Disk Partitioning Strategy

DavidPJ wrote on 9/26/2004, 2:06 PM

I'm setting up a new PC for Vegas & DVDA and I would appreciate your suggestions on a good hard disk partitioning strategy. I have 2-250GB SATA drives and 1-80GB ATA drive. I'll install the SATA drives on seperate channels. All disks are 7200 rpm.

I'm thinking something like this:

Disk 1:
Partition 1-WinXP
Partition 2-Programs
Partition 3-Non Vegas data, media
Partition 4-Temp area for XP paging, etc.

Disk 2:
Partition 1: Vegas Capture
Partition 2: Render Files
Partition 3: Vegas & DVDA Temp, Prepare
Partition 4: Vegas & DVDA everything else

Disk 3:
Not sure how I'm going to use this other than as a general backup disk. Also thinking of using this as a Render Disk. Because the disk is only 80GB, once the file is rendered I would move it to the larger 250GB drive. Another possibility is to use the 80GB ATA drive as my system drive, although I rather have a SATA drive for the OS.

Thanks.

Comments

John_Cline wrote on 9/26/2004, 4:32 PM

By all means, use the 80 gig as your system drive, you don't really need the SATA speed for the system drive. You could partition it into a couple of drives, one for the OS and programs, the other for the paging file and "Non-Vegas data." Then divide up the pair of 250 gig drives as you see fit. Personally, I just partition my big drives as a single partition each and just use folders to do my project file management. Sooner or later you'll find yourself wishing that you had made one partition larger because of some huge project.

John

riredale wrote on 9/26/2004, 4:34 PM

It could just be me, but I think you're working way too hard on this.

Drives are so darn fast when compared to just 5 years ago that it really doesn't matter very much from a performance view whether, for instance, your program files are in a different partition from your Windows files. What DOES matter is whether you do a partition strategy based on doing periodic backups with a clone program like DriveImage or Ghost. In that instance you might want to put important stuff in one partition (Windows+programs) and nonessential stuff in another. In that way, every time you do a clone you are backing up only the important stuff.

Getting back to your drives: What I do here is have an 80GB drive split into three partitions; the C is all my windows stuff, including programs; the D is all my mp3 music (about 10GB at this point), and the leftover space I call "Misc" (E). I have about 5 other drives in the system, and they are used exclusively for video. Just a single partition for each.

So you might want to use the smallest drive (hopefully a fast data transfer drive and also 7200rpm) for your C partition, a D partition for miscellaneous stuff, and use the big iron (the two 120's) for video.

But again, it's not a big deal.

Learjet wrote on 9/26/2004, 4:35 PM

I have a similar setup as yours - 2-200 GB SATA drives and 1-250 GB ATA drive. I have my ATA drive as my C: drive (w/ Windows and Vegas installed on it), and I have the 2 SATA drives installed in a RAID 0 config, giving me a 400 GB D: drive with twice the speed of a single drive.

I'd say to use the 80 GB drive for the OS, but that's just my preference.

DavidPJ wrote on 9/26/2004, 5:08 PM

Thanks guys. Yes, I probably am thinking abou this too much. Isn't that always the case with computers? But better now than later.

I agree that the O/S and programs should be on the 80GB ATA drive. One 250GB SATA drive will have Capture, Media, and Prepare DVD. The second 250GB SATA will basically be a render drive. How's that look?

Regarding partitioning, do you think I should just partition the system drive or both the system and the Capture, Media, and Prepare DVD drive?

Chanimal wrote on 9/26/2004, 8:15 PM

I have 5 drives (120, the rest 200-250) in the system (all on separate IDE/SATA cables (6 built-in, 2 on IDE card)), along with one removable bay (only 19.95 for the tray system (comes with one tray) and 12.95 for each additional tray)--set as a slave.

I use the 120 (smallest) for Windows XP, programs, general data (word, excell, database, website, etc.) and my music files (wav, mp3's, etc.).

I use one of my 250 gig drives to store all my video clipart (jumpbacks, 3D, custom video, etc.). I also store a copy of the FINAL master of everything (about 80 videos) on this drive (usually the Mpeg2 file). This drive is also my PhotoShop scratch drive (should be separate from the program).

The other 200, 250 and 250 gig drives I use sequentually (until almost full) to store all my work files. I also render to one of these drives and use it as a PVR (ati AIW).

I do not partition any of my drives any more. Partioning used to be neccisary since the OS couldn't support larger drives--even pre 137 gig. Now, everything is supported and I don't want to waiste the extra space on each partition before it fills.

Defraging is never required for my video clipart drive, nor my project drives (unless I erase a lot of original capture footage--then I defrag).

I use the tray as backup (I have several 80 gigs, 120 and 200 gigs that back up all the "paid" projects so I can easily reconstruct if (I mean when) one of my main drives goes down) and to transfer massive files to other pc's in the house if I choose to transfer to work another machine while I'm rendering on my main (I have the same treys on two of the other three pc's).

By the way, I always buy when killer deals pop up, since I always need more storage (usualy pay $99 to $138 max for 200 - 250 gig drives)

I hope this helps.

sincy wrote on 9/27/2004, 5:15 AM

HI all
I just cant see it, I cannot see any performance gains in multi partiton drives, in fact I believe this would be a performance loss, Is there sata raid cards available ?, hardware raid is far more performance orientated, and I would keep my OS on my fastest drive, and any other drives as back up, yor systems only as fast as your slowest drive, and there are a lot of other ways to increase performance, to match the drives seek times, RAM, disabling paging file, BIos tweaks etc, worth considering maybe, have a good one

apit34356 wrote on 9/27/2004, 5:27 AM

"I cannot see any performance gains in multi partiton drives", I agree with these. partitions may be useful for different apps that generated large temps files, ie C4D or high-end video apps.

DavidPJ wrote on 9/27/2004, 7:38 AM

Thanks for the comments. I rather not partition for the reasons you guys gave. Especially the non-system drives.

My interest in partitioning now lies with the O/S drive. I'm not running a dual boot system, but it still seems to make sense that the O/S be on it's own partition. If you have a buggy O/S installation, or if you just want a new clean install, you don't have to reinstall the apps and any other data. Maybe creating 2 partitions on the system drive makes sense from this standpoint? If so, how much would you allocate for XP Professional?

Chienworks wrote on 9/27/2004, 8:16 AM

I've got a fairly large amount of software installed and my Windows directory is now about 2.5GB on this computer. An OS partition would probably need at least 10GB to be safe.

I disagree that having the OS on a separate partition from the software helps. If you get a buggy OS and have to reinstall it or worse yet have to format the OS partition you'll probably lose the registry unless you've made careful backups. Even with careful backups, registry files from a previous Windows install may not be very useful in a new install. Also, lots of older software stored files in the Windows System directories. Chances are that even if the Program Files directory is on a separate partition you may still have to reinstall the applications anyway. And, if your OS installation has gone buggy, there's probably a good chance that the software installs have some problems in them too.

I usually use an OS reinstall as an opportunity to prune my installed applications too. Since all software gets reinstalled from scratch, i take the time to consider each application i had installed and decide if i really ever used it, needed it, or just had it for testing or playing and don't really want it anymore. Fresh installs of the software can help keep a system zipping along nicely and reduce clutter and conflicts.