Solved HDDs and split partition

n0mad

New Member
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Hi there, this is my very first post in here. I lurked a lot Seven forums and now I'm going to upgrade my whole system at home I'm going to install Windows 8 Pro.
I've got two SATA HDD, sadly I have not SDD :( , the first one contains two partitions: the first one with the OS and the second one with all the programs/games/utils I've installed in time. The second hard disk contains only datas like movies, pictures, music etc etc.

Just to be more clear, at the moment with Seven I've got C: with the operative system and D: with all software I installed in time with the two folder "Program Files" and "Program Files (x86).

As a fresh Windows 8 installation do you suggest me to maintain the double partition of the primary hdd or is it completely useless?

Thanks in advance for your answers and sorry for bad english and for the wall-of-text! :eek:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8 Pro
Hello and welcome.

In my opinion, you should definitely scrap the two-partition thing you got going and just use a single partition on that hard drive to hold Windows and all it's components.

Using multiple partitions and drives at the time of installing windows (in may experience) has caused the boot loader to be installed somewhere other than the partition the the windows installation resides without you knowing... until you remove one of the partitions or worse, format one of them and suddenly loose the ability to boot.

Because of this. when installing windows or upgrading I always remove all the other drives before installation.

I also suggest using Todo Backup to create system backups of the whole OS (takes about 20GB per backup) and storing the backups on the 2nd hard drive. It's very handy for restoring to the moment your new OS was totally set up with drivers and preferred software, instead of doing a fresh install when things get groggy. These backups have saved me many headaches.

One partition so so much simpler :)

It will make upgrading to an SSD a much simpler task too, when the time comes!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro Pack x64
    System Manufacturer/Model
    JohnOfE Special
    Other Info
    Too many systems and combinations!
Using multiple partitions and drives at the time of installing windows (in may experience) has caused the boot loader to be installed somewhere other than the partition the the windows installation resides without you knowing... until you remove one of the partitions or worse, format one of them and suddenly loose the ability to boot.

Yep...happened to me.

To answer your question; yes you can dual bot and it's fairly easy to set up...

Note with dual booting windows 8 and windows 7, you will get the windows 8 dual boot option which is much simpler then previous versions of OS options to choose from.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2344-dual-boot-installation-windows-8-windows-7-vista.html


Dual Boot windows 8 Pro and windows 7 - Microsoft Community
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom build
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X 4 965 BE
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4
    Memory
    G-Skill 8 GB PC 8500
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD XFX HD Radeon 6790D
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2l Samsung SyncMaster S20B300
    Screen Resolution
    1600 X 900
    Hard Drives
    Seagate Barracuda 320 GB w/OS
    Seagate Barracuda 1 TB data storage
    PSU
    Ultra X4 750 watt fully modular
    Case
    Thermaltake OverSeer RX 1 fulltower
    Cooling
    Cooler Master Hyper212 120mm
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Razor DeathAdder 3.5
Thanks for the answers, bassfisher6522 I already read those tutorials but my question was not about the dual boot but simply if it'd be better to split the primary HDD in two partition, first one for OS and the second one for later installed programs/games.

As JohnOfE wrote in the previous post I suppose is not a wise decision so I'll stick with 1 HDD = 1 partition for OS and applications.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8 Pro
Just to be more clear, at the moment with Seven I've got C: with the operative system and D: with all software I installed in time with the two folder "Program Files" and "Program Files (x86).

As a fresh Windows 8 installation do you suggest me to maintain the double partition of the primary hdd or is it completely useless?

Thanks in advance for your answers and sorry for bad english and for the wall-of-text! :eek:
If you like the setup, then why not do it again? Having 8 won't make things different than under 7 in this regard. If you have room, then you might want to put all programs on C:. Personally, I don't use such setups. My only reason for doing so would be to enhance performance (always well backed up). If there is a measurable performance gain, then I doubt it would be "felt at the seat of the pants." I'd rather use a second partition for something more fun--like dual booting (assuming, of course, your drives would be large enough).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7 Ult on DIY; Win8 Pro on MBP/Parallels; Win7 Ult on MBP/Boot Camp; Win7 Ult/Win8 Pro on HP
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY Rig; MacBook Pro (MBP)/Parallels/Boot Camp; HP Pavilion dv6500t Laptop
    CPU
    Intel i7-2600K (sometimes OC'd to 4.8 GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Rev B3
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 570 SC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gateway
    Hard Drives
    Dual Boot:
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on OCZ Revo x2 and
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on Caviar Black SATA 3's
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master 932 HAF
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Internet Speed
    20 Mbps Download/2+ Mbps Upload
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-ray Burner/DVD Burner
Thanks a lot to everyone for your answers. One more question: as I stated before I've got Seven and to be honest I didn't perform a clean install since very long time. Do you suggest me to upgrade my Seven to Eight or perform a clean installation of Eight?
Thanks again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8 Pro
You are very welcome. Why dump 7? Reinstall it cleanly before installing 8 (dual boot), although some hold apparently hold that you can install in either order without significant negative issue. Whatever you do, install 8 cleanly--definitely don't do an upgrade install over a possibly problematic 7 installation.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7 Ult on DIY; Win8 Pro on MBP/Parallels; Win7 Ult on MBP/Boot Camp; Win7 Ult/Win8 Pro on HP
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY Rig; MacBook Pro (MBP)/Parallels/Boot Camp; HP Pavilion dv6500t Laptop
    CPU
    Intel i7-2600K (sometimes OC'd to 4.8 GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Rev B3
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 570 SC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gateway
    Hard Drives
    Dual Boot:
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on OCZ Revo x2 and
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on Caviar Black SATA 3's
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master 932 HAF
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Internet Speed
    20 Mbps Download/2+ Mbps Upload
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-ray Burner/DVD Burner
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