[jonuck]

Have recently aquired a Large capacity Sata HDD and an eSata enclosure ..... my intent is to use it for backup and storage of data files in an effort to relieve my everdiminishing free space on my internal drives ... before I actually use this device it occurred to me that was there any real need to partition it ..... it is a Seagate 320gb unit so therefore it is quite a sizeable HDD. I am aware that partitioning is very much the domain of the personal user but could not the use of folders be an adequate way of file management. I am posing this at the more knowledgeable members of the forum and would welcome their advice on this. I must add this to post .... I am reffering to Multi-Partitioning in this post.


jonuck,

 

[Elvandil]

Partitioning is a personal preference, of course. But one thing to keep in mind is that having partitions larger than any backup medium you have could spell problems if you need to remove the data due to an impending failure. So make I no partitons larger than 40 gigs, for example, since I have a 40-gig HD sitting around for the inevitable day that the data must be moved and recovered.

But in addition to that, partitioning with XP insures that there are no partition table errors that my go unnoticed if you leave it as is, and will insure that file system's compatibility with XP.

 

[JohnWill]

FWIW, I don't partition my external drives, I prefer to have them all one large drive. I do partition drives in my systems, since I segerate boot, data, and work areas.

 

[bonk]

I have a partition on my External especially for my backup files and one for my Operating System backup ....the rest of the drive is just whatever I want.

 

[jonuck]

Many thanks Guy's for your response and observations ........ it would seem that there is no hard and fast criteria to be used in cases were large HDD's are used for backup and storage purposes and is very much governed by preference .... I have therefore decided in the interests of "Keeping it Simple" to leave my mega drive as one partition and hope I dont have a need to backup the backup.

jonuck.

 

[bigbear]

I tend to look at a storage drives the same way you would a filing cabinet, therefore I prefer partitions and give them names the same as a filing cabinet.
This way you can find data alot easier, especially if it is a multiuser pc.

 

[JohnWill]

Actually, I use my external hard disks in a similar manner, and I find that a single volume with folders is a better solution for me. One drawback of multiple partitions is that the space is allocated to a specific function, whether it needs it or not. With folders, you get to use all the space in a demand basis, and you have less wasted space on the backup volume.

 

[Rich-M]

Each to his own. I partition nothing, because it makes doing image files too difficult and no matter what I set up, I was always merging and repartitioning and I got sick of it.

 

[JohnWill]

It's easier to make an image file of a 500gig boot drive?

 

[Rich-M]

the only thing I would ever use 500 gb drive for is to store images on....I could never fill that, not in my dreams.