TipHub

Single Drive Configuration

Disk 1

• OS & Swap >15GB
• Software >30GB
• Data

With this mode the Operating System and Swap is on the first part of the drive, which will make it the fastest to load. It will also ensure that your Operating System will never be fragmented.

The second partition is the next most used group which will be your programs. You have to be diligent to install your application on this partition (should be D or E drive depending on where your CD is). Bear in mind that you are bound to forget to install things on the D drive, some files needs to be installed on the C drive.

The last partition contains your data.

Double Drive Configuration

Disk 1

• OS & Swap >30GB
• Reference Data

Disk 2

• Swap ~5GB
• Software >30GB
• Data

With this approach the OS is on the first drive (which it has to be for Windows). Your software is on your second drive which will speed up your boot time significantly because Windows will pull both from the OS on load and your programs at the same time.

By placing a 5GB partition on the first part of the second drive you will ensure that the swap is in the fastest possible position. But note that you have to configure swap on your OS drive as well (this is a Microsoft requirement) and according to Microsoft Windows will automatically balance between multiple swaps.

I generally put my data on the second drive because normally you aren't loading up new programs and your data files at the same time. I also use the reference data partition as my backup for my live data just in case one of the hard drives dies on me.