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version · Aug 13, 2003, 09:10 AM

Hey,

I'm about to do a re-install of X on my mac and was wondering what would be the best configuration for a 40GB HD? I'm thinking about this in terms of speed. At the moment it's split into two 20GB partitions, but I keep running out of room on the boot partition, and it'd be nice to have just one huge one, would I see any performance hits due to one large partition?

Thanks for any help

kennedy · Aug 13, 2003, 09:46 AM

One partition will not be a speed issue.

The main advantage of splitting partitions, IMO, is to keep just the OS X install on one, and all else on the other, making it easy to do a *clean* install. Regular *clean* installs were often helpful in 10.0.x days, and sometimes helpful in 10.1.x days. Not sure its so important in 10.2... haven't had to do it yet.

I am planning to go to one partition with my new PowerBook install (60GB). One partition maximizes flexibility.

version · Aug 13, 2003, 10:12 AM

Cheers for the info. I used to do that too, keep my OS install on the one partition, and everything else on the other, but I'd like to use my home folder on the OS partitiopn as my main base for all things, giving me that flexibility. I'm using a Powerbook too, so kinda makes a bit more sense.

Thanks for the help.

mike one · Aug 13, 2003, 12:37 PM

i'm personnally a fan of 1 additional swap partition..... ~256MB in size... for a total of 2 partitions.

version · Aug 13, 2003, 12:54 PM

Originally posted by mike one:
i'm personnally a fan of 1 additional swap partition..... ~256MB in size... for a total of 2 partitions.

Yeah, I never thought of putting the scratch disk on another partition. What do you think about making it around a gig in size?

Sarc · Aug 13, 2003, 01:13 PM

My OS X partition is 10 Gigs ... perfect, it fits OS X + All my Apps. and have aditional free space left ...

Mediaman_12 · Aug 13, 2003, 06:30 PM

Originally posted by version:
Yeah, I never thought of putting the scratch disk on another partition. What do you think about making it around a gig in size?

There is no need for it to be so large 400>500mb is about as big as it needs.
I would really recommend it, I did this when my drive got hosed and I had to buy a new one. Putting the Swap on it's own partition even reduced boot up time.

(no partition questions is ages, then 2 in the same day?)

version · Aug 14, 2003, 05:26 AM

Originally posted by Mediaman_12:
There is no need for it to be so large 400>500mb is about as big as it needs.
I would really recommend it, I did this when my drive got hosed and I had to buy a new one. Putting the Swap on it's own partition even reduced boot up time.

Great, I'm going to do the old backup/install routine this weekend, I'll put around 500mb for the swap partition.

(no partition questions is ages, then 2 in the same day?)

Lol, I know, it must be that time of year again, a bit like spring cleaning.

JKT · Aug 14, 2003, 06:27 AM

Whoa there! Only 400MB for your swapfile partition!! This could be crazy depending on how much paging you suffer from. 400MB is only enough room for about 5 swapfiles (they are ~80MB each). If you are in the habit of leaving your system up and running for weeks without rebooting and/or you don't have much physical RAM, you are going to suffer serious performance hits once that partition is filled.

What level of swapfiles do you generate in typical use of your system? Find out by going to your /var/vm/ directory (command-shift-G in the Finder and then type that followed by enter). I've only been up a day and I've already generated nearly 800MB of swapfiles... (admittedly it usually takes a week or so before I hit that level, but there we go).

mism · Aug 14, 2003, 06:57 AM

how do I set up a swap file partition, or more specifically how do I tell the system to use it rather than its default location?

BTW currently I run a 10Gb system partition (roughly 5Gb filled 5Gb for DVD burning*) and everything else is on the second 50Gb partition. My home folder is on the system partition but the only 'real' folders in it are the desktop and library, everything else is an alias to my other partition, ie documents, pictures, music etc.

It just makes a reinstallation easier and means I can run diagnostic software on the 10Gb rather than the whole 60Gb.

If I burn with Toast is this space required?

Mediaman_12 · Aug 14, 2003, 05:38 PM

Originally posted by JKT:
Whoa there! Only 400MB for your swapfile partition!! This could be crazy depending on how much paging you suffer from. 400MB is only enough room for about 5 swapfiles (they are ~80MB each). If you are in the habit of leaving your system up and running for weeks without rebooting and/or you don't have much physical RAM, you are going to suffer serious performance hits once that partition is filled.

What level of swapfiles do you generate in typical use of your system? Find out by going to your /var/vm/ directory (command-shift-G in the Finder and then type that followed by enter). I've only been up a day and I've already generated nearly 800MB of swapfiles... (admittedly it usually takes a week or so before I hit that level, but there we go).

My swap files are only small (mine at the moment is 70MB and I have been doing stuff Photoshop Illustrator etc. all evening) because I have to shut down every night (The 'throbbing' light kept me awake), and I have quite a lot of RAM (512MB)

I used Swap Cop to tell the OS to use a different disk/partition for the swap file. I did it to stop fragmentation of the disk the decrease in boot time was a (nice) supprise.