Reformat....

[Backtothemac]

Ok, here it goes. This weekend I have decided to reformat my hard drive. There have been a lot of wierd little things happening lately, and I can't take it anymore. I get black lines over icons, and when the dock zooms over an open finder window, it leaves half of the icons from the dock on the Window. I am only working on my iMac this weekend, and will leave the iBooks for the following two.

Now, here is my question. I have never really gotten deep into partitioning. I have an OS X partition, and a 9 partition. The only reason that I have 9 at all is so that my daughter can play her games on the computer, because they are all 9.

What I need is some advice on partitioning for optimal performance.

Here is what I use.
In OS X. Office v.X, iApps, Virtual PC, and tinker with Photoshop. I have over 4,000 mp3's and *cough* a lot of videos. I never use nine for anything other than my daughters games. I want to also have it ready for Jaguar when it is released. Should I give the mp3's their own partition? What about the vids. How complex do you get with your schemes?

 

[jelloshotsrule]

several very techie smart people here have said they use 1 partition... i think alpha is one of them. could be wrong though. i'm using one.

however, i plan to repartition pretty soon, and when i do, i'm going to do 2. one for 9 and one for x. which is what you said you have...

i personally don't know what the whole "swap drive" is all about, so i wouldn't really do that.

i think with what you do, the 2 would be fine. but that's me.... not a techie.

 

[AlphaTech]

One partition is the way to go. You don't have to worry about linking to items on the second partition and them not being found. It was posted in another thread about someone having a 'users' partition, but it occasionally cannot find the user information, and he has to either set it up fresh, or reboot the system. I wouldn't stand for that. For me, the days of more then one partition are long gone. Even on peecee's, I have just a single partition (no matter how large the drive is).

With HFS+ formatting, the block sizes do not get smaller with smaller partitions/drives.

 

[iGav]

One partition is the way to go.

Cool..... that's what I'm hoping to do in the next week on my TiBook, I currently have a 2 partitions 16.5Gb for OS 9 and 2Gb for OSX, but have decided to reformat next weekend, and finally make OSX my OS of choice because of all the new software I've got coming over the next week or so that'll allow me to almost work natively in OSX.....

 

[Backtothemac]

Alpha, if you have one partition, do you change the file structure of the system, or to you stay with Apple's defaults. I have heard some complain that they create folders, and move apps, and then with an OS update they all go back to the default.

What do you think?

 

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by Backtothemac
Alpha, if you have one partition, do you change the file structure of the system, or to you stay with Apple's defaults. I have heard some complain that they create folders, and move apps, and then with an OS update they all go back to the default.

sorry to be dumb, but what do you mean by file structure? the apps, home, etc folders? if so, how would you change that per se?

if not, what you mean big dawg?

 

[Backtothemac]

Originally posted by jelloshotsrule


sorry to be dumb, but what do you mean by file structure? the apps, home, etc folders? if so, how would you change that per se?

if not, what you mean big dawg?

You got it. Like put all creative apps in a folder, all internet apps in a folder, all music apps in a folder. Stuff like that. I know you cannot delete the Application folder because of permissions, but just seeing if people have messed with the structure.

 

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by Backtothemac
You got it. Like put all creative apps in a folder, all internet apps in a folder, all music apps in a folder. Stuff like that. I know you cannot delete the Application folder because of permissions, but just seeing if people have messed with the structure.

yeah, that's something i used to do in 9, and started doing in x til i realized it didn't seem to play all that nice...

overall, i think that with the dock, it's not too big a deal to have a big apps folder, rather than sorted. i put the main apps in the dock, then just have everything in the apps folder. but, ideally, i could organize it. i'm curious to see if other folks have done this without any problems....

 

[Mr. Anderson]

I use a single partition, but I have multiple drives, so its somewhat like dual partitioning in some respects. I haven't put OSX on my Sawtooth yet, but when I do, should I put it on the same drive as the OS9 or on the other one?

 

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by dukestreet
I use a single partition, but I have multiple drives, so its somewhat like dual partitioning in some respects. I haven't put OSX on my Sawtooth yet, but when I do, should I put it on the same drive as the OS9 or on the other one?

do you have x and 9 on the same drive?

i have 2 drives too... when i repartition, should i go 1 drive for x and 1 drive for 9, or one partition for x and one partition for 9.... hmmm

 

[eyelikeart]

I have 2 partitions...1 for 9.2...1 for X....and I'm quite happy with the setup...

I just wish I had switched the parition volumes for each OS...

now that I hardly use the 9 partition...I would prefer to have the extra space for X...

oh well...

 

[LethalWolfe]

I have 2 partitions. One for 9 and X, and the other for all my files/data. This way if/when I do a clean reinstall of the OS, I don't have to worry 'bout backing up gigs and gigs of files.


