partitions, w7

[Con]

Going to install w7, but I'm going 64 bit (getting moar RAM soon) so I figured I'd start over and backup everything, then reinstall things when I need to. While I'm at it, should I partition my main HD to separate w7 from my programs and stuff?

I've never partitioned anything before, so do want advice.

[CrAsHOvErRide]

What do you mean by "separate w7 from my programs and stuff"?

The programs should always be on the same partition with Windows if they are installed. More information would be nice...you want only Windows 7 or another OS in dual boot as well?

If you want only Windows 7 I would backup all important files to another hard drive and completely (not a quick format) format the whole hard drive. Install Windows 7 and restore some files.

[Con]

The programs should always be on the same partition with Windows if they are installed.
did not know this



More information would be nice...you want only Windows 7 or another OS in dual boot as well?

no



If you want only Windows 7 I would backup all important files to another hard drive and completely (not a quick format) format the whole hard drive. Install Windows 7 and restore some files.
that's what I'm planning on doing if there's no benefit to partitioning, I just heard it was better to separate your OS from other files

[CrAsHOvErRide]

Well in my opinion it makes only sense to separate files like Videos,Music,Pictures etc to another Hard Drive and not to another Partition.

Programs should always be installed through Windows onto the Windows Partition because of registry, app data etc.

[StankBacon]

i have w7 and all my programs on one drive, all my games/music/videos/pictures and all that on my 2nd drive.

[jcap]

I just keep everything on one partition. It never made any sense to me to install stuff to a second partition if you will need to reinstall everything all over again anyway.

The only time another partition would benefit you is if you're constantly reinstalling Windows and you like to format. However, if you ever need to reinstall Vista or W7, all your files are saved anyway, so the only work that would be required is dragging and dropping your documents to their new home (and it is just changing where they sit - it's not even actually moving the data on your hard drive, so it's nearly instant).

I partitioned drives maybe 3 times in my life. Once was with Windows 95, another with Windows 98, and once with XP that I gave up on immediately. What bothered me most was running out of space on one partition, while the other partition had plenty of space left. It was really annoying back in the days with smaller hard drives when there was not enough space on either partition to install something, but combined it would have been plenty.

[CrAsHOvErRide]

i have w7 and all my programs on one drive, all my games/music/videos/pictures and all that on my 2nd drive.

Same here...it is so handy :iamafag:

[king_nothing_]

Programs should always be installed through Windows onto the Windows Partition because of registry, app data etc.
I really don't think it matters what partition you put your programs on as long as they are installed on the OS that you're running.

I have programs installed on my Windows partition and on two other partitions as well. They all work fine; there is no difference between the ones on the Windows partition and the ones on the two other partitions.

[Rook]

The point of making a small os partition begin the first drive its on the inside of the drive, which will read a bit faster, then the next partition can be for programs you use, then the partition after that could be files if want to store stuff

that'd be breaking one drive up 3 ways..

[StankBacon]

actually itd prolly read faster on the outside... like how a cd/dvd burns/reads faster towards the end.. i dunno.

[Corndogman]

I believe King Nothing is right. I have XP and W7 on separate partitions, and I have installed stuff to the drive W7 is on from xp, and the programs work. However if you try to run already installed programs from an OS on the new partition, most of the time they wont run. Sometimes they will though, i.e. Xfire and AIM have worked for me that way.

I've partitioned a few times for the Windows 7 beta's. I'm keeping W7 on a partition though with XP on the other, because it would be such a pain in the ass to back up/reinstall the whole other drive.

[CrAsHOvErRide]

I never said they won't work but some programs will rely on certain files on the same partition as the OS e.g. the application data. If you reinstall the OS and keep the applications on the other partition you are going to lose that data. For instance Firefox bookmarks.