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Why partition a hard drive?

3K views 33 replies 13 participants last post by  tompatrick 
#1 ·
Long question
Set-up:
Late 2010 iMac 27" i7, running 10.6.8, Mavericks also installed but never used.

Three existing hard drives-divided into multiple partitions;
A) 2Tb internal with Boot partition with Apps, Mavericks partition, a large iTunes partition, Raw video partition and a "overhead" ie junk file.
B) 2Tb external with partitions for cloned back-ups of Boot drives, iTunes, video, and photos
C) A WD 4Tb drive with archive of compressed copies of video files and photos
- (this is a USB 2 drive, and I feel it is slowing everything down - will become off-line storage)

And now a brand new external 4Tb G-Tech drive (firewire) - thinking/planning to partition half for iTunes, the other half for misc files and scratch disk.

I try to carefully estimate the space required for each, but they are either full or there is a percentage of space left un-used/un-useable on each partition. Re-partitioning is a pain!

Finally, my question
I'm wondering if I should remove some partitions & rely on folders to organize everything, this would permit better use of all available space.

Any comments would be appreciated
 
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#2 ·
Partitions are the way to go for multiple boot drives. You can have different versions of the operating system on different partitions. You can also make bootable backups of an OS on a different partition. You usually don't need a very big partition for the OS. 20 Gigs used to be plenty for the OS, but I'm not sure about versions newer than Snow Leopard.

There's probably not much need to partition for anything other than a bootable OS. If a file can be directly copied, then it can be done in another folder. There's no need to create a new partition just to store, copy, or backup non-OS files.


I'd look at the size of your Maverick OS, and create a couple of partitions that are twice as big. They should still be very small partitions. What's left over can be one huge partition for all your iTunes and other files.
 
#17 ·
Partitions are the way to go for multiple boot drives. You can have different versions of the operating system on different partitions. You can also make bootable backups of an OS on a different partition. You usually don't need a very big partition for the OS. 20 Gigs used to be plenty for the OS, but I'm not sure about versions newer than Snow Leopard.

There's probably not much need to partition for anything other than a bootable OS. If a file can be directly copied, then it can be done in another folder. There's no need to create a new partition just to store, copy, or backup non-OS files.


I'd look at the size of your Maverick OS, and create a couple of partitions that are twice as big. They should still be very small partitions. What's left over can be one huge partition for all your iTunes and other files.
That's a very poor strategy. A back up on a different partition of the same drive is virtually having no back up at all. Backups should be on different drives, not a different partition of the same drive.
 
#4 ·
Partitioning is a waste of time and effort. Better to use multiple drives (which you seem to be using anyway). Drives are dirt cheap these days. If you need multiple OSs make the necessary drives bootable. Never partition the boot drive(s) because it slows it down.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for your comments
@ Rob
I do keep the OS's on separate partitions & on separate drives makes switching faster/easier. Always kept my work in a dedicated "Jobs" folder - never liked the predefined Documents folder in with the system.

@ IllusionX & rgray
Thanks for the tips - didn't know partitioning slowed things down! If I eliminate some partitions maybe it will perk up.

Hope moving 1 TB of iTunes media to the external will not take too long -think I'll leave the database in the original iTunes folder on the boot drive.

Thanks again
 
#7 ·
The beauty of a partitioned drive is that the OS need only be backed up immediately before running updates and changes then again once you are positive the updates did not do any harm.

OS back-ups can be in the form of disk images and usually take about half an hour to create. They can be temporarily installed on a secondary partition in a matter of minutes and a very thorough test drive done. When the next back-up needs testing, the current one is erased but the disk-image is still available as needed should something go wrong.

Data back-ups are simple drag and drop and completely independent of OS back-ups. The real beauty of this is that should a HD die, you can be back-up and running in a fraction of the time of other methods. Often as little as 10 minutes.

Does it feel more complex than time machine back-ups? Yes but over all far a good deal safer. Also it eliminates the need to have secondary drives continuously mounted and in use, unless your media libraries are simply too big to fit your primary HD.

Is it for everyone? Absolutely not, nor do I routinely recommend it. That said I still use partitioned drives. My Snow Leopard cold boot times are under 20 seconds with an ordinary 7200 RPM HD. Not much longer should I chose to boot from my sandbox version. A great way to go for testing new software without worrying about the current back-up status.

If you are running sufficient RAM to avoid page-outs there is certainly there is no performance hit. If anything there is a slight performance boost because I have TimeMachine completely disabled.
 
#8 ·
Thanks everyone - I appreciate your comments

I've checked on other sites, especially Apple's "community" site and there definitely is a divergence of opinions on partitioning.

I was under the impression that partitions were the way to go, and now I'm questioning that practice as I think I've over-done it. As a rule I back-up everything, and archive my projects - years of Graphic Design has burned into me the value of archiving clients files.

Now retired, I'm into recording OTA Tv shows and converting into iTunes - this results in an ever increasing volume of video - ie raw recording, editing, convert to iTunes. Plus transferring old VHS tapes to digital before the tapes disintegrate or my ancient VCR dies.

Saving all this to partitions means I have to re-organize & re-partition more often than I would like.

Therefore. I'm considering partitioning only the system (Snow Leopard) and the cloned back-up (separate partitions on separate drives) and the same for Mavericks. Everything else will be organized in folders (also backed up)

As far as I know, running iTunes Media (ie the video etc) on an external drive and keeping the database ( iTunes Library.itl & iTunes Library.xml etc etc) in the user library, should not be a problem.

Question for the technically gifted: 
Can I pull all the applications out of the boot drive and leave just the system files - i’m not sure as I think some apps need to install bits into various parts of the system.

Anyway; I would appreciate any thoughts/comments/polite suggestions :D
 
#10 ·
Thanks everyone - I appreciate your comments

I've checked on other sites, especially Apple's "community" site and there definitely is a divergence of opinions on partitioning.

I was under the impression that partitions were the way to go, and now I'm questioning that practice as I think I've over-done it. As a rule I back-up everything, and archive my projects - years of Graphic Design has burned into me the value of archiving clients files.

Now retired, I'm into recording OTA Tv shows and converting into iTunes - this results in an ever increasing volume of video - ie raw recording, editing, convert to iTunes. Plus transferring old VHS tapes to digital before the tapes disintegrate or my ancient VCR dies.

Saving all this to partitions means I have to re-organize & re-partition more often than I would like.

Therefore. I'm considering partitioning only the system (Snow Leopard) and the cloned back-up (separate partitions on separate drives) and the same for Mavericks. Everything else will be organized in folders (also backed up)
You have some software that requires Snow Leopard? Maybe for Rosetta (PPC software)? Otherwise, why maintain two operating systems?

As far as I know, running iTunes Media (ie the video etc) on an external drive and keeping the database ( iTunes Library.itl & iTunes Library.xml etc etc) in the user library, should not be a problem.
I take it you have many gigs of video in iTunes that you're storing on an external drive. Media on one drive (partition) and database on another will work fine.

Question for the technically gifted: 
Can I pull all the applications out of the boot drive and leave just the system files - i’m not sure as I think some apps need to install bits into various parts of the system.

Anyway; I would appreciate any thoughts/comments/polite suggestions :D
Why do you want to separate the applications from the system? I think it is possible but I can't think of a good reason to want to do it.

Craig
 
#9 ·
Partitioning used be to very common and offered solutions to problems that for the most part no longer exist. People like to cling to the idea's that worked in the past though and tend to propagate them long past their expiry date.

That said there are valid reasons to still partition a drive but for the vast majority of people a single partition is all that's required.
 
#11 ·
I have a 2 TB USB 3 eternal partitioned 500 GB as bootable clone and the remaining 1.5 GB as Time Machine. I have about 2,000 songs on my iTunes, but I have over 200 movies and some home videos as well. I keep the iTunes in total on a 1 TB external, but I transferred just my music to iTunes on the resident drive in the MBP (duplicated on my Mac Mini) so I can play music whenever I want without the external. If I want to watch a movie, I simply plug in the external and select the library using the option key to use the external iTunes. Works well for me and yes, the external is indeed backed up with a second external. No partitions involved.
 
