Partition Puzzle (Home Edition)

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People,

Just completed a complete reinstallation of XP (for some reason, “System Restore” was never functional.) I’m at a point at which, if I intend to partition…(in order to benefit my PC’s primary use, which is audio multitracking)…I should do so now.

I have 2 drives, the secondary used for audio data; & the primary (right now) for everything else (OS, SONAR, WaveLab, other apps, graphics files, etc.) XP permits me to partition the drives (& I am very hopefully assuming I can move files/folders afterward…i.e., use XP for this task, as opposed to a partitioning program.)

1) If I leave “everything else” on the primary drive, as one large partition, does XP arrange everything in an order conductive to optimum data retrieval (I keep thinking that, from an electro-mechanical aspect…the OS should be located on a separate platter from the applications, so that “different” tracking heads are working simultaneously?)

2) If I partition, what goes where; & why? (I am assuming one partition for OS, another for audio apps; & another for typical apps, would be acceptable?)

3) How are partitions related to drive platters; & is that relative to optimum data flow?

4) I was digging around in my XP bible (“XP Inside Out”, by Bott & Siechert) for all this, but couldn’t find anything of immediate use. Can someone please point me toward some good links?

Thanks very much,

mark4man

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cowboydawg,

Thanks.

What I’m asking about…can this be accomplished after the fact?

In other words…My primary drive already has the OS, some apps; & some files/folders on it.

If I partition now, do I loose everything…through reformatting?

If I do, I’ll leave it…& use a partition program in the future (if necessary.)

So then, my question still remains…how does XP allocate the various apps, drivers & files as they are loaded in?

Is it in a logical manner, conductive to optimum data retrieval? And also: how is this accomplished relative to mutiple platters (or does that even matter?)

Thanks,

mark4man

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>> can this be accomplished after the fact?
No. Not with the tools that ship in the OS. To partition now indeed means reformatting if done without the aid of a 3rd party application.

Allocation on the disk itself is a little more convoluted. XP will use its prefetch system to place drivers and frequently used applications near the fastest part of the disk for performance. Outside of this self-tuning mechanism, placement is dictated more by contiguous free space. XP does not look at the platters on the disk, nor does it necessarily place things for optimum data retrieval. Regular defragmentation of the disk is the best way to get optimum performance from it, since it reduces the number of reads when the disk is accessed.

I have a rig set up for similar purposes as you have stated. I simply use a 60GB partition, separate disk from the system/apps, to store audio data. Once the mixing has been completed, I move the tracks from that partition to CD or to the main drive. In essence, I can format and reformat the 60GB disk ad nauseum if I want without losing any performance. Having the working data set on a separate disk from the OS results in better performance, IMHO.

Just my , hope it helps!

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WyllyWylly,

Man…you’re all right…despite not being photogenic! (that’s not really you, right?)

Anyway, as you stated, our rigs are similar; & I’ll probably leave it alone for now, while keeping an eye on performance (guess I better not execute the XP tweak which disables prefetch, eh?)

If I experience bottlenecks later, I’ll go with a partition program.

Thanks man…you’ve been a great help to me, dating back a couple of years, now.)

I will have that CD finished soon, tho.

Later,

mark4man
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Dell Dimension 8250
Intel 850E Chipset
Intel P4 2.53GHz CPU (512 KB L2 Cache, 533 MHz FSB)
512 MB PC1066 RDRAM
Ultra 60GB Primary HD / Single Volume (OS, Apps, Files/Folders, etc.)
Maxtor (DiamondMax 9+) 80GB Secondary HD / Single Volume (Audio Data only)
LynxStudio “LynxTWO” PCI Audio Interface (24-Bit/192KHz SR)
Nvidia 64MB GEFORCE4 MX420 AGP
SONAR XL 2.2
WaveLab 4.0g
Photoshop 6.0
Illustrator 10
Dreamweaver MX

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Always glad to be of assistance.

I was forwarded a link some time back to a good article on ExtremeTech regarding DAW (Digital Audio Workstations). What I really enjoyed about this piece was the objective nature of the writing – there’s no favoritism towards a product or product line, just good solid information. Some of it may be redundant, but you might consider it anyway.

• Build It: Digital Audio Workstation
• And an update to the original article: DAW Part II[/list]So when your CD breaks into the big, does the Lounge get a credit in the liner notes?

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Mark–

Yes you will lose it–you can’t use the Disk Partition Manager in XP to do this. But no problem. I have linked you to a thread where I provided links to the two leading third party partitioners and you can try them out but they won’t let y ou execute the partitioning for real. I’d get Partition Magic 8.0 from Powerquest. $70 bucks retail; bargains if you shop the web/swap meets.

If you use the partitioning utiilty native to XP you will lose everything in partitioning–it’s not fault tolerant.
Partitioning My Hard Drive Thread from Windows Section

PC World: Step by Step How to Partition Your Hard Drive
How To Partition Your Hard Drive Tech TV

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So then, my question still remains…how does XP allocate the various apps, drivers & files as they are loaded in? Is it in a logical manner, conductive to optimum data retrieval? And also: how is this accomplished relative to mutiple platters (or does that even matter?)[/b][/size]
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I recommend that you go into nearest bookstore and sit down and read James Stewart’s Windows XP Powerpack (Que) “Chapter One Windows XP Architecture and Chapter 3 “The Windows XP Layout”–that’ll do it for you as well as anything–this’ll definitely do it for you.

Windows XP Kernel Enhancements
Optimize Windows XP

PC Mag Windows XP Architecture

SMBP

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SMBP,

Thanks to you, as well. I’ll do it. Great links.

(man…you loungers take good care of me.)

mark4man

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mark4man–

You won’t have to visit a book store to look at the chapters of the Windows XP Powerpacks I wanted you to see because they put the first several chapters, contents, index on the web. You can read them free:
The Windows XP Layout
118 Sample Pages

SMBP

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SMBP,

Thanks,

mark4man

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