Solved Best way to split (partition) my Aspire 5742G 750GB HDD

stx2

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What would be the best way to split (partition) the 750GB Toshiba HDD of my Acer Aspire 5742G laptop? I intend to run Windows 8 Pro 64 bits on it. Currently I go 50/50: one half for system + aplications and one half for file storage. I have also relocated user files on D:. Thank you in advance.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
It will entirely depend on your usage. If you have a lot of very big programs (e.g. Games), you will need a big C partition and half of your HDD may be appropriate. But if you have only normal programs and a lot of data, a 50 to 60GB C partition will suffice. Then more space for the data may be better.

The way I use my system I would actually split it in 3 partitions.
1. C with 50GB (I have no games)
2. Data with 100GB (I have only a modest amount on data on the system. Most is on external disks)
3. the rest for images and other diverse uses like virtual partitions.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
Hi there
Make the OS partition around 55 GB (or even 60 GB) should be more than enough even for large installation.

How you divide the rest is up to you but if you can I'd split Music / Video / Photos / documents and misc data somehow so you can "Archive" these decently. For example Music - doesn't change much but you should archive it once -- re-ripping 1000's of CD's or re-obtaining and downloading stuff from iTunes isn't much fun.

Once you've done the split ensure you BACKUP THE OS DAILY. !!!!!!

Download something like GPARTED for manipulating the partitions.
GParted -- About

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
60 GB for C: not enough

Seems to me OS and aplications must be in the same place for faster computing. I do not know, I am not a professional. Right now, my C: is 53GB and I plan to add more aps. So if we have —as I do— Windows 8, plus Creative Suite 6 Master Collection, plus Office 2010, just to name a few; 60 GB could fall short (we have to consider Windows updates as well).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
Seems to me OS and aplications must be in the same place for faster computing. I do not know, I am not a professional. Right now, my C: is 53GB and I plan to add more aps. So if we have —as I do— Windows 8, plus Creative Suite 6 Master Collection, plus Office 2010, just to name a few; 60 GB could fall short (we have to consider Windows updates as well).

No that is enough for all that BUT consider the temp files, for instance if you have After Effects and use it, it needs 40GB disk space for temporary work cache and, literally, it takes that much. You can clean the temporary files from AE itself though.
You can specify another disk for the cache that's why 60GB partition is enough; the problem is the default locations (are bad in case of a small partition) and most users don't look into changing these.

Windows Update doesn't take much space and older system files get replaced with new ones so that's why no big space is needed.

Personally I can live with 60GB but it will fill pretty fast if you just install and use... you also need to maintain and replace otherwise.

In the end I have 230GB OS + APPS and another 230GB DATA and all worked out pretty well, CS and Office included or excluded, the extra space is always welcome on the Windows partition even if it's not filled for the moment. Just keep in mind that a image backup of that partition will also include all your programs and settings (from that partition) and you don't need to re-install all again if something fails or gets corrupted, just restore form the image.

Cheers
Hopachi
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy DV6 7250
    CPU
    Intel i7-3630QM
    Motherboard
    HP, Intel HM77 Express Chipset
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD4000 + Nvidia Geforce 630M
    Sound Card
    IDT HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6' built-in + Samsung S22D300 + 17.3' LG Phillips
    Screen Resolution
    multiple resolutions
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 250GB + Hitachi HDD 750GB
    PSU
    120W adapter
    Case
    small
    Cooling
    laptop cooling pad
    Keyboard
    Backlit built-in + big one in USB
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Sensei
    Internet Speed
    slow and steady
    Browser
    Chromium, Pale Moon, Firefox Developer Edition
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    That's basically it.
Seems to me OS and aplications must be in the same place for faster computing. I do not know, I am not a professional. Right now, my C: is 53GB and I plan to add more aps. So if we have —as I do— Windows 8, plus Creative Suite 6 Master Collection, plus Office 2010, just to name a few; 60 GB could fall short (we have to consider Windows updates as well).

Hi there
OK if 60 GB isn't enough --usually is -- make it 70 or even 75 GB on a 750GB disk. I've got FULL adobe CS6 suite, VMware workstation, Office 2010 professional, MySQL, Nero and a whole host of other stuff and I still am only up to 58GB.

The principle of separating OS and user data is what I'm trying to get at --if you keep user data in the same partition as the OS - then it's GONE any time you have to re-install or recover the OS.

The GPARTED link was for dynamically (or "in flight") re-arranging partitions without having to re-format disks etc - and you can do things that you can't do when running windows itself like re-sizing the OS partition.

Incidentally running on a 120 GB SSD -- I use a 55 GB partition for things like photoshop scratch space on the SSD . You really don't (or IMO shouldn't) need a whopping 230 GB for the OS and applications --also makes backing it up a chore. A 60 GB OS image can be backed up with Macrium free or Acronis in around 10 - 12 mins so backing up daily isn't an issue and the backups only occupy (compressed) around 25 - 30 GB.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
If you have a lot of RAM, the hiberfile and pagefile take a lot of space (same amount as RAM each). I always get rid of the hiberfile because I never use hibernation. The command is powercfg -h off. And the pagefile you can reduce to 1 or 2 GB with 4GBs of RAM or more.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
If you have a lot of RAM, the hiberfile and pagefile take a lot of space (same amount as RAM each). I always get rid of the hiberfile because I never use hibernation. The command is powercfg -h off. And the pagefile you can reduce to 1 or 2 GB with 4GBs of RAM or more.

