pros and cons about putting the OS on a separate partition

[hoofhearted4]

just curious about the pros and cons about putting your OS on a separate partition. ive been told that this is a good thing because if you get a virus, reformatting your OS is much easier since your not overwriting your files as well. ideally i would just buy a second (small SSD) and put the OS on there, i heard if you do that its even faster for boot times, but i dont have the money for two drives, so when i build my PC ill probably separate my OS from my files and such. but ya, what makes this a good idea and if there is anything thats considered a con what would those be?

 

thanks :)

[cavveman]

I agree on that, I almost dont install any programs on my C drive. Steam is one some other drive. The advantages are great, you get rid of UAC when you want to move files inside the programs folder.

If you want to partition your drive, I would recommend like 40 GB for the C drive, and the rest goes to your program partition.

And the programs stays installed when you reformat your computer.

Programs such as Audio Codecs, install those on C drive, since it makes changes to the registry. Same goes with Any Office suite you use.

 

And also, partitioning is always faster when the drive is empty on files, if you use like partition magic it takes longer time, since it have to move files from the clusters.

 

 

I would recommend Gparted if you think on partioning your drive. Open Source, put in the usb or cd and follow the instructions. I have used it for like 3 years atleast

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

[CommanderCrazy]

One thing that could be considered a con, is that the desktop files take up space in C drive. You'll need to make shortcuts if you store things in folders on your desktop.

[scrivener07]

One thing that could be considered a con, is that the desktop files take up space in C drive. You'll need to make shortcuts if you store things in folders on your desktop.

My user folder is on my D:\users\etc

There are NO cons for separating your OS and data. Use google and find out how to move your user folder.

[samadchaz]

the only bad I know is that you have to restart your computer if you want to play game on different OS,otherwise I didnt face any problem fixing my dual boot disk(250/250gb)Vista and Xp.(you have to use EasyBCD)

[hoofhearted4]

i would only have one OS, Win7 64 bit home. so no switching.

[evilneko]

Yeah, not really any disadvantages to it.

[hoofhearted4]

great thanks!

 

now is it worth buying a small SSD (as small as possible really) and putting the OS on that? while keeping a separate drive (like a 500gb hybrid) as the one for my files?

[Illiad86]

Best to get a SSD that's large enough for the OS and all the updates..current and future. I think probably a 60GB ish SSD would be enough. Getting a 20GB one wouldn't work out too well..I think Windows 7 is 10GB or so even before updates.

 

I'd also suggest getting Windows 7 Professional over Home Premium. Home Premium only has support until 2015 (which I never could understand, Pro is until 2020), supports less RAM (16GB compared to 192GB), and a few other things that drew me away from getting Home Premium. For the extra $40 it's worth getting Professional.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions

 

There's a comparison chart there :)

Edited July 12, 2011 by Illiad86

[hoofhearted4]

cool thanks!