New HDD and reinstalling Vista x64

Hello all again!

I was wondering if some of you guys could give me some advice or tips on reinstalling Vista x64.

There's two reasons I'd like to reinstall: First of all, I should be getting a new HDD tomorrow, and second, I just want to clean up stuff on my computer.

Currently I got an internal Samsung Spinpoint HD322HJ HDD, a standard 7200rpm with 16MB buffer and 320GB size. The new one I ordered is a Samsung Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ, internal 7200rpm, 32MB buffer and 1TB size. I also have an external HDD but it's only for Media (about 400GB).

What would be the optimal solution for installing? How many Partitions on each HDD? Which HDD for the OS? My PC is mainly for Games and Multimedia, in that order. Does the 32MB buffer/cache offer really better performance than the 16MB buffer/cache?

As long as you have a separate partition for your OS the rest is a matter of personal preference. I do a separate partition for the OS, then Programs, then Games, then Pics, then Music, then Video, then Documents..... but everyone has their own system for file management (other than those who never even try to keep track of their files, let alone have them in order lol). I also suggest backing anything that is not replaceable.

*32mb will offer better performance than the 16mb, but it depends on what you are doing and how keen you are to notice the difference... in most applications you will hardly notice a difference unless you have a stop watch in hand.

well 32MB cache is double as much as 16MB cache
yes it is faster, and for partitions i would say:

make 1 small partition vor windows, as you are going to install Windows vista make it an 30GB partition.
just install windows on it, thats it, keep it clean of other stuff.
and use the rest of your hard drive for programs and stuff.
normally if you install an program it wants to install on the C:/ drive, where your windows is, so you would need to change that to D every time.
if you are to lazy to change that every time(like i am) make the 30GB partition the D:/ and the big 970GB partition the C:/

the best way to do this is with an program like partition magic but with an vista installation it should be possible to.
make the big partition first and the small partition after that, and format the big one first, as C:/
never tried it becouse i have partition magic.

I didn't know you could install windows on a non C:/ Directory.

Why is this, please?

What performance gain is realized from keeping OS and programs separate?

Shane

It's less about performance gains and more about functionality, especially with todays hardware. If you isolate the OS from games and programs you can potentially keep the partition with the OS on it cleaner/less cluttered. It also makes defragmenting the hard drive easier, faster, when you have smaller chunks of HD space to defrag instead of large ones. Also if you ever run into problems just reformatting the OS partition and doing another clean install comes in handy.

less fragmentation, and when you need to re install windows you wont loose all your data.

There is very little benefit to creating partitions.

The only thing that should be on a separate partition or ideally separate drive is personal documents and data. Things like digital pics, MP3s etc.

Creating partitions eventually leads to unused and/or wasted space. Worst case you choose a partition size for your games and later on run out of space in that partition while there is still Gigs of space in another partition.

Thanks for the tips so far!

30Gb is enough then for Vista (Ultimate)? Should I install on the 1TB HDD and keep the 320Gb one as backup or other stuff?

There are countless people out there who have lost all their personal data because they had one single partition on their HDD. A virus, or lack of user capability, or something causes a corrupted OS - generally what is done to fix that is to re-install the OS, with a single partition that results in an irretrievable loss of personal data. The next thing that happens is that Joe Six-Pack gets mad at the hunk of plastic and silicon in front of him and proceeds to demolish it with the nearest blunt, heavy object. All that can be avoided by creating a simple, special, little partition for your OS, then in most cases a virus or whatever that screws over your OS will not affect the rest of your data when you have to re-install the OS. It's very simple to do and it is more than worth it.

***For Vista Ultimate you will want more space than that:
this is from Microsoft:
"￭ 40-GB hard disk that has 15 GB of free hard disk space (the 15GB of free space provides room for temporary file storage during the install or upgrade.) "
Since you have a whopping Terraflop of storage space I would go above and beyond and allocate 50GB for your OS partition. Generally Windows runs best if you keep your HDD at less than full capacity: ie. 80-85% or lower is my suggestion, esp. if you don't defrag on a manaical basis (like me lol). Good luck with your system! ***

A virus can affect any hard drive and partition on those those hard drives. Partitions wont protect your data from being infected with a virus, virus scanners will. Neither will partitions protect data from a hard drive failure. If the hard drive goes bad all partitions can be unaccessible. If you want to protect your data, back it up on seperate hard drives or other storage, not partitions on the same hdd.
You should take into account that even though the 1tb has 32 cache, it is also more than 3 times your 320gb drive with 16mb cache. I would check speed tests for both and put your OS on the fastest. Also making a partition on the drive other than your OS just for your swap files would help performance. Be sure to make this partition the first partition. You can use Parted Magic http://partedmagic.com/ to do this if you want to change your already partitioned hdd.

Don't bother with a partition. There really is no point. As many have said it often leads to wasted disk space.

There - two of the tech contributors whose input I value the most have posted totally opposing views.

That's partitioning for you, some swear by it, some swear about it. It's like defragging - some do it religiously, some never do it.

Vive le difference

With an abundance of disk space, why would anyone care about some wasted space on 30gig partition? Not making a partition just removes options down the road.

It seems to have more of a placebo effect, in my opinion. Some people really think partitions will actually stop malware from spreading, though it's not true. I've seen malware spread onto every partition.

The only good thing about multiple partitions is if you're going to install/run multiple OS' on said machine.

For myself partitioning is worth it simply for the ease of being able to wipe my "C" drive and to re-install Windows without affecting any of the rest of my programs, data, games, media, etc... It won't stop every virus out there or even slow down many of them, but it won't make them worse either. It's a convenience and ease of my mind factor that I have come to learn and love. ***with that said; to each their own. XD

Elder, you'd still have to reinstall all of your programs and things since wiping the Windows partition wipes the registry.

ive never been crazy about partitions but i love having a second drive where i put my important saves and such along with an external drive for backup and such. some programs you can do a quick install that only installs an icon if you have orignal program installed on another partition ot drive takes a lot less time

If you are planning to keep the 320g drive, use it for you OS install and put everything else on the 1TB drive.

I agree with Elder (and others) about partitioning. If you put the OS on a separate partition (or drive) and all your games, mp3s, mpegs, etc. on another drive or partition, then you don't have to worry about copying/backing-up any of the data if you need to reinstall the OS.
Yes, you still have to "reinstall" some of your programs after you reinstall the OS, but you (usually) won't lose any saved games and many programs will detect that they are already installed and just redo the Registry entries. Guild Wars is like that - after an OS reinstall you simply need to run gw.exe and it will redo the registry entries and work again as it did before.

Btw, you can often times fix a bad or corrupted Windows install by simply choosing to "repair" the current installation, instead of reformating and installing from scratch. (This is the repair option that comes up after you boot the machine off of the Windows CD and windows detects the current installation - not the earlier option to "Repair using the console")