Partition Magic

[gorath]

I kind of want to organize my hard drive a little better, so I'm thinking about making a couple of partitions with Partition Magic.

Does this utility still work well even if you already have stuff on your hard drive?

I've got an 80 gig HD, with about 10 gig already occupied. Can I still partition it without losing my data?

I want to make one partition for the OS (windows XP), one for normal games and other programs, and one for random crap that I download. Is this a good idea to do?

[squeech]

The short answer is yes.

PM allows you to resize the partition currently holding the OS, and then you can create new formatted partitions in the unallocated space that is created by this. That's the easiest way, but there are numerous other things that can be done using PM.

I particularly support the idea to dedicate a partition for downloads. These days, the more quarantined you make new arrivals to your machine, the less chance we have of angry viruses invading the OS.

[gorath]

How big of a partition will the OS need?

[maface]

I use a 4gb partition for my OS. I use to have 2GB for OS but I found it was to smalll. Some apps I like to install with the OS, like Office, but its up to you. I would say 2gb and larger for OS

[tenor_david]

If I remember correctly, any Windows OS partition shouldn't need to be any larger than 4 gb. If you are partitioning, remember to also create a separate partition for your Page File.

[gorath]

What's a page file?

[tenor_david]

Here is a good definition on what the Page File is and does:

Page File Definition

[tenor_david]

Here is a thread on what size the Page File should be.

With Partition Magic, create a new parition of the requisite size, then:

• Select Properties
• Select the Advanced Tab
• Click Performance Options
• Look for Change Virtual Memory
• From here, you can allocate your Page File to your new partition, and delete the exisiting pagefile on your C:\ drive.
• Reboot, and you are good to go.

[gorath]

Okay, thanks.

Well, right now it looks like my partitions shoud be:

-- OS
-- Page File
-- Applications
-- MP3's and Suspicious Downloads

Anything else? What about Documents? I'm a writer, and I don't want my documents going the way of the carrier pigeon if I get a virus.

Documents can be in a seperate partition from the application (IE wordperfect, word, etc) that runs them, right?

Is it going to be too confusing having 5 partitions?

Actually, it would be six partitions, because the company that put my pc together included a partition in the hard drive, that says it "contain an image file which is used for hard drive restoration". I'm not really sure what it's for, but I assume it's imortant. This factory-included partition is 3 gig.

[tenor_david]

Here is my Setup:
OS
Page File
Program Files
Games
Data
Downloads

Your data does not need to be in the same app as Program Files.
It will be confusing if you accidentally start storing things in the 'wrong' place. Other than that, it helps the PC run more smoothly, and it allows utilities such as Disk Defragmenter to work faster, as each partition is smaller, and easier to 'put back together.'