[gostan]

I am busy cleaning up documents and files on my Ibook awaiting new PB. I have never had an 80gb hd. Should I reformat the drive and set up separate partitions for applications and data. If you have partitioned your hd how many partitions have you used and how do you like the way in which a partitioned hd works. Thanks for your responses.

[Maflynn]

Thing work best from an apple perspective if its one partition, with that said I split mine up in two. Creating a sym link to the user area so OSX would be happy and I could log on. Now I can replace my system w/o affecting my data (in theory).

All things being equal however there's no speed improvments and its just a personal taste matter.

Mike

[gsxrboy]

I used to do all the partition thing, but these days it just seems to much drama, copying stuff across from partition to partition, the deleting etc.. so I just leave it stock..

[Dr.Michael]

Originally posted by gsxrboy:
I used to do all the partition thing, but these days it just seems to much drama, copying stuff across from partition to partition, the deleting etc.. so I just leave it stock..

I agree. Partitioning makes things complicated. If one of your partitions needs more space than you expected you are in trouble.

If you need an ordering scheme simply create top level folders on your hd. This leaves you any flexibility to re-order if necessary.

[f1000]

Originally posted by gostan:
I am busy cleaning up documents and files on my Ibook awaiting new PB. I have never had an 80gb hd. Should I reformat the drive and set up separate partitions for applications and data. If you have partitioned your hd how many partitions have you used and how do you like the way in which a partitioned hd works. Thanks for your responses.

I never partition my HD; instead, I create an Administrator account and a User Account (my name). I install apps exclusively from the Administrator account, and I run them exclusively from the User Account.

[Maflynn]

Originally posted by f1000:
I never partition my HD; instead, I create an Administrator account and a User Account (my name). I install apps exclusively from the Administrator account, and I run them exclusively from the User Account.

I'm missing somehting here, what does that have to do with partitioning or not. Now that's not bad idea but I'm just missing something.

I agree with the consensus that two partitions are more work but the benefits imho out weigh the work effort.

I can reload panther with a clean install and not have to worry about my data, everything is still there. Additionally with 10.4 comes a long I can go with a clean install also. The way I work and organize my stuff this works for me. The two partitions are not an excuse not run backups I still do.

Speaking of backups, there is on caveat to having a sym link pointing to a usr area on a seperate partition Apple's Backup does not work, it sees the sym link, tells you it doesn't like it and quits.

Mike

[f1000]

Excellent question.

I always backup the User folder in my User account to an external Firewire drive. If something goes wrong with the User account, I can delete it, recreate it, and replace the User folder from the backup. This approach, unlike partitioning, preserves full dynamic allocation of hard drive space. It also spares me from having to reinstall the entire OS and a myriad of applications (at least it has so far).

It's like having a clean install ready to go.

[mrmister]

I used to be a huge fan of partitioning--I had a tiny OS9 emergency boot partition, a 10 gig OSX partition and the rest for data. I will admit--in the public beta through 10.1.5 era it saved my bacon on a number of occasions, as it segregated my own personal data from the OS.

Things have matured, however--I didn't need this setup at all during Jaguar, and with the advent of 10.3 I reformatted and went with a single partition. I can use an external drive if I need DiskWarrior, or even run from a CD, and now I don't have to worry about copying data back and forth, running out of room on my OSX partition, etc. Esp. with all new machines not booting OS9--it's just not the same.

YMMV, of course, and do what you like--but these days it just seems like more trouble than it is worth.

[mdc]

the only time i ever used to partition was back when i was using windows. i would partition off a gig so i could make a ghost image of a working windows with my apps installed. a few months down the line when it was dying i would re-ghost it.

i do not like the hassle of having more than one partition, having to move stuff around to free up space on one, etc, etc.