Partitioning Questions

Hi,

Let me first explain that I am a photographer, and I work with massive amounts of images. One issue with my current machine, is that I have run out of HDD space(1TB) for images.

I have a new iMac on the way, with a 2TB internal HDD, double what my current internal storage space is.

I prefer to keep my images on the internal hard drive for speed purposes. Another reason I prefer this is because of Time Machine. I like how Time Machine does backups, it is convenient for my work-flow, and I would like to keep it that way.

I have been pondering the idea of partitioning my new iMac, something like:

OSX - 150GB
Photos - 1500GB
Everything Else - 350GB

Now, I am no stranger to partitioning drives, from my PC days. But this will only be my second Mac, and it didn't even dawn on me to install OSX on a separate partition to the rest of my data. I love the idea; it should make for a snappier machine in the long-run.

150GB should be sufficient for OSX and all future professional programs, I think.

Is it a bad idea to create and entire partition JUST for photographs? My logic for doing this is: I can use Time Machine to backup JUST this partition to a specific hard drive, so I have an efficient backup of my pictures. I could use another external HDD to backup the other partition of 350GB. Would I run into any problems doing this? Or would it make more sense to just make 2 partitions, one for OSX and one for all of my data?

I look forward to hearing your opinions.

Thanks!

-Connor

 

Thanks for the reply.

This is exactly why I'm asking, because I don't know if this is a silly decision, and more work than is necessary. I'm not set on doing this, because I'm not sure if it's the right solution.

Is it true that if I had a separate partition for OS X than the rest of my data, that OS X would be "cleaner" over a longer period of time?

I ask because my current iMac is very capable, but at 4 years, is starting to slow. I think a clean install would speed things up a bit...

-Connor