Format & Partitioning for W7

Hello. I have a new i5 3.3Ghz 2500 in an Asus P8P67 Pro B3 Rev 3.0 running 4 x Seagate 2Gb drives, one for W7 64 OS with the 100Gb hidden partition, one for programs & two in Raid 1 for image data.

All works fine.

I am thinking about improving reliability & speed performance by replacing the 2g W7 OS drive with a 2.5” Seagate XT Hybrid 500Gb & have had conflicting views on how to format & partition.

1. Retain the W7 100Gb hidden partition & install the OS & programs on the rest of the drive as a single partition.

2. No W7 hidden partition with 2 Partitions, one for W7 OS & the other for programs.

3. Retain the hidden partition with 2 partitions, one W7 OS, the other as the OS swap file.

4. Partition the whole disk as one with no hidden partition & just W7 OS & swap file. Programs to be installed on a seperate 2G drive.

5. A few other variations to the theme.

Recommendations will be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I vote for #1 - the hidden partition is there for a reason, and there is no need to separate with OS from applications. Especially on a solid-state drive, there is no physical barrier when partitioning like there is on a hard drive (where you can section off the first, 'fastest' part of a drive by using partitions). Just make sure to use W7's backup tool - or something similar - on a regular basis to back up your entire primary drive.
--
William George
Puget Systems Customer Care
[email protected]

1-888-PUGETPC (784-3872)
http://www.pugetsystems.com

WilliamMGeorge said:

I vote for #1 - the hidden partition is there for a reason, and there is no need to separate with OS from applications. Especially on a solid-state drive, there is no physical barrier when partitioning like there is on a hard drive (where you can section off the first, 'fastest' part of a drive by using partitions). Just make sure to use W7's backup tool - or something similar - on a regular basis to back up your entire primary drive.

Click to expand...

the OS and applications tend to be intertwined, so no, no reason to separate them. But I do want my data in a separate location - preferably another disk, but at the least a distinct partition so an OS reinstall doesn't take them out.

WilliamMGeorge said:

I vote for #1 - the hidden partition is there for a reason, and there is no need to separate with OS from applications. Especially on a solid-state drive, there is no physical barrier when partitioning like there is on a hard drive (where you can section off the first, 'fastest' part of a drive by using partitions). Just make sure to use W7's backup tool - or something similar - on a regular basis to back up your entire primary drive.
--
William George
Puget Systems Customer Care
[email protected]

Click to expand...

Thank you William, I have read that W7 boot problems can occur with the seperate hidden partition & that it is just as effective to have the associated files in the W7 OS partition.

Also Seagate XT Hybrids are not quite SSD's. anyone with experience using these?

Thanks again

kelpdiver said:

WilliamMGeorge said:

I vote for #1 - the hidden partition is there for a reason, and there is no need to separate with OS from applications. Especially on a solid-state drive, there is no physical barrier when partitioning like there is on a hard drive (where you can section off the first, 'fastest' part of a drive by using partitions). Just make sure to use W7's backup tool - or something similar - on a regular basis to back up your entire primary drive.

Click to expand...

the OS and applications tend to be intertwined, so no, no reason to separate them. But I do want my data in a separate location - preferably another disk, but at the least a distinct partition so an OS reinstall doesn't take them out.

Click to expand...

Thanks, for applications I was planning a separate conventional drive for PS CS5 & LR3.6 & a partition for the scratch. Or is it better to install on the same drive as the OS but in a separate partition & use the other drive solely as a PS & LR scratch disc?

I agree with Kelpdiver - programs on the same drive & partition as the OS. That is what is most natural, and the default when installing software. A separate drive for scratch usage can definitely make sense.
--
William George
Puget Systems Customer Care
[email protected]

1-888-PUGETPC (784-3872)
http://www.pugetsystems.com

I think you'll find that the hidden partition installed by Win 7 is around 100MB versus 100GB. Big difference. ;-)

PC vendors sometimes create much larger hidden partitions used for reinstalling Windows and Bloatware. But, if you're installing win 7 yourself, the hidden partition size is very small.

