Should I partition my hard disk?

I find partitioning very useful in organising major types of data such as: documents, software, movies, recovery, projects. Its also very useful because when the system goes down, only c: drive is affected none of the data.

I also have a second internal hard drive for backup of the first drive. External hard drives are useless, two of them went down with mechanical failure.

Hi Leo,
Thanks for nice explanation. My new laptop is configured with a single partition having window7 installed in it. I can very well manage my work by making folders/subfolders inside the single partition. But I am confused to reformat or not, as there is always a risk of viruses/malware attack which can corrupt my entire data due to a single partition.
What you suggest?
Rgds,
Bhupender.

Viruses and malware can attack multiple partitions as well. If that's your concern then I'd focus more on making sure your system is secure instead.

04-Feb-2012

Hi Leo,
Thanks for your prompt reply. My system is also having a one key recovery feature, changing the partition size will also make the recovery feature useless, as it will not work. So I will go with you and not planning to go for hardisk partitioning any more. Also i have already purchased a good licensed antivirus software to make the system secure.
Just one more query, I have heard about system restore application of windows, i just wanted to know how effective it is in case of some malware attack. If i have created a restore point of my current good configuration at any time and later on if i realized that something going wrong (may be virus/malware etc . ) , Is it possible for me to restore my previous good configuration using system restore. Although i can any time revert to the factory setting using one key recovery feature, but this will make me loose many of the installed applications.
Best Regards,
Bhupender.

@Bhupender
System restore can do very little in helping to recover from a virus.
You might find these articles useful Can I get rid of spyware using system restore?
Why I don't like system restore?

Hi, i download a lot of movies and regularly change what games im playing, which means im constantly moving watched movies to a portable hard-drive and sometimes back again to watch. as well as installing/un-installing games. On an average month i would transfer 100gig of data between my main drive and my portable drives. Is this data transfer high enough that i would be better off partitioning my hard drive into system plus main programs and data files? all i really need is a yes or a no, ive read a lot of information on partitioning, and i just want a second opinion.

No, I don't see how partitioning would have any significant impact on transfer speed.

07-Feb-2012

I use Ubuntu most of the time but have recently bought a laptop with Windows 7 installed. I paid for it; so, I thought I should keep it! One day I will install UBUNTU and have a dual-boot system. My question is will I then have to start using a virus checker on my laptop even if I connect to the Internet ONLY when I am using UBUNTU.

i agree with single partion.In the past i would use c: only for system files/heavily used programs. Since installing Win 8, the backup image would be quickly outdated due to updated versions of software i regularly use.Although i still have a small encrypted partition and a large one for big, rarely accessed PDF files.

I have opted for partitioning in order to be able to install the main OS on the C drive but then install all other programs on the D drive (the partition). That way if I ever need to format the C drive alone as part of some sort of maintenance I will not have to lose precious time reinstalling all the programs. However I have never come to this point until now...and although I am about to reinstall my precious C drive with the main OS as it has slowed considerably, I have no clue whatsoever how to recall he programs installed on the D drive. Can you help me with this, please?

Thank you so much in advance for your kind support.

Kind regards,
Dan

PS If this works then its a pro idea in favor of having at least one partition...it's so tedious to reinstall everything including all the relative updates!!

@Dan
Installing your programs on the D: drive is an interesting idea, but unfortunately, if you reinstall the OS, the installed programs will no longer work. When a program is installed, it makes changes to the registry and usually installs files in various places on the c: drive. So when you reinstall Windows, the programs will look for these files, and not finding them will cause the program to error out.