HDD partition suggestions please!

  • Thread starter Thread starter photoresistor
  • Start date Start date
P

photoresistor

New member
I have an 80GB (i know not the biggest) 7200 rpm SeaGate Barracuda HDD that I want to set up in my Shuttle SN45G.

The PC isn't solely a DAW I access the internet / word process / some games / etc but mostly it is for audio recording.

I was thinking of making three partitions on the HDD: one for system, one for programs (including the multitrack software), and one for data (audio, music, pictures).

My question is.... how big does the system partition need to be running Windows XP? And how much space should I give to programs? Really it doesnt seem like they take up that much space.

Thanks! Any suggestions are most appreciated!
 
it's best to use 2 hard drives. One for your audio from recording, and one for everything else. Partitioning the drive actually makes it work harder because it has to move between the different partitions which takes more time and more wear on the drive. If you have only one drive, partition it into 2 sections, and use the 1st partition for your audio and 2nd for everything else. Theoretically the partition physically on the outside of the drive is supposed to be faster because of the larger circumference of the drive, but whether that really makes a difference I don't know
 
sorry, maybe i'll actually answer your question this time. On my computer, XP, some recording programs, and about 40 or so mp3's only take up 4 gigs. You could probably get away with 10 gigs for you system drive, and have 70 left for the recording, but it depends on how much you record. 20/60 may be better if you will be saving more stuff on the system drive.
 
GTR02 is right on the money. An XP install with MS Office and a few other apps will run 4-5 GB. Figure a 10 GB partition for basic stuff with a little extra just in case

Personally I wouldn't make multiple partitions unless you run multiple operating systems. On mine I have XP and win98 dual bootable, so I run a 70 GB Fat32 partition and a 10 GB Fat32 parition. XP gets 70 GB and all programs are installed there for both operating systems when possible, while win98 gets a 10 GB parition.

With one OS, there's no real point in multiple paritions since you can just organize you data in folders. I think multiple partitions makes it more of a pain in the ass to deal with. It won't be any more redundant or safe.
If you want to have multiple partitions for redundancy, you want multiple drives. Then have the bootable drive for OS, games, software and the other drive for music data, ect which can be backed up to the first drive. On a buddy's DAW I built, I did a 60 GB bootable drive and (2) 30 GBs in RAID-0 for Protools stuff. Then he has an automatic backup app called backup buddy that differentially backs the music data up to the 60 GB drive in a folder called digi-backup.
 
DAFFYDRUNK said:
...60GB bootable drive and (2) 30 GBs in RAID-0 for Protools stuff. Then he has an automatic backup app called backup buddy that differentially backs the music data up to the 60 GB drive in a folder called digi-backup.
Click to expand...

Do you need special backup s/ware (like this backup buddy ) to recognise the striped data and restore it to its original format, or would something like Ghost work as well?
 
Oops when I said backup buddy my brain was slipping. I meant an app called Handy Backup...

The OS sees hardware Raid-0 as just another drive so you can do the same things to it as you can a regular one hdd setup. If your raid-0 drive was fat 32 you could even use a win98/DOS boot disk to boot up and mess with stuff on it. If you had to restore a raid-0 you would format the raid and copy the stuff back over the way it was...

The newest version of Ghost I have is 2002 which is still command prompt. Ghost would work if you setup a batch file to automate the switches to create a backup image on another drive, but you'd probably be better off doing a batch file and create a routine with Xcopy. Handy backup is a slick little app you can use as well and doesn't take batch file skills to deal with. With either one, you can make it so it only copies new stuff or updates files to a folder on another drive. Saves ALOT of time backing up since it only freshens the folder to make it the same and doesn't have to copy everything every time. Since it's just saved the same way on another drive, you can instantly use your backed up data if the Raid-0 (or even another single drive setup) fails.
With the Xcopy batch routine, you can even automate it by creating a PIF of the batch file and putting it in scheduled tasks. Works pretty slick. Handy backup also can be scheduled to automate backup. Then you can make it backup all by itself at a time the computer is most likey to be on but least likely to be in heavy use. Even if you have a full blow recording studio and use music apps all the time, the backups will still only take a couple minutes every day...
 
Last edited:
PR,

> I was thinking of making three partitions on the HDD <

For the complete story see my three-part series from Keyboard magazine, fourth in the list on my Articles page:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

In particular, the first part explains partitioning and offers advice on organization and partitioning strategies.

--Ethan
 
negative XP is NATIVE to ntfs...but can easily install on a fat32 part.

xoxo
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top