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    True but if anything goes wrong with OS and he needs to reinstall then its good ta have OS on separate partition and no need to move and backup data to somwhere else during reinstall.
     
  8. Scann69

    Scann69 MDL Member

    Jan 5, 2009
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    I have no idea what you just said :eek:

    I have 3 partition in my 160GB

    Windows 7 - 40GB
    Mac OSX - 40GB
    Storage - 80GB

    Like most have suggested, i too move all my data to Storage drive and normally after a fresh install, all i need is to link back all the folders like documents, music, downloads....

    Also, knowing Windows, it never hurts to have another OS for times when Windows fail to boot and i don't have time to fix it, OSX comes in very handy :D
     
  9. techman28

    techman28 MDL Novice

    Jul 26, 2009
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    So for both of you guys, you install your programs on the same partition as the OS though right? And then after you install the programs then you make a backup or whatever with your respective backup programs?

    Thanks.
     
  10. SeventhUser

    SeventhUser MDL Junior Member

    Jul 6, 2009
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    That's an age old question and as most people answered, it's a good idea to keep your OS and your data separate, even if you are going to setup just one OS initially.

    Separating OS and applications is not worth it though. You'll have to take extra steps in each and every case to keep them separate and even then you will not be able to manage it 100%. And you'll typically have to move several of the system/user folders to another partition manually. And you'll soon find out that one is useless without the other (for example, if you do separate backups for the operating system and its applications you'll have to keep them in sync or else you won't have a "perfect" system if the need for a restore arises).

    I used to go for 16GB OS partitions, but nowadays 32GB is generally needed, even for Linux distributions. But don't be too generous (64GB is more than enough, for example) as you can never have too much space available for data :D

    Having said that, I've found out time and again that complete newbies, as well as lets say.. guests (girlfriends, wives and kids), can't cope well with the concept of disk partitions, and forcing them will just not work. So, if anyone other than yourself is going to use the laptop, then just setup a single partition for the whole disk.
     
  11. Riemen

    Riemen MDL Novice

    Jul 23, 2009
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  12. Aradria

    Aradria MDL Novice

    Apr 23, 2009
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    It's possible reinstall without losing everything on a partition, just don't choose to format the drive. (you can delete the old windows/users/program files folders first from a command prompt, otherwise it gets renamed to something like Windows.old)
     
  13. jupp

    jupp MDL Novice

    Jul 20, 2009
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    I vote for it. In XP days i used to have 30GB. As W7 is fatter we need ~10GB more room. Dont forget you can't 100% fill up your disk. Basically it all depends of how many apps and how big apps you'r gonna install.
     
  14. juzz

    juzz MDL Member

    Jun 28, 2008
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    #15 juzz, Jul 27, 2009
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2009
    yea. 25GB for x64 sounds bit small to me. My Windows folder alone takes 13.5GB about week after install. Tho 5.5GB is from winsxs so not sure about numbers after clean install. Depending on installed programs 25GB partition will end up full pretty soon in my opinion. Not to mention that MS programs usually need few GB space from C drive even if you install to other partition.

    Oh. And then there are these brilliant game developers. "you can't install this game to F if you don't have 16GB free on C but after install it wont take any space on C". Dunno wtf some devs are thinking. Luckily there's only few games with this kind of issues...


    BTW. Did MS fix winsxs to work better on 7 or are we expected to see 15GB winsxs folder after few months :D
     
  15. tomorrow

    tomorrow MDL Addicted

    Jul 3, 2008
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    Apparently the windows update stack will grow once updates start coming.Apparently topics in MS forums were closed with message "By Design"

    So id guess its a fair bet yes :rolleyes: