Trouble understanding how a partition works/ why I need one.

I will be building my computer in early May, and I've never installed an OS before, what is the point in a partition? Do I even need one? Do I have to make, say, a 15GB partition and install windows to it? Or can I just install Win7 without partitioning, are they just for organisation and storage purposes? I will be installing Win7.

Some people think that if you keep your data on a different partition then your data is going to be safe and it is thus backed up. WRONG!

Also people say that it makes you computer run faster having your Windows folder in a small dedicated partition,,,it barely makes any difference!

Basically for most people there is no point in having 2 partitions unless you want more than one operating system on your PC.

Well if you make a seperate partition just for the OS it means that if anything ever goes wrong with it, you can format that partition and reinstall wihout losing anything on the other partition. Unless it's a hard drive failure, then you're screwed either way. Other than that partitions are mainly for organisation or like daytona said a multiple OS setup.

So you don't 'need' to partition your drive, I've just got a single partition on my 1TB drive and its fine.

You would have to change the defaultinstallation path - if the prgram allows it - some programs will always install on c:

I don't suggest making a small windows partition for this reason. Make a large enough to fit windows and programs. Have another partition for data only. Like 150 GB and 350 GB for a 500 GB disk.

I have a question: If you hav a 500GB HDD, partition off 15GB and install windows 7 there, would the program files folder situate itself on that 15GB partition? In which case, isn't it a pain to install stuff to your other partition, when the default install path would be on the 15GB windows partition?polarwrath11

[QUOTE="polarwrath11"]I have a question: If you hav a 500GB HDD, partition off 15GB and install windows 7 there, would the program files folder situate itself on that 15GB partition? In which case, isn't it a pain to install stuff to your other partition, when the default install path would be on the 15GB windows partition?andyroo08

This and a point to add. Be sure to make about 150GB or greater, for the Windows installation as the loading times will be much slower if the partition is filled with data.

Some people think that if you keep your data on a different partition then your data is going to be safe and it is thus backed up. WRONG!

Also people say that it makes you computer run faster having your Windows folder in a small dedicated partition,,,it barely makes any difference!

Basically for most people there is no point in having 2 partitions unless you want more than one operating system on your PC.

Daytona_178

Sorry, but your first point is just plain wrong. I had a huge BSOD last year that corrupted my OS and the entire partition it was on. I had two partitions on my HDD though and while the OS partition and all the other stuff on it (games, documents, movies, etc) was nearly impossible to get to, the other partition was still completely fine as I could still mount it using Ubuuntu and get everything off without a hitch. The OS partition though, once I finally got it repaired and mounted, still had some data corruption (various files couldn't be moved/copied due to corruption). So yes, partitioning definitely does protect your data from anything bad that happens in other partitions. Obviously it won't save you from a data eating virus or complete HDD failure, but it will save data on that particular partition from failing just because another partition randomly failed too.