Hi there
Most decent imaging programs won't normally include the pagefile in an image backup by default --there isn't any point in having it in the backup image any case. Sometimes you can specify in preferences or options to include or ignore specific files (or groups of files) in the image backup. This file would only be backed up in the case of doing a SECTOR by SECTOR backup -- generally not needed and will take a lot longer than the standard method decent backup software uses.

The hiberfile (if you are using it) adds very little space to the final backup - especially if you are using one of the commercial solutions such as ATH 2013.

I really wouldn't bother with messing around switching off / reducing the paging file - especially if you are using the OS on an SSD --just let Windows manage it all.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
Jimbo, it was not a suggestion for saving space on images. You are right, there it makes no difference because the empty spaces are being compressed.

The suggestion was to save space on the SSD. If you have 16GB of RAM, you can save 30GB of precious SSD space when you follow the instructions.

There was an OP the other day who was asking for help because he/she had 16GB of RAM using a 60GB SSD for the OS. You can imagine that this SSD was full to the rim.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
The suggestion was to save space on the SSD. If you have 16GB of RAM, you can save 30GB of precious SSD space when you follow the instructions.

There was an OP the other day who was asking for help because he/she had 16GB of RAM using a 60GB SSD for the OS. You can imagine that this SSD was full to the rim.

Does Windows 8 by default still put a big pagefile on a SSD by itself? I'm just asking because I don't have SSD to see the pagefile, if there is one.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy DV6 7250
    CPU
    Intel i7-3630QM
    Motherboard
    HP, Intel HM77 Express Chipset
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD4000 + Nvidia Geforce 630M
    Sound Card
    IDT HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6' built-in + Samsung S22D300 + 17.3' LG Phillips
    Screen Resolution
    multiple resolutions
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 250GB + Hitachi HDD 750GB
    PSU
    120W adapter
    Case
    small
    Cooling
    laptop cooling pad
    Keyboard
    Backlit built-in + big one in USB
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Sensei
    Internet Speed
    slow and steady
    Browser
    Chromium, Pale Moon, Firefox Developer Edition
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    That's basically it.
Horace, I don't know either. I am running Windows 8 in virtual. That was my assumption, but maybe I am wrong.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
Horace, I don't know either. I am running Windows 8 in virtual. That was my assumption, but maybe I am wrong.

Alright. Thanks for the answer Wolfgang.

I usually see a pagefile on all Windows installs I had, by default, so maybe you're not wrong at all (you can confirm that with Win7 as well since it's the same OS type).

The only exception here I saw, is a pre-installed Vista on a 2007 laptop that had no pagefile assigned on any disk. The OS still worked normally in my opinion, as it was pretty responsive. (no pagefile probably means the OS still uses a temporary small one because it's impossible to disable the paging they say; minimum size 16MB - 200MB depending on disk is allowed).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy DV6 7250
    CPU
    Intel i7-3630QM
    Motherboard
    HP, Intel HM77 Express Chipset
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD4000 + Nvidia Geforce 630M
    Sound Card
    IDT HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6' built-in + Samsung S22D300 + 17.3' LG Phillips
    Screen Resolution
    multiple resolutions
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 250GB + Hitachi HDD 750GB
    PSU
    120W adapter
    Case
    small
    Cooling
    laptop cooling pad
    Keyboard
    Backlit built-in + big one in USB
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Sensei
    Internet Speed
    slow and steady
    Browser
    Chromium, Pale Moon, Firefox Developer Edition
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    That's basically it.
Stick to the point

Ladies and gentlemen,
Many thanks for all your remarks.
I would like to point though, that sticking to the subject in particular as much as possible will be most useful not only to us, who use? this thread presently, but most importantly, it will help others in a more efficient way, when they perform a web search for maybe a similar situation they are facing.
When searching for information which mostly appears on forums, I in particular always want to find it quick and concise. A thread of —let us say— 4 or more pages is something I would rather not consider.
So if you allow me, although it certainly may affect performance; pagefile etc, is not strictly related to optimizing hard disk partitioning...
Thank you
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
If an original poster does not show up for 5 days, we ususally can assume that his/her problem is solved and the threads very often get diverted.

Is your problem solved or do you need more assistance.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy DV6 7250
    CPU
    Intel i7-3630QM
    Motherboard
    HP, Intel HM77 Express Chipset
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD4000 + Nvidia Geforce 630M
    Sound Card
    IDT HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6' built-in + Samsung S22D300 + 17.3' LG Phillips
    Screen Resolution
    multiple resolutions
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 250GB + Hitachi HDD 750GB
    PSU
    120W adapter
    Case
    small
    Cooling
    laptop cooling pad
    Keyboard
    Backlit built-in + big one in USB
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Sensei
    Internet Speed
    slow and steady
    Browser
    Chromium, Pale Moon, Firefox Developer Edition
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    That's basically it.
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