#12 ·
@ WCraig
A) I run Snow Leopard because I feel comfortable with the interface, - it has what I need, doe what I want.
I installed Mavericks in order to give it a fair trial, learn what it has to offer.
Not impressed, prefer Snow Leopard. No good reason at this time to change.

B) Yes, just under 1 TB of video (mostly recorded TV programs - British shows, Nova, Science, History and of course - Downton Abbey.

C) I was just thinking about ease of repair/upgrading /tweeking the system, and keeping only one collection of apps - just wondering.

@ Sinc
I don't have that many movies - yet, and very few bits of music, but I do have a lot of TV videos, which is why I'm moving to A 4TB G-Tech firewire drive. I have iTunes running all day - family can access via Apple TV.
 
#15 ·
Sure,you can remove some partitions & rely on folders to organize everything, thus ,you can have better use of all available space.However,deleting system partition has a little risk,it may cause a loss of data and system breakdown.I suggest that you use professional partition software to do this job in case of a system failure.Here i introduce a simple and safe method of removing partition: Move Partition with Partition Assistant
 
#18 ·
To Partition or not to Partition - that was the question - (apologies to Bill Quiverlance)

I do intend to keep my System(s) & back-ups partitioned and on separate drives - all the other non-system files will now be organized into folders. ( All of my former client related stuff was removed and is archived onto DVDs/CDs/ or tape - which is another problem for another day!)

As for security, Yes, that is something to be aware of, however the latest problem - the "gotofail" bug, was not/is not present in Snow Leopard and did not require a security patch - only the newer systems.:D

But yes,I agree - There will be other security issues to worry about.

I'll stick with Snow Leopard for the time being, but I realize my cozy position is slowly eroding away and at some time I will have to move along. However I think my trusty iMac still delivers all that is required and is not yet ready to join my SE30 or the IIFX on the shelf.
 
#22 ·
Interesting topic.

I partitioned a 1.5 TB secondary external back-up drive into three 500 GB partitions each of which is used to do a back up using CCC for three different Macs in my family.
Are you suggesting I don't need to partition that drive and that I can just run the three back-ups to a single partition 1.5TB external drive?

Everyone is still running SL.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Well it would pretty much amount to the same thing, but that is not really my point.

Partitioning adds little to nothing in terms of data security on the same drive.

IMO your strategy is flawed. A partition is not the same thing as being a separate drive, not at all especially for back ups and data security.

You are potentially subjecting all 3 of you to one catastrophic HD failure.

If that one drive fails you lose all the "so called" backups. If you really want all 3 to be truly and individually backed up you need (at least) 3 separate 500GB drives to protect the data of your family members.

Just to add, they are really inexpensive these days.

In days long gone now when drives were very expensive your strategy might be worth the risk, where only one or even two partitions could be corrupted while the other(s) remain intact. Personally I fail to see why one would take that kind of risk in this day and age.
 
#26 ·
I'm not really worried about data security - I partition simply because I thought one cannot back up three different Macs on the same hard drive without partitioning so that each back up is on its own partition.
Time Capsule has a single drive that allows many computers to back up to it without partitioning the drive for each new computer that wants to do a backup to it. The way you have it set up now each machine has 500GB worth of space...that might be fine but what if machine 1 contains more data and would really use 750 GB while the other could get away with 250? In your partitioned world that can't happen.
 
#28 ·
1.THE FOLLOWINGS ARE THE REASONS OF WHY PARTITION A HARD DRIVE:

Most PCs come from the factory with a single partition on their hard drive, meaning that it shows up as one drive in the Computer window (as C:, typically). But keeping your data, applications, and operating system on the same partition can be risky because, if something happens to the partition's index file (the file that tells your computer where the various pieces of your data are located), your computer won't be able to boot up off that drive--and even if you boot up with a recovery disc or external drive, you won't be able to access the rest of your data.

