The_D0lph1n Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 My family recently bought a new desktop computer with a 2 TB SSHD. It comes factory partitioned into 2 partitions: one for the system (150 GB) and another for data (the rest). I'm ignoring all of the other system and UEFI partitions. Since both partitions are on the same physical disk, I don't see why having multiple partitions is necessary. My family will be the primary users of this computer; I have my own desktop and Surface, and they aren't that adept with the intricacies of computers. I'm thinking that it would be a better idea to get rid of the data partition and just have one big partition for everything. And since Windows doesn't use a separate swap partition, I don't see any downside to having just one partition. Anyone have any opinions on using multiple partitions on a single physical disk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ve7878 Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 (edited) It does make it easier in the event that you have to reinstall Windows should the need ever arise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anibal P Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 Just kill that useless data partition, make it one big proper partition and have a proper backup plan in place that family members cannot bypass It will make your life easier +Gary7 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimefighter Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 (edited) No, never keep data on the same partition or disk. Life is so much easier and so are backups that way. Personally, I think data should be on a separate drive and since HDDs are cheap... Why not buy a second drive for them or better yet a SDD and install Windows there? You didn't give the specs of the machine but it kills me when people buy a decent PC but it's crippled by using a HDD for the OS and programs. The only other question is your family good at saving files in the proper place? If not, the above advice will be wasted and you will have to backup the whole drive often. Edited August 13, 2016 by oldtimefighter goretsky 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anibal P Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 For most people, so those that are not OCD about it, multiple partitions or drives is adding a layer of unneeded complexity Even for me, one drive with proper backups and files synced to Gdrive/Dropbox is 100% easier to manage and recover from Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Montage Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 Important data should always be kept on a separate partition... Of a separate drive, in a different location, with redundancy and verification checks goretsky 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gary7 Subscriber² Posted August 13, 2016 Subscriber² Share Posted August 13, 2016 I have Windows 10 and my programs on one SSD and Steam and my Games on a 2nd SSD. I image my main drive just about every day. Only takes about 7 minutes. Dick Montage 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mando Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 17 hours ago, The_D0lph1n said: My family recently bought a new desktop computer with a 2 TB SSHD. It comes factory partitioned into 2 partitions: one for the system (150 GB) and another for data (the rest). I'm ignoring all of the other system and UEFI partitions. Since both partitions are on the same physical disk, I don't see why having multiple partitions is necessary. My family will be the primary users of this computer; I have my own desktop and Surface, and they aren't that adept with the intricacies of computers. I'm thinking that it would be a better idea to get rid of the data partition and just have one big partition for everything. And since Windows doesn't use a separate swap partition, I don't see any downside to having just one partition. Anyone have any opinions on using multiple partitions on a single physical disk? multiple partitions is a godsend if you frequently reformat, i have 3 seperate SSDs due to exactly that reason, to hell with downloading or achiving steam etc every format Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_D0lph1n Posted August 14, 2016 Author Share Posted August 14, 2016 To respond to a few questions asked about this computer: storage is really the only bad part about this machine: the CPU, RAM, GPU, and connectivity options are great. The PSU is probably not the best (considering that it buzzes when running 3DMark Firestrike), but the SSHD storage isn't very fast. I don't like that, but it's what I have to work with. As much as I would like to buy an SSD to use as a boot device out of principle, I can't justify the money for it. Concerning backups and system reformats: the computer that this new machine replaces is an old Vista desktop that has served since 2008 without a single reformat or OS reinstallation. I don't see this computer being reformatted or its OS reinstalled for at least 5 years (though the pace of Windows 10 updates might make that number more uncertain). I upgraded from Version 1511 to Version 1607 yesterday without any issues, so I think reformats or reinstalls of the OS are a dim possibility. Also, the users of this computer are not used to having multiple partitions (regardless of physical disks). Every previously owned computer has had only 1 partition and one disk. These users are the kind to click the "Default Installation" option when installing new programs. My planned course of action: I will keep the 2 partitions, but I will expand the System partition to take up roughly 1 TB of space, with the rest of the space going to the Data partition. Then I will redirect the user folders (Documents, Pictures, etc.) to place data in the data partition. My reasoning for this is that the move will ensure that user data is kept in the data partition. The users of this computer will generally access their files using the user folders anyways, so they won't notice the difference. The large System partition allows enough room for programs to be installed as well as any data saved to the System partition by accident. Is this idea any good? Mando 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goretsky Supervisor Posted August 14, 2016 Supervisor Share Posted August 14, 2016 Hello, That sounds like a good plan for your use case, but be sure to monitor disk space on both partitions periodically should you need to re-size things. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mando Posted August 14, 2016 Share Posted August 14, 2016 On 13/08/2016 at 5:46 PM, Anibal P said: For most people, so those that are not OCD about it, multiple partitions or drives is adding a layer of unneeded complexity Even for me, one drive with proper backups and files synced to Gdrive/Dropbox is 100% easier to manage and recover from ahh i dont keep any of my "files" on the PC, thats what my NAS is for (and backed up to LTO tape @work ) Anibal P 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_D0lph1n Posted August 15, 2016 Author Share Posted August 15, 2016 As it turns out, ASUS had placed a 500 MB Recovery Partition in between the System and Data partitions that cannot be moved by Windows. Other than using 3rd-party partition managers, I can't do anything about this. So I've just moved the user folders to the data partition, cleaned up some upgrade files on the System partition, and let it be. We never filled up the 500 GB hard drive on the old computer (at most using around 300 GB), so I don't see space being a problem with the current split of 150 GB System and 1.67 TB Data partitions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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