Ive set up my hard drive into 3 partitons:
C: OS, apps
E: Samples
F: small temporary internet files partition.
Will this have a negeative effect on my performance because I'm opening apps and plugs from "C" then loading in loops from "E".
sorry if this has been discussed already but im just looking for a quick and dirty answer.
Partition question...
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- KVRist
- 444 posts since 16 Dec, 2003 from here and now
There is no drawback at all in what you plan to do, only advantages : the fastest part of a hard drive is the beginning, performance decreasing when you go toward the end. When partitionning again the fastest part of each partition is its beginning. Hence once you'll have installed everything you'll be able 1) to defragment your partitions independently, 2) to get the best performance out of each partition for what they are : c:\system, E:\container F:\temporary
That said, on a new hard drive the performance loss toward the end is really neglectable, and mostly due to the longer file arborescence to read to access a file and to the fact that the heads of the hdd have to jump to the end.
If you format your partitions in NTFS, what may influence the performance is the cluster size you choose for each. For small partitions carrying small files (C:\ typically), the default 4k cluster size is maybe the best choice, but for large partitions carrying bigger files (the case of a sample partition, depending on the samples sizes), 8k, 16k or even 32k can be better as it reduces the number of cluster to read to read the files, the drawback here being the largest the cluster size and the number of files, the more hdd room is wasted (1 file occupying no less than 1 cluster, and file size divided by cluster size being the number of cluster required for the file - thus the hdd room. e.g. with 32k cl.size a file of 1500kb occupies 1500/32=46.875=47 clusters=1 cluster wasted but only 47 clusters to read to access the file / with 4k cl. size -> 1500/4=375=0 wasted clusters but 375 clusters to read to access the file - on a total of thousands of files, the wasted hdd room can count in gb)
That said, on a new hard drive the performance loss toward the end is really neglectable, and mostly due to the longer file arborescence to read to access a file and to the fact that the heads of the hdd have to jump to the end.
If you format your partitions in NTFS, what may influence the performance is the cluster size you choose for each. For small partitions carrying small files (C:\ typically), the default 4k cluster size is maybe the best choice, but for large partitions carrying bigger files (the case of a sample partition, depending on the samples sizes), 8k, 16k or even 32k can be better as it reduces the number of cluster to read to read the files, the drawback here being the largest the cluster size and the number of files, the more hdd room is wasted (1 file occupying no less than 1 cluster, and file size divided by cluster size being the number of cluster required for the file - thus the hdd room. e.g. with 32k cl.size a file of 1500kb occupies 1500/32=46.875=47 clusters=1 cluster wasted but only 47 clusters to read to access the file / with 4k cl. size -> 1500/4=375=0 wasted clusters but 375 clusters to read to access the file - on a total of thousands of files, the wasted hdd room can count in gb)
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 1144 posts since 9 Jan, 2004 from tOKYO
Hey thanks Bebop 
If I already have the samples on my E drive is it too late to change the cluster size without moving or backing up my samples?
If I already have the samples on my E drive is it too late to change the cluster size without moving or backing up my samples?
Not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good
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- KVRian
- 619 posts since 15 Feb, 2004 from Birmingham, UK
What about having a big partition with the OS, apps, VSTs and samples all there? Is that problematic? I just reinstalled Windows and made a large 58Gb partition with which I planned to do exactly that... I can still divide it with Partition Magic, I guess - should I do this?
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- KVRAF
- 2582 posts since 24 Apr, 2003 from Canada
Its not really a big deal.. But in case you have problems with the OS, its nice to be able to format your C: drive, reinstall and not disturb any of your other data.
The performance benefits are basically less file fragmentation, and faster swap file usage. But if you defragment often, the former is not a problem. The latter is basically only a concern with multitasking: when you have many open programs, switching between them may be slightly slower with a swap file thats not at the start of the disk. If you have 512+mb of memory, the swap file shouldn't be hit that often anyway...
The performance benefits are basically less file fragmentation, and faster swap file usage. But if you defragment often, the former is not a problem. The latter is basically only a concern with multitasking: when you have many open programs, switching between them may be slightly slower with a swap file thats not at the start of the disk. If you have 512+mb of memory, the swap file shouldn't be hit that often anyway...
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- KVRian
- 1103 posts since 19 Apr, 2004 from Trent Severn WaterWay
I've never seen a performance benefit from partitioning one drive,,remember theres only one needle and it can only be in one place at a time.Sometimes having the needle jump wildly around the drive can actually hurt performance.
Having said that..the protection factor is good for keeping data separate from os or internet crap in case something happens..
The cluster science is good,, to keep wasted comands to a minimum,,use 32 for audio partition,,clusters can be changed anytime without data loss....but make sure you have equal free space ..
Hard drives are sooo cheap nowadays....when I bought a second drive for my audio,,my track count went way up.....
Having said that..the protection factor is good for keeping data separate from os or internet crap in case something happens..
The cluster science is good,, to keep wasted comands to a minimum,,use 32 for audio partition,,clusters can be changed anytime without data loss....but make sure you have equal free space ..
Hard drives are sooo cheap nowadays....when I bought a second drive for my audio,,my track count went way up.....
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 1144 posts since 9 Jan, 2004 from tOKYO
This is exactly why I asked this question. You just articulated it better then mevtx wrote:I've never seen a performance benefit from partitioning one drive,,remember theres only one needle and it can only be in one place at a time.Sometimes having the needle jump wildly around the drive can actually hurt performance.
Regarding an external harddrive: My comp does not have a firewire port, just 2 USB 2.0 and a "cardbus" slot. I plan to get an ECHO I/O card so that fills up the cardbus slot. Is usb 2.0 acceptable for audio and/or quicker than my internal(laptop) drive?
Not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good