It's used to store boot related files, and is also used by Bit Locker if you use a version of Windows that supports that feature.

In any event, I think that what you're reading about it causing problems is probably BS, and it's such a small amount of disk space, I wouldn't worry about.

Now, if you really want to, there are some "hacks" that allow you to install Windows 7 without that partition (for example, creating a different partitioning scheme ahead of time versus letting Windows partition the drive). . But, why bother? It's a very small partition, and Win 7 is designed to use it.
--
JimC

Thanks William, much appreciated. Pls see what I have done below.

WilliamMGeorge said:

I agree with Kelpdiver - programs on the same drive & partition as the OS. That is what is most natural, and the default when installing software. A separate drive for scratch usage can definitely make sense.

Click to expand...

Hello Jim,

Jim Cockfield said:

I think you'll find that the hidden partition installed by Win 7 is around 100MB versus 100GB. Big difference. ;-)

Click to expand...

Thanks my bad

Member said:

PC vendors sometimes create much larger hidden partitions used for reinstalling Windows and Bloatware. But, if you're installing win 7 yourself, the hidden partition size is very small.

It's used to store boot related files, and is also used by Bit Locker if you use a version of Windows that supports that feature.

In any event, I think that what you're reading about it causing problems is probably BS, and it's such a small amount of disk space, I wouldn't worry about.

Now, if you really want to, there are some "hacks" that allow you to install Windows 7 without that partition (for example, creating a different partitioning scheme ahead of time versus letting Windows partition the drive). . But, why bother? It's a very small partition, and Win 7 is designed to use it.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your suggestion Jim. I don't much like sitting in front of a screen & was hoping someone knowledgeable here would save me butt time googling on a chair But, never mind.

Useful info links I have found that may be of help to others are below. I haven't read all.

What I have done is:

For a clean install on my new i5 image & video editing machine:

I formated the 500Gb Momentus XT as in the 7 forums tutorial below, with 3 partitions. One 200Mb for the hidden, one 300Gb for W7, programs & swap file & the third partition for data. This can be used to extend W7 & programs if more space is needed . One 2Tb as a scratch & 2 x 2Tb in Raid 1 for media data.

For my other W7 64 upgrade instal,l again on a 500Gb Momentus XT, was on my Utility & Web machine. An older Lenovo ThinkCentre M55 8810 Core 2 Duo E6400 Processor 2.13GHz with 1Gb ram & XP Pro 32 - single drive:

I first added 3Gb memory, taking it to 4Gb total, then formated the Momentus XT with 2 partitions. One 350Gb, no hidden partition & W7 64 OS, swap file programs everything together. Keeping the 2nd partition for sundry data & space to extend the OS partition or add the hidden partition later if needed.

The 2 above machines, 2 laptops & AV centre are hard wire networked to 2 Dlink 323 NAS each with 2 x 2Tb WD green in Raid 1.

This my 2nd day & all seems to work fine, much much better actually & the Momentus XT's are significantly faster on boot up & are noticeably faster with some processing. A particularly noticable improvement with the old Lenovo. I haven't (I don't) benchmarked as I have neither the time, inclination nor know-how

Fingers crossed, this setup should do me for at least a 2 - 3 years

Cheers & thanks again.

Formating ssd/hdd for W7:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html

Installing W7:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/windows-7-clean-install-part-1_10.htm

W7 Configuration:
http://tweakhound.com/windows7/tweaking/7.html
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.07.uac.aspx
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/
http://www.sevenforums.com/

Reviews of Momentus XT

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3734/seagates-momentus-xt-review-finally-a-good-hybrid-hdd/2
http://www.cluboc.net/reviews/hard_drives/hybrid/seagate/raid/p3.asp

Interesting discussion if video editing:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/3906950