Windows 8 Should I partition 1TB internal HDD?

gabiibag · Sep 26, 2014

Hello.

Now I have two internal HDDs and one IDE 160GB and one SATA 2 500GB.

I'll buy (for personal reasons) one SATA 3 of 1 TB.

Questions:

1. Given that my motherboard only supports SATA 2, I'll be able to use (certainly not at the highest performance) the 1 TB HDD?

2. Do you recommend that "mandatory partitioning" for the 1 TB HDD (high capacity)? I want to install on it Windows 8.1 x64 and I understood that it wouldn't be a good idea to leave it as a single partition... because of it's big capacity... and it would be advisable to partition it into smaller partitions.

From your experiences, can I say that if it's 160 GB occupied, it will be slower if is a single partition (1TB) compared with the situation in which it would be partitioned (say 250 GB / partition)?
The bigger the hard drive (considering it's almost full) it will move slowly than if it has a smaller capacity (considering again that it is nearly full)?

Thanks in advance.

Jimbo22 · Sep 28, 2014

TRSS is spot on, on both accounts. It's up to you if you want to partition or not. I've used a 1TB HDD before w/out partitions and never had a problem. The only downfall with using such a large drive is the search indexing the OS has to do to locate a file, that is if the HDD has a lot of data on it.

This is my suggested setup.....1st boot drive - use an SSD (250GB - they are lightning fast) for OS and Office suite and what other primary software you want.
2nd drive - 1TB or 2TB, partitioned into 500GB blocks to use as storage labeling each partition w/a name. It makes storing/finding
data so much easier.

TRSS · Sep 28, 2014

Hello, Gabiibag!

Answers:
1.
> http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8142/~/difference-between-sata-i,-sata-ii-and-sata-iii
> Link Removed
SATA III devices can run on SATA II ports in sacrifice of performance. You may need to apply a jumper if the automatic speed detection doesn't work. If your HDD doesn't have jumper ports, all you can do is to make sure you have the latest BIOS installed in hope it will support your desired configuration.
2.
I am not aware of "mandatory partitioning" but if you fear that your machine does not provide enough power for 1TB of capacity, you can create at least two partitions on this HDD since the running operating system does also play a great role if a volume is being supported - and Windows 8 should be capable of handling this.

Jimbo22 · Sep 28, 2014

TRSS is spot on, on both accounts. It's up to you if you want to partition or not. I've used a 1TB HDD before w/out partitions and never had a problem. The only downfall with using such a large drive is the search indexing the OS has to do to locate a file, that is if the HDD has a lot of data on it.

This is my suggested setup.....1st boot drive - use an SSD (250GB - they are lightning fast) for OS and Office suite and what other primary software you want.
2nd drive - 1TB or 2TB, partitioned into 500GB blocks to use as storage labeling each partition w/a name. It makes storing/finding
data so much easier.

Drew · Sep 30, 2014

It is always the smartest thing to have the OS & major programs, as Jim, says on one drive or partition. Data & redundant or backed-up data on a separate drive or partition. The performance is best this way AND it assures that IF the OS ever needs to be rebuilt, nothing needs to be saved (& replaced), nothing is lost since the Data drive remains intact & untouched.

If the 1TB is not being used for back-up, then, Jim's suggestion is sound... partition it; sizes @ your choosing.

Cheers,
Drew

Windows 8 Should I partition 1TB internal HDD?

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