Suggested partitions/OS on new Windows PC build

mrcheez

Not sure if this is the correct forum but I'd be interested in suggestions on an ideal partition setup for a new Windows PC build (and also which OS).

I will have a 250GB SSD and a 2TB HDD.

The machine will be used for Web dev, Media server and Gaming (in that priority).

I have the opportunity to install either Windows 7 64-bit and/or Windows 8. I'm not used to Windows 8 and not terribly keen on the interface, but I'm sure I felt like that about Windows 7 initially. In reality I'd prefer Windows 7, unless Windows 8 is likely to become a requirement for software in a few years?
If so, I could setup the partitions so that I have one for Windows 7 and one for Windows 8. Or would VMWare be a better solution?

Also should I create a ghost image of the freshly-installed system to have as a backup? Suggestions on software to use?

Thanks

BloodBath

Go with whatever you prefer. Windows 7 is fine for another fews years. If you're going with multiple os installs then yes partition the ssd. 30gb or so should be enough for each os once you disable hibernation and reduce the page file size. Keep the boot programs and other smaller programs on the free data partition.

So for a 2 OS install it should be something like

C: 30gb main OS partition
30gb secondary OS partition
E: 190GB Data partition

I'd consider possible creating another ssd partition of about 50gb for a cache drive for the hdd which would speed up your HDD performance a fair bit.

You can create back up's of the OS on the hdd then as well.

mrcheez

Is there any advantage to partitioning the 2TB HDD?

BloodBath

Yes. If you have data that needs to be able to transmit faster then you can store this on the first HDD partition which would use the outermost edge of the disk. The data transfers faster here.

Depending on how much space you need you could have the first partition for your games and the second for storing data/backups ect that aren't accessed often or don't need to read/transfer quickly.

That way you could assign the ssd cache space to only your games partition then as well so it only stores game related data to speed up game loading times.

So you would have something like this. Not sure how efficient all of that would be. Gonna be trying something similar myself soon except I have a seperate games and data hdd.

P = Partition

SSD
P1 = OS1 (20-30gb)
P2 = OS2 (20-30gb)
P3 = Programs
P4 = Games cache space (20-50gb) (Depending on how many games you have installed and how much you play. I'd give at least 20-30gb of space for every 1TB of game data anyway)

HDD
P1 = Games
P2 = Storage/OS Backup

mrcheez

handy cheers!