- #How partition external hard drive mac 3 partitions mac os
- #How partition external hard drive mac 3 partitions install
- #How partition external hard drive mac 3 partitions full
- #How partition external hard drive mac 3 partitions software
And again, if you "outgrow" a partition, it's not trivial to make it larger, because you can't simply shrink or grow partitions at will. "Uhh, do I put Photos on the D: drive, and Music on the E: drive? Or is it Programs on the D: drive, Music on the E: drive, and Photos on the F: drive? Aaauuugggh!" With a single partition, you have a lot less hassle.Īlso, tasks like defragging your drive and backing up your files become more of a chore. You'll always have to remember where things are supposed to be stored. First of all, it makes using and maintaining your computer that much harder. There are other reasons why I disagree with the multiple partitions school of thought.
#How partition external hard drive mac 3 partitions install
If you want to protect yourself from viruses, spyware and other threats, practive safe computing habits and install some good anti-malware protection.Īlong those lines, I recommend that you read my Free Anti-Virus Programs article, follow up with more info on Anti-Malware Tools and then get an answer to the question Do I Need a Firewall? Just One Partition? Others claim that putting Windows on some drive other than C: will provide protection from malware because hackers are stupid and always target the C: drive. And it's NOT easy to tweak the size of a partition if you run out of space. And what if you make your Windows or swap file partitions too small? It's easy to underestimate the amount of space the operating system will need over time, or how large the swap file might grow. Your system performance will be optimized when the swap file is on the same partition as the operating system, because that mimimizes the movement of drive head. But everything I've read about this indicates just the opposite. Some people think that having a separate partition for the swap file will help with performance. Novice or casual users will probably not remember to change the target drive to D: or E: and the result will be a mishmash of programs installed on multiple partitions. And even if the installer does give you a choice, the C: drive is always the default. And if you blindly copy them to the D: drive, they may not work, due to Registry problems. They just plop themselves down on the C: drive.
#How partition external hard drive mac 3 partitions software
If the Registry gets whacked by a virus, or you re-install Windows, ALL of your software will have to be re-installed.Īnother problem with the "operating system on C: and programs on D:" idea is that some programs don't even ASK where you want to install them. But they're forgetting about the Windows Registry, which tells Windows where all the user-installed software resides on the hard drive. The rationale is usually along the lines that if your Windows operating system gets hosed by viruses or spyware, then you can simply re-install Windows and your programs will be safe on another partition. Some people go hog-wild with partitioning, and advise people to create one partition for the operating system, another for the Windows swap file, and still other partitions for installed software, music and photos. (See also: What is a Terabyte?) Partitioning Myth #1
#How partition external hard drive mac 3 partitions mac os
Windows, Mac OS and Linux can all handle partitions of almost any size, even the multi-terabyte drives that are just showing up on the market. But the hardware and software to support large hard drives has been around for over a decade now, and these gyrations are no longer necessary.
So a 10GB drive required five 2GB partitions, which would end up being the C:, D:, E:, F: and G: drives on a Windows computer.
#How partition external hard drive mac 3 partitions full
If you had a hard drive larger than 2GB, you needed multiple partitions to make use of the full capacity of the drive. Years ago, some hard drive controllers, as well as older versions of the Windows and Mac operating systems, could not accomodate a hard drive partition larger than 2 GB. Unless you are running a dual-boot system, with one partition for Windows, and another for Linux or Mac OS, I recommend that you stick with one large partition. In general, I disagree with the idea of having multiple partitions on a hard drive.