Primary OS on a second partition (Full Version)

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SerenityNet -> Primary OS on a second partition (10/31/2009 9:44:55)

I've purchase Windows 7. But I will need to take my time in getting it implemented. I am thinking about partitioning my 1tb drive into three drives. I would put Win7 on the second partition. I'd put my data on the third, shared, partition. Then I'll just dual boot until I'm ready to move my data into the Win7 partition and kill the XP and data partitions.

However, I seem to recall from long ago that it is better to have the primary OS at the 'inside' of the drive, as access times are faster. I would suspect that my partitioning would put Win7 more towards the 'outside' of the drive.

Is this really a concern? Are there any other performance concerns? Should I just bite the bullet, wipe the drive, and do a clean install with one OS and one partition?

I'd appreciate someone knowledgeable on the subject providing some guidance.

Thanks in advance,
Andrew



bobby -> RE: Primary OS on a second partition (11/3/2009 19:21:48)

I don't know if 7 is the same, but Windows historically installs only on the first / primary partition. You would then install your other OS on a secondary, etc.

This used to cause me problems because I liked my Swap partition first, then the OS's... but I have not installed Windows on anything since XP.

The difference in information access from the inside of the drive to the outside is probably something you won't even notice. Long ago it was a reason to put the partition needing the most frequent access first so it physically resided on the inside, or shortest diameter, point on the disk.

These days the disk is spinning so fast and the interfaces have improved to the point I doubt an average user would notice a difference.

The real advantage to having a separate partition for Windows and one for data is two-fold in my opinion. First it makes it easier to backup your data... just copy the whole partition.

Second it means you won't have to restore your data every six months when you have to reinstall Windows.

[;)]

I am really curious to see how people like Win 7. I don't ever plan on using Windows again... but curious none-the-less.



SerenityNet -> RE: Primary OS on a second partition (11/3/2009 23:37:59)

Hey Bobby! It's good to 'hear' from you again. It's been a long time. Of course, that's because I don't get back much. My day job has been so busy that I haven't had time to hobby in web development for a few years now. But I'm grateful I have a great day job. And the free time I have, I do things with the wife. Life is good. I trust all is well with you.

quote:

Long ago it was a reason to put the partition needing the most frequent access first so it physically resided on the inside, or shortest diameter, point on the disk.


That's exactly what I remember. And you are sure right that the disks are much faster. Gosh, I remember my old 5mb Tacmar drive that I had back in the early 80's. It would take about 5 minutes to spin up to a stable speed! But how cool it was to have a 5mb drive. That was a lifetime of disk space (or so we thought).

Anyway, I went ahead and put Windows7 in on a second partition. It works great. I blazes compared to XP. Of course, I installed 64-bit and I haven't fully bloated it out yet. I've only installed Office 2007, so far. But then I've never been able to bloat out Linux either and Win 7 loads faster to wireless or wired internet connectivity than any full Linux distro I've tried. (Which I admit has been limited to Lindows/Linspire, Flonix, and Presto. Chubby Puppy and DSL are about the same speed as Win 7 They beat Win 7 on boot time, but Linux takes longer to get to the internet.) For all the hours I've wasted trying to get this or that working properly with this or that device on Linux, I could have had a life time of Windows reloads. On my netbook XP gets me to the internet in 65 seconds. It's a couple seconds longer (if it ever works) on Linux Presto. My final straw was after frittering away many hours unsuccessfully trying to get my Lenovo netbook to run Linux and give me stable wireless (broadcom chip) internet, I have decided I'll never run Linux again. Sorry Bobby :-(

I'll post back on how Win 7 works in the long run. Meanwhile, good to say 'hi' again.

Andrew



bobby -> RE: Primary OS on a second partition (11/4/2009 19:35:17)

Yes, all is well here. New day job has me in an office again so I have down time once in a while to check out the forums again!

You have gone above and beyond playing with Linux. If you never try again at least nobody can claim you never gave it an honest effort.

I bounced around with several distros and I agree, the time spent messing with it was as annoying as the time I spent fixing my windows machine.

So far I am really happy with Kubuntu. Ubuntu works great too, but I like the flashy KDE desktop better then Gnome.

It installed so easily that I thought I did it wrong. That could just be my HP / AMD settup but the only thing I ran into trouble with was the sound card. All that took was switching to a different driver.

I complained to my fiance because she had me wipe her Vista laptop and install Ubuntu. It literally took less than three minutes to install and was up and running right away.

Sadly, iTunes still will not play nice with Linux, so she went back to Vista...

It took me almost an hour to get Vista installed, updated and online.

I vowed never to install Windows again.

I still have to use it at work... and occasionally I will help a friend who still runs XP. Anything newer and I claim Sgt. Schultz...

[:D]



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