Partitioning

[ajrobson]

Hi all,

First thread here. Pls don't crucify me if this has been asked many times. Searching didn't help me much and I am starting on this project tomorrow.

I am planning on setting up new rig with 2x36gb Raptors in Raid 0 (64kb stripe) , with another 80gb SATA Caviar in Raid 1 with the Raptors. I've already bought the Raptors and Caviar, so won't get into the debate of Raid vs non raid!

I am not sure about partitioning. I used to think it was a good idea, now am not so sure as I have heard conflicting info about partion sizing affecting Win XP performance. Also, use 16kb clusters for everything (used to use 32 for games, 4 for XP, 16 for other applications). If using 16 kb for everything is now the "conventional wisdom", then what is the need for separate partitions. (Maybe have one for Windows... 20gb... and use the rest for ... well.. the rest!

Thanks.

[IFMU]

First off, Welcome to the Xtreme!~!

Next, the way you worded your post I am presuming you will be using the raid 0 for OS and other installed software while the RAID 1 will be for storage due to it having the fault tolerance/safety of back up right?
Now, presuming so, honestly, I would say there would be no reason to worry about partitioning it out.
Some people suggest partitioning the OS drive to have the 2nd partition to save things, files/folders/music/movies/programs etc. However, since you would have the raid1 for that, it wouldnt be needed.
As for partitioning the raid1, I honestly see no reason to unless for some reason you want to do it to keep your info seperated from each other. i.e. partition for programs, partition for music etc etc. Which IMO, wouldnt really be needed, use of folders would be good enough and much easier.

Lastly, some believe that if you have a partition on the OS drive for the pagefile it can/does increase performance. I personally have seen nothing to back up this claim. As well with this, I personally see no reason to partition it.

Hope this helps a bit, I am sure if someone has info that I dont it will be posted up before long to correct me.

Again, welcome to the Xtreme.

IFMU

[ajrobson]

Sorry I left out so much info that you had to assume! I was trying to be brief.

Plan was to partion the Raid 0 disks. Then use the Raid 1 to back up the entire thing as I have been told that Raid 0 isn't all that safe.

I'd love to not partition at all if there is no benefit, just change the cluster size. This will be my first RAID attempt and I'd like to minimize the steps.

Btw, I wll be also using a separate 160 gb drive for "storage" and this will all be on an MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum runnng a +3700 San Diego. Will plan on oc'ing that later.

[Cooper]

I have here 2x36GB Raptors in Raid0 and they are partioned. I don`t have another HD for storage. So if my OS crashes I just reinstall it on first partion when second saves all data. Never had any problems with raid0 detection (I`m using nF4 chipset`s raid controller)
For you I wouldn`t suggest partioning raid0. Why ? IMO it has it`s influence on performance.
And btw how and where do you choose cluster size ?? I didn`t see any option when installing WinXP.

And Welcome to XS :)

[ajrobson]

And btw how and where do you choose cluster size ?? I didn`t see any option when installing WinXP.



Thanks for the info about your system.

I was going to use something like Partition Magic to change the cluster size.

[Cooper]

Hmm so how do you change cluster size within fully formatted HDs ?
Or you using another HD with OS installed to make custom claster size on yr raid0 ??

[ajrobson]

Partition Magic will allow you to boot to the CD, then you change the partitions, cluster size, etc.. before you load the OS. But you can also load the OS and then install Partition Magic and make the changes after loading the OS. But I don't think that method is as good.

[IFMU]

It's no problems.

I'd agree with above, I wouldnt partition the OS drive since you will have another for storage.

As for setting the cluster size, I cant say for the software parts of it, but I can for the actual raid bios/setup. I have always seen this inside the raid configuration.