[milf]

First off, I know that there are various posts already on this topic. I have searched for them and have used some of the information I found to learn how to partition my drive. I also found posts on what partition sizes to use, but these posts were commenting on smaller (10GB) drives.

The PB I bought roughly a month ago is my first ever Mac. I'm learning things as I go, but I'd like to have some advice before I set off on trying to partition my drive for the first time. Here are some questions that I have for my 60GB drive:
[list=1][*] Should I bother partioning my drive? Advantages? Disadvantages?[*] How should I setup my partitions? I'm a standard home user: mp3s, documents, pictures, programs, movies, etc.[*] How much is required for OS X? Should I keep my apps on the same partition or a seperate?[*] What about OS 9? I've yet to use it, should still install it? Seperate partition?[/list=1]

The main reason I am interested in partitioning my drive is so that I can have the OS on a seperate partition from my data. I'd currently have to back everything (mp3s, docs, etc) up before reinstalling the OS, right? TIA.

[Camelot]

Milf, it is notoriously difficult for anyone to gauge exactly how much space they'll need for Applications vs. data, vs. OS

Additionally, it's immensely troublesome to change the partition map once you realise you got it wrong. This usually requires a backup, reformat/repartition and reinstallation. Say goodbye to a day if you need to do this.

For that reason I always advocate ONE large partition for everything. That way you're not limited to, say, 20GB of data just because *today* you don't think you'll need that much, even though in 6 months time you might get that digital camcorder you've been lusting after and start to play with iMovie/FCE (at which point 20GB quickly runs out).

Similarly, you might think that 20GB is plenty of space for your Applications, until that next überapp that you just can't live without comes along, and you can't install it.

By going with one big partition, both your Apps and your data can grow until your disk fills - at which point you have to evaluate a bigger drive or trashing something.

In my opinion, the only practical partitioning scheme worth considering for most users is a SMALL (<5GB) partition as an emergency boot volume (just in case something goes horribly wrong and you can't boot your main system), and one BIG partition for EVERYTHING else.

In my own personal case, I even forgoe the emergency partition. I've never had a problem with OS X that's needed such a volume, and I gain the extra space for normal use.

[Macola]

If FWB gets its act together and releases an OS X version, this should make your life much, much easier:

http://www.fwb.com/html/partition_toolkit.html

[milf]

Camelot,

Thanks for the excellent advice on my partitioning concerns. I see your point and agree that one partition might be the best approach. On the other hand though, how do you handle losing data? What work around is there for re-installing the OS without losing your mp3s, docs, pics, etc? I can't back up 30+GB of mp3s onto CD-Rs (well I could but that would be insane). I only have one drive, so what other option would I have. I know when I was a PC man, I would always have a seperate partition just for the OS for exactly this purpose. Thansk again.

[milf]

Does anyone else have an opinion on partitioning a harddrive? I agree that you can never exactly tell how much space you might need in the near future. This is my first Mac. Before this, I used Windows mainly and occasionally a Linux box. My concern is that I was constantly formatting and re-installing on my Windows machine to "clean up". This would have been a nightmare with only one partitions, but having multiple partitions allowed me to format the OS partition without loosing any of my other data. Now, with my Powerbook, I am interested in keeping at least my OS seperate from everything else. Maybe a 10GB for OS and Apps and the rest for my "stuff". Any feedback?

[alien]

Originally posted by milf:
Does anyone else have an opinion on partitioning a harddrive? I agree that you can never exactly tell how much space you might need in the near future. This is my first Mac. Before this, I used Windows mainly and occasionally a Linux box. My concern is that I was constantly formatting and re-installing on my Windows machine to "clean up". This would have been a nightmare with only one partitions, but having multiple partitions allowed me to format the OS partition without loosing any of my other data. Now, with my Powerbook, I am interested in keeping at least my OS seperate from everything else. Maybe a 10GB for OS and Apps and the rest for my "stuff". Any feedback?

Under OS 9, I used to partition into 3 volumes; system/apps, data, scratch/VM. Saved my butt at least once, when the system and apps partition became completely hosed, yet the data were OK. In general, there used to be far less disk issues with the data partition.

Under OS X, I first had several partitions, but soon realized that it was annoying to run into disk space limitations. Also, there has been next to none disk trouble after more than 18 months of use.

Now, I have one small (1.3GB) partition for OS 9. This is enough for a regular OS 9 install, including IE and a few apps, and the OS 9 VM file (385MB). If necessary, I can start from this partition and run a disk utility. In rare circumstances, I could wipe this partition and install a minimal OS X here instead. My main reason for a separate OS 9 partition is that I find it less cluttering.

The rest of the disk is one partition for everything OS X; system, apps, data, mp3s, swap. If I had a tower, I probably would have installed an extra disk for some of the data or mp3s, or Photoshop scratch if I used that program. But on my iBook with only 10GB I'm happy with the current organization.

[milf]

So it seems so far that having a single partition is the consensus. Thanks for the feedback and hopefully my drive will never become corrupt, so that I won't have to worry about losing data!