To partition or not to partition that is the question....

[Denvers Dawgs]

Buying new Desktop, comes with 1 250GB hardrive with OS on it. I do a fair amount of video editing. Should I partion my hard drive so the OS is seperate from rest of the video files? I was thinking giving the section with teh OS about 40GB, and the other being about 210GB.

I have no idea how to partition a disc or if I should even do it. Should I just buy a 2nd drive and use that for video stuff?

[dipstick]

Sure, you can partition it that way and yes, it's a good idea to keep OS away from important files. You can also get another HDD too.

I like to keep my OS's on their own partition all by them selves on my primary HDD. I keep all data on seperate partition. My 2nd HDD and external HDDs only use one partition each.

[isogonic]

i keep my video on a 2nd HD-- which is also useful for storing stuff you want to keep, i reformat at least once a year

[ROF]

Server OS Drives are the only disks I partition. Desktops and Laptops do not need to be partitioned IMO. If separation is required I usually recommend two separate drives.

[budz]

I partition my primary hard drive in case WINDOWS becomes corrupted I can easily just reformat that partition and not lose anything else that is on it. I have 2 or more hard drives in my pc's and also have internal hard drives in external enclosures as well.

I'd say use only 20-25 gbs of hard drive space for your OS. I only use that much space to install the OS on computers that I build.

[Denvers Dawgs]

How would I go about partitioning my OS from the rest of the HDD. Do I need software, or can it be done through XP?

[rkr1958]

I partition my primary hard drive in case WINDOWS becomes corrupted I can easily just reformat that partition and not lose anything else that is on it. I have 2 or more hard drives in my pc's and also have internal hard drives in external enclosures as well.

I'd say use only 20-25 gbs of hard drive space for your OS. I only use that much space to install the OS on computers that I build.

I have a 15-GB partition on one my harddrives (the 120-GB one) for Windows & Applications. I use Restore-It on that partition and I use Norton Ghost once a week to make a image of it. Just last week, I did something stupid and corrupted that partition ... with my partition backups it took me 5-minutes to get back to where I was. In my opinion its a good thing to keep your O/S & applications in a small partition away from everthing else. It's a better idea if you routinely image that partition. This strategy has saved me several times.

[rkr1958]

How would I go about partitioning my OS from the rest of the HDD. Do I need software, or can it be done through XP?

I use Partition Magic 8.0 for all my partitioning and formatting needs ... I got a copy off of ebay almost 2-years ago for around $20. It'll let you do a non-destructive partitioning of a drive. Well worth the money.

[Denvers Dawgs]

So I could do this with my computer as is and won't lose any files that are on the HDD. Also, after I partition the HDD, will I be able to drag folders Videos/pix, that I want to keep onto the new empty partition?

[budz]

So I could do this with my computer as is and won't lose any files that are on the HDD. Also, after I partition the HDD, will I be able to drag folders Videos/pix, that I want to keep onto the new empty partition?

As a precaution I would backup whatever you have before you partition your hard drive. Yes you'll be able to drag and drop whatever you want into the new empty partition.

[Denvers Dawgs]

After partitioning the hard drive in to (2)partitions (OS and Video editing) Will anything done on the video editing portion afffect the OS? Is a partition like having another HDD?

Would it just be easier to pick up say an 80GB HDD and use that for my OS? and use the original HDD for my editing? If so, How would I go about putting the OS and all the drives/programs onto the 80GB drive. Most new computers don't come with replacement discs anymore, or atleast my previous one only came with System Restore and System Recovery Built into a partition.

[guns1inger]

Partition is basically creating a virtual drive. The OS treats each partition as if it were a drive. For management of the space, especially speration of the OS partition from the working area, it is worth considering.

If you are editing a lot of video, I would put in a second, and maybe even third drive, as there can be preformance gains sending data from physical drive to physical drive (depending on configuration) that can not be had from partitions.

[Denvers Dawgs]

there can be preformance gains sending data from physical drive to physical drive (depending on configuration) that can not be had from partitions.

What do you mean by this? I would just be setting it up with a second drive in the available 2nd HDD slot.