Managing Harddrive Partitioning for effective system re-install

This time I'll discuss hard drive partitioning to make Windows more re-install friendly. 

This article is gonna be of great help to people who struggle with downloading system software after a clean install!

So lets get started.

HARD DRIVE PARTITIONING

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past decade(I know you haven't), you'll have a storage space of 500gb or more in your PC.

This section aims at explaining how to effectively use that 500gb(or more) in the form of partitions that separate Windows from all your important data and software. This way when you format Windows to do a clean install, you don't lose your important data or your software setups.

   

The screenshot below shows you my current partitioning setup with my 640gb hard drive

 

Local Disk (C) is where I have installed my Windows 7/is my operating system partition.

Data Storage (D) is where I have a backup of the setup of every software that I need for my system. It also houses a copy of all my important documents and photographs.

The Stuff (E) is where I dump all my movies, games and songs. It can also be used as a extended data storage partition should my Data Storage partition fall short on space.

System Reserved (F) is a partition created by windows upon install and should be ignored.

Points to infer:

1. Don't allot unnecessary space to your operating system partition. Unless you keep installing new software everyday, this partitions size will almost remain constant and will most probably never fall short on space. Recommended size - 80 to 100gb

2. Always make a separate partition for storing all your important software and data. Should you ever re-install Windows try and make sure that this partition contains all that you need to successfully get your system up and running. This is the Primary Backup. Recommended size - 150 to 200gb

3. Keep all non-system esssential stuff such as games, movies, music in a totally separate partition. Games usually don't need proper re-installation when you install a new Windows so you'll have no problems running them. Recommended size - 200gb or more

4. Always make a Secondary Backup of your software and data in an external hard drive. Use the secondary backup only in emergency situations when your primary backup fails you.

5. In all, you need 3 system partitions and 1 external backup.

How to create a system partition:

This article should be able to explain that perfectly: http://www.windows7news.com/2009/09/23/how-to-create-a-partition-in-windows-7/

Things to include for a effective System Backup:

• System Drivers: These are single most important category of software your system needs to function. Without these your system will either be crippled or will completely fail to run.
• Operating System Images: These are images of operating system you use. Mainly for helping you re-install should you ever lose your OS DVD
• General Softwares: These are the software that you would install on your PC. They include media players, archivers, productivity suites etc.
• A copy of the "My Documents" folder and all other important data.
• Any other thing that you find important
• Space permitting, you may also include game setups into this.

Advantage of such a system:

Consider the following scenario, 

You corrupted your windows install somehow and now it refuses to boot. 

If you followed this guide then you have all your system drivers and software available for ready install. You can easily set up a new Windows installation in a mere two hours.

However, if you didn't follow this guide then most probably your partitions are a total mess(just an assumption, you might have it better way that me) and lose tons of important data, software and all your system drivers. Now you're going @$@$!<>$>#$*&@#^@^$&@*#$*@ over the internet!!!!!!! ;)

This partitioning guide coupled with my article on Offline Windows Updates are the perfect guide for complete Windows re-install syndrome immunity(custom term, I used to suffer from it).

NOTE: Please refrain from making too many partitions on the hard drive as it will impact hard drive performance. This is explained in the following excerpt from Wikipedia

"Reduces overall disk performance on systems where data is accessed regularly and in parallel on multiple partitions, because it forces the disk's read/write head to move back and forth on the disk to access data on each partition[2][3] and to maintain and update file system administration areas on each partition. It also prevents disk optimizers from moving all frequently accessed files closer to each other on the disk, which could reduce the number and distance of required head movements. Files can still be moved closer to each other on each partition, but those areas themselves will still be far apart on the disk. (See "short stroking" considerations above.) This issue does not apply to SSD drives as access times on those are neither affected by nor dependent upon relative sector positions." 


Credits -  Anonymous commenter! (Thanks)

Since I'm in a train right now I can't post my own system's data backup screenshot. I'll do that once I reach home. That should really make the Data Backup easy to understand.


Thanks for reading,

Cheers! 

PS: Do enjoy the holiday season! :D