Lethal

 

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by LethalWolfe
I have 2 partitions. One for 9 and X, and the other for all my files/data. This way if/when I do a clean reinstall of the OS, I don't have to worry 'bout backing up gigs and gigs of files.

is that a pain when it comes to apps and the system folder(s) and also the whole os x file structure?

i mean, the preferences and app support and all that... how does that work, in your setup, doing a clean install of os? must you also reinstall all apps?

 

[strider42]

I have 5 partitions:

1 for my main OS that I keep rather small, a cuople fo gigs. This isolates it from the rest of the system, meaning problems on other partitions and fragmentation won't hurt this all important partition, and vice versa.

I keep a utilities partition, whcih is great. I can boot form it and run my utilities without breaking out all the various CD's. Much quicker and makes updating easier.

I have one for CD burning thats the same size as a Cd, whcih means that when toast is looking for all the files, it doesn't have to run all over the disk to find them. They are all concentrated on the one partiiton.

I keep all my files and apps on another, larger partition. This one takes up most of my drive. This allows me to grow as much as I like and keeps my files and apps from causing any problems with other partitions, and keeps them safe as well.

Finally, a scratch disk. This is a couple of gigs, used for grahpics program scratch files, internet downloads, and other things that can be large, temporary or change frquently. this minimizes fragmentation and directory corruption. End result is that my system is more stable than ever and I haven't had any major breakdowns despite a lot of downloading that would of wrecked the directory on my other partitions. With this partition, I can just reformat it whenever I want.

 

[edesignuk]

I use one partition, because that's how it was delivered if I ever do need/bother to rebuild I will set one partition per OS e.g OS9 / OSX

 

[sparkleytone]

everyone who is using OS X has multiple partitions in the sense you are speaking of. What you really need to do is differentiate between partitions and logical drives. OS X is full of logical drives off of a single partition. What you see in the finder is simply a software mount into your /Volumes directory. It is functionally the same as any disk image mounted to install programs. Realize that because OS X is true UNIX, all GUI functions are fundamentally scripts to do command line operations.

 

[AlphaTech]

strider42, bit of a problem with reformatting a partition (at least under OS 9.x), when you do that, you initialize the DRIVE... which means, everything gets wiped out. I haven't tried doing this under OS X, since I use just one partition, but I would imagine it's the same.

When I create cd's, most of the time I start with a cd image and just alter it as I need to. That way, I don't have to d*ck around with moving files to a partition and hoping that I get it all. It also helps when I create my utility cd, since I just mount the image, alter it as I need to, and burn it (as a bootable cd for OS 9.x). When I am done, I dismount the image and it's all done. For burning data cd's, I just make a folder and move what I want to burn into it. It's easy to check the folder size before you launch Toast, or you can have Toast check for you.

As I mentioned above, I have a utilities cd (which can be used on ANY Mac, unlike your partition ) that I use. It has DiskWarrior 2, TechTool Pro 3.x and Norton SystemWorks installed on it. I run them in that order. I build the cd on an OS installer that comes with the newest system either at work or at home. This allows me to boot just about ANY Mac out there (G3 forward, and even many pre-G3 systems). I also don't have to worry about the utility partition getting f*cked up, and not being able to fix it.

BTW, my single partition systems are rock solid, and fast. I would bet money that if you did your partitioning to the same system I have, that the speeds would be the same, if not damned close to it, ie within 1% of my single. The single partition is also MUCH less of a hassle to setup, use and work on.

 

[sparkleytone]

lol, if you use the OS X boot cd, then the word "hassle" doesnt apply. its all click n drag.

Now fdisk for linux is a hassle.

fdisk for DOS is a hassle.

 

[AlphaTech]

fdisk for dos is a pain in the a$$. Never mind that it's slow to do it's thing, and then you have to reboot before you can format the drive. That also takes way too long.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by jelloshotsrule


is that a pain when it comes to apps and the system folder(s) and also the whole os x file structure?

i mean, the preferences and app support and all that... how does that work, in your setup, doing a clean install of os? must you also reinstall all apps?

I'm fairly new to Mac so I'm not entirely sure how painless a complete install can be. In the world of Windows, I'd have to reinstall all the apps, but then again add/removing proggies from Windows is a pain 'cause lil' files are added all over the place. But, installing apps isn't that big of a hassle, IMO. But keeping the 29 gigs of data (this is on my PC) away from the OS is nice.


