Should I partition my SSD (C:)???

[Guitar Binge]

Idk much about "partitioning", but I've read it's suggested. My new PC's main 'C:' came w/ this:
-496MB Healthy (EFI System Partition)
-Windows (C:) 952.30GB NTFS Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Basic Data Partition)
-984MB Healthy (Recovery Partition)
So with that; would it be good to add a partition? If so, is it okay that I've already installed a lot of stuff?
Any help would be great. Thanks everyone.

[SuperG]

To be honest, further subdividing your HD to create another partition won't gain you anything, spacewise. You still have the same total storage, albeit part of it then accessed via another drive letter. If you're set on moving some things to another partition it would be better to simply purchase an SSD and use that as a secondary drive. No need to complicate your boot drive.

[dellboy]

Everybody has there own way of doing things,some people have one big system drive with everything on it,including data,other people,like myself prefer tp partition into separate disks.The main reason that I choose to partition is for general housekeeping. The system disk partition can be kept small,lets suggest 256GB, then the rest of the disk can be partitioned up into as many disks, as you wish. The main advantage of doing it this way,is that the system disk (256GB) can be imaged and restored very quickly if ever it becomes corrupted,without affecting the other disks.With NVME disks you have to be careful what software you use to image the system disk,as some (free) will not let you restore just a partition,and write over the entire disk (including valuable data). The best free one that I have found is "Aomei Backerupper", as this allows partition restore of just the system disk.There may others that can also do it.

[whyterabbyt]

The system disk partition can be kept small,lets suggest 256GB, then the rest of the disk can be partitioned up into as many disks, as you wish. The main advantage of doing it this way,is that the system disk (256GB) can be imaged and restored very quickly if ever it becomes corrupted,without affecting the other disks.

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[Guitar Binge]

Okay, thanks for the help

[Guitar Binge]

With what I posted at the top (how my PC came), Do I need to add any more partitions or if something got corrupted can I just fix that 'OS' partition?

[BertKoor]

You don't "need to", you have the choice.
Whether it can be fixed is
a) depending on what's wrong with it
b) irrelevant since you had a backup, right!?

One basket with all the eggs is simple and has a very small risk of loosing all the eggs. Several smaller baskets is more complex but lowers the risk: only some eggs can be lost.
(but the partition table can still go south, taking the whole drive with it)
It's a personal choice. If you research failure rates of SSD drives, you can make a more educated decision.

If the data is worth a lot to you, you make backups to external media stored somewhere else.
I might back up project data & documents. But software... it's easy to install again, and by that time my favourites will surely have changed.

[lobanov]

Yes, you should.
Keep your libraries, loops, projects on a separate partition. If your OS crashes one day you can reinstall it without affecting other stuff (or most of it). You can even reformat this partition. If you keep all your stuff on the same partition you can loose data or you will have to reinstall it.
General rule is: Keep on the system partition all you will reinstall in case of crash. Keep all the rest on another partition.
It won't save you from a drive crash indeed.
And don't forget about backups.

[SuperG]

The system disk partition can be kept small,lets suggest 256GB, then the rest of the disk can be partitioned up into as many disks, as you wish. The main advantage of doing it this way,is that the system disk (256GB) can be imaged and restored very quickly if ever it becomes corrupted,without affecting the other disks.

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This is true, if you don't plan to get another SSD for storing samples then making another partition and placing samples there is the way to go.

Whether or not that's a benefit for backup depends on the source of the corruption. If the problem is due to SSD bit-rot/wear, you'll need back-ups for all of the partions anyway and so timewise you're back to square one.

[whyterabbyt]

Whether or not that's a benefit for backup depends on the source of the corruption. If the problem is due to SSD bit-rot/wear, you'll need back-ups for all of the partions anyway and so timewise you're back to square one.

You should have backups of everything anyway. Onsite and off, ideally. Absolutely mandatory, I'd say, if its a system you rely on professionally.

[SuperG]

Whether or not that's a benefit for backup depends on the source of the corruption. If the problem is due to SSD bit-rot/wear, you'll need back-ups for all of the partions anyway and so timewise you're back to square one.

You should have backups of everything anyway. Onsite and off, ideally. Absolutely mandatory, I'd say, if its a system you rely on professionally.

Exactly. No getting around it. No time saving either.

[Guitar Binge]

Thanks everyone for the help. I currently have 2 internal 'SSD's' (C=O.S. & Installs & D=Content)... It sounds like my drive came partitioned in a way that depending on what's wrong it can be recovered. Also, I can add content I install (Software etc...) to my 'O.S.' partition. I still may be wrong, but either way, I'm going to get a 3rd drive or at least a way to back-up everything. Right now the 2 drives are for optimization, but no backup; so I'll prob. add a 3rd internal or external ssd... Thanks again

[Vocalpoint Studios]

I still may be wrong, but either way, I'm going to get a 3rd drive or at least a way to back-up everything.

If "backup" is your intent - do not add a third "internal" drive and backup to that.

Ideally - a backup should be nowhere near the machine you are actually backing up.

External for sure in this case.

VP

[jamcat]

Use a cloud backup of your most important stuff, such as DAW project files/audio. Dropbox or better yet, Sync. Just don't back up financial information or naked selfies on any cloud service.

[Guitar Binge]

Good calls from both of you thanks. If I do back it up, I'll either use a "cloud backup" or if I do get a drive, it'll be an external. (Considering how lazy I am and have bad luck, I'd feel safer w/ an external anyways than adding an internal b/c the final internal slot is buried and I'd have to do some removal and whatnot.) Maybe one day i'll use both forms. (Cloud + External+
Either way, thanks again for the help. I appreciate all of it.