To partition or not partition, that is the question

Frodo301 · Dec 23, 2004, 05:36 PM

Been having a little friendly debate with a guy I work with over the need for partitions on a hard drive. He used (keyword) to work as a tech support specialist for Gateway, and appears to have a superiority complex when it comes to anything concerning computers. I would like some input on the following subject. For years I have partitioned my HDs in the following order, c=operating system, f=data, g=backups. In all this time and numerous HDs I have never had a single problem with this config, and in fact it has made reinstalls of windows much easier as I do not have to wipe the whole system. He says this is horrible and in his experience ie inexperienced computer users who are newbs and have no idea of what they are doing calling in and almost always something happens to those partitions. I ask him what the hell is going to happen to them? Are they magically going to change in the night to larger partitions? He says just wait till you get a boot sector virus, I say have not had one of those ever and my antivirus backs up the mbr well as I remeber just in case. Anyway I feel this has come from some stupid Gateway recommend that he follows like a blind mouse. Please give me some input, I really want to know what is going to happen so bad to my drives as I feel secure with this setup.

Logla · Dec 23, 2004, 07:02 PM

The way yours is setup seems fine to me but its really its more down to personal preference than anything else. If he wants to go out and buy more drives then he can spend his money. If you just want to keep everything on one drive then thats fine also.

If you keep regular backups then their is no need to change what you have been doing.
And you can tell him thats come from a propper support tech whos been doing this job for years.

technonerd · Dec 23, 2004, 07:30 PM

I believe having two hard drive is the best. Because if Virus gets to window xp and it'll be almost impossible to get virus on second HD. Plus I don't even have to worry too much of which hard drive to reinstall Winxp on.

I usally have backup, games and important business files on second hard. First hard drive is Winxp, programs(adobe, etc)

Frodo301 · Dec 23, 2004, 08:39 PM

welll, to be honest I have 2 hard drives as well, and the 2nd drive is almost entirely a backup drive. I just could not get an answer as to what exactly is wrong with a multiple partitoned drive. It has bitten him on the nose, something has corrupted his windows install pretty good. He is having serious stability issues right now. He was complaining he would have to back everything up to dvd and do a reinstall. Tld him if his system was partitioned like mine it would be easier as he would not have to wipe everything.

MiDKnYtE · Dec 23, 2004, 09:01 PM

I have 2 partitions, C: OS and D: DATA/Backup. I also burn a cd backup. As far as boot sector viruses are concerned, they are practically extinct. you might find one on a really old floppy, but I haven't seen one in years. who's going to try to make a virus that spreads from floppy to hdd, etc. when they could just make a worm and infect millions of systems over the internet? your friend is living in the 80's.

Dec 23, 2004, 05:36 PM	#1
Frodo301 Outraged Join Date: May 2002 Location: The mountains Posts: 584 Rep Power: 0	To partition or not partition, that is the question Been having a little friendly debate with a guy I work with over the need for partitions on a hard drive. He used (keyword) to work as a tech support specialist for Gateway, and appears to have a superiority complex when it comes to anything concerning computers. I would like some input on the following subject. For years I have partitioned my HDs in the following order, c=operating system, f=data, g=backups. In all this time and numerous HDs I have never had a single problem with this config, and in fact it has made reinstalls of windows much easier as I do not have to wipe the whole system. He says this is horrible and in his experience ie inexperienced computer users who are newbs and have no idea of what they are doing calling in and almost always something happens to those partitions. I ask him what the hell is going to happen to them? Are they magically going to change in the night to larger partitions? He says just wait till you get a boot sector virus, I say have not had one of those ever and my antivirus backs up the mbr well as I remeber just in case. Anyway I feel this has come from some stupid Gateway recommend that he follows like a blind mouse. Please give me some input, I really want to know what is going to happen so bad to my drives as I feel secure with this setup. __________________ The greatest thing you'll every learn is to love, and be loved in return.

Dec 23, 2004, 08:39 PM	Thread Starter #4
Frodo301 Outraged Join Date: May 2002 Location: The mountains Posts: 584 Rep Power: 0	welll, to be honest I have 2 hard drives as well, and the 2nd drive is almost entirely a backup drive. I just could not get an answer as to what exactly is wrong with a multiple partitoned drive. It has bitten him on the nose, something has corrupted his windows install pretty good. He is having serious stability issues right now. He was complaining he would have to back everything up to dvd and do a reinstall. Tld him if his system was partitioned like mine it would be easier as he would not have to wipe everything. __________________ The greatest thing you'll every learn is to love, and be loved in return.

Dec 23, 2004, 07:02 PM	#2
Logla HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 3,311 Rep Power: 62	The way yours is setup seems fine to me but its really its more down to personal preference than anything else. If he wants to go out and buy more drives then he can spend his money. If you just want to keep everything on one drive then thats fine also. If you keep regular backups then their is no need to change what you have been doing. And you can tell him thats come from a propper support tech whos been doing this job for years.

Dec 23, 2004, 07:30 PM	#3
technonerd DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Posts: 594 Rep Power: 0	I believe having two hard drive is the best. Because if Virus gets to window xp and it'll be almost impossible to get virus on second HD. Plus I don't even have to worry too much of which hard drive to reinstall Winxp on. I usally have backup, games and important business files on second hard. First hard drive is Winxp, programs(adobe, etc)

Dec 23, 2004, 09:01 PM	#5
MiDKnYtE Caffeine Machine Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Hell is empty. All the devils are here. Posts: 670 Rep Power: 0	I have 2 partitions, C: OS and D: DATA/Backup. I also burn a cd backup. As far as boot sector viruses are concerned, they are practically extinct. you might find one on a really old floppy, but I haven't seen one in years. who's going to try to make a virus that spreads from floppy to hdd, etc. when they could just make a worm and infect millions of systems over the internet? your friend is living in the 80's.