Lethal

 

[AmbitiousLemon]

Originally posted by AlphaTech
As I mentioned above, I have a utilities cd (which can be used on ANY Mac, unlike your partition ) that I use.

but your cd is o9. not of much use for utilities designed for osx. id say the best thing to do for osx, is use a portable firewire drive (ipod?) for you maitenance disk or using bootcd to make a osx utility disk.

as far as partitions goes, keeping osx and 9 separate is a good idea in case you want to wipe one but not the other. also keep a classic os9 and a bootable os9. this will allow you to trim down the classic os9 (keep this one on the osx partition) so that it will load in about 10-20 seconds rather than a couple minutes (my g3 powerbook loads classic in 30 seconds, or it did before i got rid of classic alltogether).

a partition for osx + all associated apps will amke things easy. i organize my apps but keep all original apple apps in the app folder, but my own apps can go anywhere, so i keep organizational folders in the app folder. a large partition for all you data lets you wipe your os and still keep all your files and makes backing up a cinch. so keep you mp3s, movies, etc in there.

and then a final partition for messing around is my last partition, but i only use this for installing betaware that i suspect i dont want messing with my main os. so jaguar goes on that as well as any weird betaware i happen to be working with. but unless you like installing beta oses you wont need anything like this.

so:
osx+classic
os9 bootable
data

thats all you should need

 

[AlphaTech]

AmbitiousLemon, my utility cd's work miracles on BOTH OS 9.x AND OS X. Your statement of "but your cd is o9. not of much use for utilities designed for osx." is 100% false. I have run them on systems with both OS 9.x and OS X (10.1.x) installed (same partition) and BOTH OS's run much, much, much better after. No problems booting or anything. I use the cd all the time at work (to fix things that the users f*ck up as well as routine maintenance made necessary from high usage) and have had it save systems on more then a few occasions.

I even used the utility cd on my new TiBook (since Apple ships it more then a little fragmented) and it caused 0 issues. Then again, I know what I am doing.

 

[Backtothemac]

Well, I thank you for the replies. I am going to go with the one drive setup. Alpha, do you have or know of any benchmark tests that I could run before and after to see if going with one improves the performance? Thanks B2TM

 

[AlphaTech]

You can try the one that comes with NUM (or Norton SystemWorks now). I don't have any others off the top of my head.

I am thinking about backing up my changed files (yet again) and slipping the 60GB IBM drive into my TiBook. The main thing holding me back is that I will probably need to wipe the drive when I do it. I don't know if I should or not... Of course, I still need to get an enclosure for the drive that either goes outside the laptop, or stays outside of it. Decisions, decision, decisions...

 

[strider42]

Originally posted by AlphaTech
strider42, bit of a problem with reformatting a partition (at least under OS 9.x), when you do that, you initialize the DRIVE... which means, everything gets wiped out. I haven't tried doing this under OS X, since I use just one partition, but I would imagine it's the same.

When I create cd's, most of the time I start with a cd image and just alter it as I need to. That way, I don't have to d*ck around with moving files to a partition and hoping that I get it all. It also helps when I create my utility cd, since I just mount the image, alter it as I need to, and burn it (as a bootable cd for OS 9.x). When I am done, I dismount the image and it's all done. For burning data cd's, I just make a folder and move what I want to burn into it. It's easy to check the folder size before you launch Toast, or you can have Toast check for you.

As I mentioned above, I have a utilities cd (which can be used on ANY Mac, unlike your partition ) that I use. It has DiskWarrior 2, TechTool Pro 3.x and Norton SystemWorks installed on it. I run them in that order. I build the cd on an OS installer that comes with the newest system either at work or at home. This allows me to boot just about ANY Mac out there (G3 forward, and even many pre-G3 systems). I also don't have to worry about the utility partition getting f*cked up, and not being able to fix it.

BTW, my single partition systems are rock solid, and fast. I would bet money that if you did your partitioning to the same system I have, that the speeds would be the same, if not damned close to it, ie within 1% of my single. The single partition is also MUCH less of a hassle to setup, use and work on.

I know reformating erases everything, thast preciesly why I use it for partitions like my scratch partiiton. reformatting isn't reallyt he right word, I erase the partition if I need to. Mostly this is used on my scratch disk.

I just find a utilities partition easier to sue than a custom Cd. I can update it mroe easily, I don't have to burn another one, and since I only have one mac, the fact that it can't be used on other macs is a non-issue for me. and if the utiltiies partition gets messed up (whcih is unlikely because ti doesn't get abused like the rest of the disk), I can use a utilities CD if I need to. Its not like i throw them out, I still have them handy. But frankly, I've never actually need to. Plus, if I wanted, I could simply qucikly copy the utilities to my main partition and then just run them from there if I wanted. Its so much faster and easier, and there is no need to reboot at all to run the utilities unless its being run on the main partition, whcih again suffers little damage since its isolated from my downloads, files, scratch files, and apps.

A partitioned drive can be very efficient and I find it much more useful than a single partition. its a perosnal preference. I certainly don't think everyone should go out and partition their drives, but there is a logic behind the partiion scheme I use. Personally I see little reason to only make a couple of partitions, seems useless to me. If you're going to partition, it should serve some relaly logical reasons. merely having two partitions doesn't seem to do much to limit fragmentation or directory corruption, whcih is the reason I partitioned in the first place.

I have no doubt I see little speed difference because of my partitions, but I certainly see less maintenence because of it, and it works well for me. And isn't that the point, using what works for each of us.