Partition Issue - FAT32, temp, Wins, Prog File, Do

[Wai_Wai]

Partition Issue - FAT32, temp, Wins, Prog File, Doc&Set, Personal Data

I would like to ask for comments/suggestions for the following partition plans:

C: FAT32 drive + SWAP/pagefile, temp, no-need-keep files - 3GB

I will format all my drives as NTFS. But I don't know if it is a good idea to keep a FAT32 drive. To me it seems safe to keep just in case it needs. (eg I think DOS can only read FAT32, right?) <-- Tell me why if you don't suggest this.

But it is a waste to put a FAT32 drive empty. So I use this drive to put some rubbish, or temporary files. These files include:

- pagefile.sys

- user temp and system temp files

- log files

- Internet temporary files

- cookies, recent, history etc.

- leave space for some stubborn programs which will install here

(PS: I woud like to move Hiberfil.sys to there too, but I don't think I can. Please comfirm it!)

D: Donwload Buffer Zone - 5GB

When you download stuff, there will be quite many read/write process. Do you agree? So I would like to keep it in one specific drive. Reasons:

- easy management (ie all downloads are there)

- avoid fragmentation split

After I finished the downloads, I will move them to my prsonal data drives.

E &/or F: ??? Doc and Settings(D&S), Program Files(PF), Windows(Wi) ???

I wonder which one I should implement:

E: Doc and Settings(D&S), Program Files(PF), Windows(Wi) - 30GB

OR

E: Windows(Wi) - 10GB

F: Doc and Settings(D&S), Program Files(PF) - 20GB

Which one would you suggest, and most importantly, why?

You may consider the following factors:

- fragmentation rate

- performance

- reliabilty/stability

- Cloning issues (eg by Norton Ghost)

G: More-frequently altered personal data (eg desktop, documents, texts, notes in My Documents) - 20GB

H: Less-frequently altered personal data (eg programs, movies, films) - the rest of free space

So do you have any comments/suggestions about the above partiton plan?

Thanks a lot for your help.

[Mchart]

Make one for the OS, make one for the page file, make one for program files, and I like that download buffer zone idea, never thought of that. I think now that my IE is borked up, it may be a perfect time to do this..

Once you have the OS, page file, and program file partitions setup, I would make the download buffer zone the size of whatever free space you have left.

[Wai_Wai]

Make one for the OS, make one for the page file, make one for program files, and I like that download buffer zone idea, never thought of that. I think now that my IE is borked up, it may be a perfect time to do this..

Once you have the OS, page file, and program file partitions setup, I would make the download buffer zone the size of whatever free space you have left.

hehe... Happy to hear that you like the idea of "download buffer zone". <-- it's my little idea

If you upload things too, it is a good idea to open an upload buffer zone too. Or you may combine two into one, ie download/upload buffer zone. And since you put it in a faster drive, you may experience a slightly better performace.

In fact, if you are a heavy downloader, you may consider the use of RAM drive (ie allocation of some RAM and they will act as a virtual hard drive). Advantage:

- your real hard disk is safe from a lot of read-write process

- no fragmentation issue

- boost the performance much further. You know, how fast RAM writes and reads!

Conditions:

- I think there's no free software for that. You may try http://www.superspeed.com/ramdisk.html I haven't tried it frankly.

- You need to have enough free RAM. Otherwise how come you can allocate your RAM to act as a virtual drive.

[Mchart]

Make one for the OS, make one for the page file, make one for program files, and I like that download buffer zone idea, never thought of that. I think now that my IE is borked up, it may be a perfect time to do this..

Once you have the OS, page file, and program file partitions setup, I would make the download buffer zone the size of whatever free space you have left.

hehe... Happy to hear that you like the idea of "download buffer zone". <-- it's my little idea

If you upload things too, it is a good idea to open an upload buffer zone too. Or you may combine two into one, ie download/upload buffer zone. And since you put it in a faster drive, you may experience a slightly better performace.

In fact, if you are a heavy downloader, you may consider the use of RAM drive (ie allocation of some RAM and they will act as a virtual hard drive). Advantage:

- your real hard disk is safe from a lot of read-write process

- no fragmentation issue

- boost the performance much further. You know, how fast RAM writes and reads!

Conditions:

- I think there's no free software for that. You may try http://www.superspeed.com/ramdisk.html I haven't tried it frankly.

- You need to have enough free RAM. Otherwise how come you can allocate your RAM to act as a virtual drive.

What I usually download is much larger then what a ramdrive can hold... Im a bad boy.

[Yzöwl]

I would change the positions to the following:

C: FAT32 drive + SWAP/pagefile, temp, no-need-keep files - 3GB

D: Windows(Wi) ???

E: Doc and Settings(D&S), Program Files(PF),

F: More-frequently altered personal data (eg desktop, documents, texts, notes in My Documents) - 20GB

G: Download Buffer Zone - 5GB

H: Less-frequently altered personal data (eg programs, movies, films) - the rest of free space

Ensure that the C: drive is using a cluster size of 4K, (I think that this is the default size in NTFS and in FAT 32 partitions smaller than 8GB, just check if you are using a 3rd party partitioning tool). 4K is the size of the page the processor uses in RAM this way transfers may be made direct from file to RAM without intermediate buffering.

[Wai_Wai]

Does anyone really know the reasons why we need to separate Doc and Settings(D&S) / Program Files(PF) from Windows?

I just remeber one site tells us to do so. But later I just wonder why we have to do so.

[Wai_Wai]

I would change the positions to the following:

C: FAT32 drive + SWAP/pagefile, temp, no-need-keep files - 3GB

D: Windows(Wi) ???

E: Doc and Settings(D&S), Program Files(PF),

F: More-frequently altered personal data (eg desktop, documents, texts, notes in My Documents) - 20GB

G: Download Buffer Zone - 5GB

H: Less-frequently altered personal data (eg programs, movies, films) - the rest of free space

Ensure that the C: drive is using a cluster size of 4K, (I think that this is the default size in NTFS and in FAT 32 partitions smaller than 8GB, just check if you are using a 3rd party partitioning tool). 4K is the size of the page the processor uses in RAM this way transfers may be made direct from file to RAM without intermediate buffering.

Thanks.

Would like to hear your reasons about the changes as well.

[Mchart]

The reason they say to do this with documents folder is the fact that most people that arent knowledgable in computers, usually download everything to that folder. Personally I would rather have that folder with the core windows folder, just because.

[Wai_Wai]

The reason they say to do this with documents folder is the fact that most people that arent knowledgable in computers, usually download everything to that folder. Personally I would rather have that folder with the core windows folder, just because.

Are you talking about My Docs folder?

I think the reason is they wish to move personal stuff out of OS drive, and store in another partition which is specially for that.