One drive, three partitions.
Partitioning your hard drive essentially tells your computer to treat portions of that drive as separate entities. If you keep your system and apps on a partition separate from your data (documents, music, video, and the like), the data will be easier to back up (because your backup utility won't bother to copy the system and apps, which you can reinstall from the discs or redownload from an online source). In addition, you'll be less likely to lose your data in an accident; and if you ever need to reformat and reinstall Windows, you won't have to worry about restoring your data backups.
You can also set up an emergency partition. Suppose that Windows unexpectedly croaks and you don't have your emergency boot disc handy. If you've created a bootable partition that's large enough to contain a stripped-down OS and a handful of diagnostic tools, you can use it to rescue your data and salvage your computer. Some computer manufacturers (Lenovo, for example) supply a built-in emergency partition on some of their PCs, but you can make your own, if your PC lacks one.

Finally, partitioning lets you try out other operating systems--like Linux, for example. Generally, two operating systems can't coexist on the same volume without stepping on one another's toes, so you won't be able to dual-boot Linux or ease into Windows 7 if you're on a single-volume system.

THE FOLLOWINGS ARE THE WAYS OF HOW TO REMOVE PARTITION:
1
Close all programs once you have backed up all your data. Right click on "My Computer" in your Start Menu and select "Manage." If using Vista, select "Continue" when prompted for permission.

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2
Select "Disk Management" from the left-hand menu. This will open the disk manager interface and may take just a minute.

3
Select your desired partition by left clicking on it once. Then right click on it and select "Delete Volume" (labeled "Delete Partition" in XP). You will be prompted as to whether or not you want to continue and warned that all data will be lost.

4
Select "Yes" at the prompt, and your partition will now be deleted.
 
#29 ·
Launch Boot Camp Assistant (found in the Utilities folder inside your Applications folder), click the Continue button in the first screen, select the Create or Remove a Windows Partition option in the next screen, click Continue again, select the drive that has your Boot Camp partition, enable the Restore Disk to a Single Mac OS Partition option, and click Continue. You’ll be prompted for your administrator’s name and password. Click OK and Boot Camp Assistant will restore the disk to a single Mac OS partition.
 
#30 ·
An interesting topic. Thanks for posting.

Remember those days, when hard drives were of small sizes so computer had only 1 partition. My first PC had 40GB hdd and had 1 partition which was C drive. Today, when I am working on larger hard drive no matter for PC or Mac, I must partition in order to organise my data. On my Mini 500GB, I had 2 separate partitions 1 for 10.8 and 1 for 10.9, 1 volume acts as time machine backup disk, other 2 are saving my professional and personal data respectively. Now, even after all this my hdd has enough space to accommodate a 3rd OS X perhaps the 10.6. All this and so, hope my hdd or OS X not becomes slow after installing a 3rd OS X. Current RAM is 4GB. All in all, lots of benefit having partitions on the drive.
 
#33 ·
Do you have a separate (ie another stand-alone drive) back-up?



WHEN your drive fails - all will be lost
Thanks for bringing this up. I am fully aware that creating a time machine back up on the same disk hardly make sense. Since my Mac is new I am sure a drive failure is not in near future. My next strategy would be assigning an external hard drive for TM backups.
 
#32 · (Edited)
Remember those days, when hard drives were of small sizes so computer had only 1 partition. My first PC had 40GB hdd and had 1 partition which was C drive. Today, when I am working on larger hard drive no matter for PC or Mac, I must partition in order to organise my data. On my Mini 500GB, I had 2 separate partitions 1 for 10.8 and 1 for 10.9, 1 volume acts as time machine backup disk, other 2 are saving my professional and personal data respectively. Now, even after all this my hdd has enough space to accommodate a 3rd OS X perhaps the 10.6. All this and so, hope my hdd or OS X not becomes slow after installing a 3rd OS X. Current RAM is 4GB. All in all, lots of benefit having partitions on the drive.
I really hope that using a secondary volume of the main HD as a TimeMachine volume would be only to recover an earlier version of a file should the need arise.

Otherwise this user has no back-up strategy.

Other than that having TimeMachine write to the source drive has to be causing some sort of a performance hit.
 
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