How should I partition my drive?

[Astroboy907]

I am receiving my 1tb WD Scorpio blue in the mail today, I am wondering how i should set it up...

I am not a super heavy user, but I do do lots of photo editing- i have 400gb in photos thus far (about 50,000 pictures).

I have some 20-30 gb of apps. And I will not delete them, many of them I actually do use, and adobe software takes up a lot...

I also have some 350gb of iTunes and other media data.

So this is how I was planning to partition my drive:

1st partition: System files and apps. Put it on first for speed issues. Problem is, I dont know how big to make it.... I was thinking 50-100gb

2nd partition: Photos. Make it my photo drive, and I can use aperture to link to it no problem. Probably make it a 450gb or so partition, I am going to go through photos a lot and try to thin it down by 10,000 or so pictures.

3rd. Partition: Media. Put my some 350gb of movies on it, and use it for video editing as well.

So basically, the first partition is for everyday use, so I want to have my web design files on it (right now cruising along at 6gb), as well as downloads, documents, etc. What size should I make this partition???

Edit: Also, how do I set up a drive for mac? I'll google while I wait...

 

[maflynn]

Why do you want to partition the drive? You'll receive no performance benefits from such an act and your data is no safer, that is, if the drive incurs a failure all partitions would be toast.

I recommend keeping one partition and organize your home folder in a way that fits your work flow

 

[Astroboy907]

Why do you want to partition the drive? You'll receive no performance benefits from such an act and your data is no safer, that is, if the drive incurs a failure all partitions would be toast.

I recommend keeping one partition and organize your home folder in a way that fits your work flow

I heard (and hoping this is true), that when you get a new drive, its best to put the system files all in one partition, at the very start, so read/write times are improved. I assumed this would put the system files at the edge of the disk, where the bits are going by faster then compared to near the center, therefore improving speed.

Ive been going with a partition on my old iMac for a while now with my photos all on one drive and media on the other, and my 250gb home drive. I'll be cutting my available data by 250gb moving to this single drive, but its worth it to me for portability... I dont have to take 3 drives with my macbook anywhere

 

[edk99]

You might save a few milliseconds here and there by partitioning a drive but now a days it is not really worth it.

Just as you are describing you have no idea how big to make them so odds are you will end up with a partition somewhere that is to big or to small.

If you really want to create a partition create an OS partition. Only reason I would even think about doing that is for easy reinstall of the OS and apps without having to copy your pictures and media back as it would be on another partition. That would be the ONLY reason to partition a drive.

I would not even think about creating one for photos, media and home drive. There really is no benefit in dividing up your data like that.

 

[Astroboy907]

You might save a few milliseconds here and there by partitioning a drive but now a days it is not really worth it.

Just as you are describing you have no idea how big to make them so odds are you will end up with a partition somewhere that is to big or to small.

If you really want to create a partition create an OS partition. Only reason I would even think about doing that is for easy reinstall of the OS and apps without having to copy your pictures and media back as it would be on another partition. That would be the ONLY reason to partition a drive.

I would not even think about creating one for photos, media and home drive. There really is no benefit in dividing up your data like that.

Thanks. Been reading up on short stroking and it looks like its not worth it to me, as it makes it reach further across the disk for your data.

 

[mikepro]

You are waaaaaay over thinking this.
No partitions.
Done.

 

[andyhe]

I won't recommend to do partitions.

I'm currently reading the OS X LION Essentails. It's talking about the PROS and CONS about multi-partitions. From my understanding, the only advantage of having multi-partitions is you can easily replace a damaged OS b/c of user's data being in another partition.

However, the disadvantages are:

1. You can't inefficiently use your space if you don't have a good plan. (You will lose storage when you have more than one partition.)
2. Boot Camp Assistant doesn't work for multi-partitions.

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One more thing I forgot to mention in the previous reply is that you will get benefits from having multi-partitions, if you have multiple user accounts on your Mac, and you want to configure some administrative settings. I don't think you will do it though.

 

[riptideMBP]

Not to go against what everyone is saying (which is definitely valid if you don't have a plan going into things), but partitions are a viable option. I put in my 1TB Scorpio Blue last week as my optibay drive and have three partitions working fine. My first partition for Bootcamp gets 100MB/s read write average, whereas my media/ssd clone partitions get closer to 60.

 

[MisterSensitive]

If you have to wipe and reinstall your OS (which I've had to do before), partitions can help you avoid the tedium of doing a full restore of everything.