Just got myself a new 40 gb hard drive and would like to learn the pros and cons of partitioning the hard drive.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Got Partition Magic 8 but will wait to see what feedback I get before taking the leap!

Cheers

Michael467

well if it is a new drive you can use FDISK
I would make 1 10GB partition for hte OS only
Leave the rest for the data

Partitioning a drive just makes things more manageable and organized.

Partioning a drive is really a matter of user preference.

I agree with Gambit, it is a case of things being a bit more manageable and everone does it in different ways for different reasons.for example jackmegood posted that he would make a 10gig partition for the OS, I however would use a 4 gig partition for this but that is based on the way I setup my own PC's.in work the desktop support guys do it with a 2gig partition as all apps etc are run from the server, so they just need the basic OS and a little room for a few browsers and clients to be installed

It can also be handy if your messing around with your pc a lot and your data messes up, you often only loose one partition. I dont bother nowadays though, just preference. Anyway, its easily done assuming your drive is empty (its risky to try things like partition magic for drives with data on them), anyway....
--Boot up into dos/command promt (may require you to boot up with a win 98 cdrom in the drive and select "with cd-rom support". Alternatively create a bootable floppy and boot with that.
--type fdisk, enable large disk support (just type "Y")
--Delete any existing partions (if there are any) - follow menu
--create a primary DOS partition and state the size you want it to use when promted (think they ask in percent). You may now need to restart (prob a good idea anyway)
--Create your secondary DOS partition (agin using Fdisk, see menu) Restart
--Once again, boot from floppy and format your drives. It will be as though you have to drives so probably assigned letters C and f or similar.

NB: With XP (and 2k, not sure about other OS's) you can alter the letters you assign to partitions and drives. Administrative tools, disk managements (local).

Hope this helps!

Well,if you have Partition Magic,you can change the partition size anytime.I would set it at 4gig(OS) and divide the remaining into 2 partitions.Like I said with PM you can make the partitions larger at will.
joer4,why the heck should he go through that routine? PM is a lot simpler and from my experiences,perfectly safe.I have NEVER had problems resizing partitions with data on them.Just be sure to follow the directions!Of course I don't use PM anymore.Why pay money for something you really don't need?Also most new drives come with utilities to do all of the same thing,without going through that dos routine!Come into the 21st century,DOS IS DEAD!

Will have a shot using Partition Magic and will setup the OS to 4 gb. That would leave me with 36gb spare. If I was to go with the 2 partitions for the remainder (36 gb), should I split that 50/50?

What would be a logical setup?
4gb for OS
18gb for programs
18gb for documents, downloads etc....

Thanks for the replies so far and hopefully any answers to the latest will set me on my way!

Michael467