Multi-Partitioning an SSD

[Z15CAM]

I want to Partition a 128MB SSD as FOLLOWS and who says Win7 has to be loaded to a Primary DOS Boot Partition:

Considering I have to leave 25% of it BLANK for TRIM, I will have 96MB's to play with with 32GB's left for TRIM.

C: Primary DOS Partition - Labeled "Cache or BOOT" - FAT32: Approx 5G's for a Boot Partition, Registry BackUp and Misc App Cache & Buffer Assignments shared with other Drives (I know outer Drive Speed is not an Issue with SSD's but all Cache Deletes with every Program Close & Reboot)

D : Logical Drive in Extended Dos Partition - Labeled "WIN7" - NTFS: Approx 40G's for Win7 64Bit Ultimate SP1 loaded with Office (Outlook, Word and Excel). Including Sub-Apps Utilities such as File Compression & Burning Utilities: WinRAR, WinZIP, NERO-Lite, Power ISO, Win Image, SlySoft AnyDVD, GHOST SERVER v8 Corp (Really can't find a better Imaging program then this when it comes to DOS Command Loaded in Ram): Media Studio Apps; My Own Codec Package, MeGUI, FFMpeg, 2 or 3 TMPGEnc Apps, CDeX, Audition, i-Snd, ZPlayer, MPlayer, QT Player... etc. PSP and ACDSee - You know where I'm at and the OS occupies approx 15GB's sitting on a 40GB Partition including PageFile that deletes on Reboot. I will use SATA3 HDD's in Raid 0 for Encoding Media.

E: Logical Drive in Extended Dos Partition - Labeled "PROGRAMS" - Fat32 or NTFS: Approx 5GB. Install & UN-Install MISC Editing Programs like 3D Mark, Premiere (Useless in my opinion), Web Designers like Dreamweaver, Flash, Expression - May Use the Partition for Google Earth Cache - whatever.

F: Logical Drive in Extended Dos Partition - Labeled "PLAYGROUND" - FAT32: Approx 20G's for: Downloading and Sorting Files. It also contains OutLook Mail & My Documents (Which I rarely use). Whatever; ZIP, a Self-Extrator F: for the Partition as BackUp.

G: Logical Drive in Extended Dos Partition - Labeled "GAMES" - FAT32 Approx 14GB's: Game Experimentation but I generally use it for a 1st Copy GHO BackUp Imaging of C:, D : and E : (if occupied) before coping to a Separate BackUp Drive or USB Flash Device.

H: Logical Drive in Extended Dos Partition - Labeled "ISO" - NTFS Approx 10G's used for Building, Burning & Transporting ISO's ;o)

Any Drive I Append to the System whether it be Fat32 or NTFS, RAID or Not will be Logical Drives in Extended Dos Partitions.

The remaining 25% of the SSD Primary Drive I intend to create a FAT32 Logical Drive in Extended Dos Partition, approx 32 GB's, Label it "SSD_TRIM" then DELETE the Partition? - Is it necessary to Delete or even Create this Partition?

My question is: Since I have no experience with SSD's can I Partiton a 128MB SSD Drive as indicated using MS DOS FDisk, Format all Partitions FAT32, Install Win7 64 Bit on D : as NTFS (Which I've done on Disk HDD's) and establish OffSet or can the Win7 Ultimate SetUp do what I Want?

I know most of you will question why I want to Multi-Partition but if you have ever buggered an OS, Program or other Data, it's much easier just to Over-Write the Partition with an Image then attempt to re-config or re-install it.

What's with all these Smileys when you write D: and not D : - LOL

 

[Jocelyn84]

I can't help out too much with your post as a whole, but simply overprovision the 25% instead of creating then deleting it.

 

[Z15CAM]

I can't help out too much with your post as a whole, but simply overprovision the 25% instead of creating then deleting it.

Glad you read my blerp:

Yah! Do you leave the 25% Whole & Blank or Delete the Partition?

But can a Win98 x's 86 DOS FDisk Boot Disc Prepare, Partition and Format a Fat32 128GB SSD (Who cares if it's formatted FAT32 - It can be re-formatted to NTFS thru the OS at any time) "YET MAINTAIN OFFSET", for a Win7 64 Bit Installation on D : with C: as a Fat32 Boot Partition (A Fat32 Boot Partition is important to me in order to Over-Write an OS NTFS WIN OS Registry or engage DOS GHOST an Over-Write to any Partition on the System, Fat or NTFS.)

I'm ignorant about SSD's but protecting TRIM is what it is all about from what I've read. I will purchase an SSD with the Best Controller and inferior Nand/Cost ToDate - The Samsung 830 looks good.
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ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Gen3/i7 2700k/16GB Samsung MV-3V4G3D-US_DDR3 & Building ;o)

 

[jolancer]

a few thoughts and a few questions, and anyone please correct me if im wrong about sumthing cause i do not have SSD experience

havnt use w7 but winXP was always able to create the partition i wanted if i was doing a clean install so idk why 7 wouldnt.. If 7 cant, why use FDISK, i heard it was getting dated even a long time ago. I dont know all the optinos out there, i just use Gparted.

I understand what your trying, but personaly am a little confused about a couple things... Like why are you using only 1 Primary? can SSD's not use 4 Primary partitions like HDD? Why have a seperate partition for Programs(exluding the games) i only ask because Iv thought of that befor but could never justify it because some programs use/modify so much stuff on the OS partition no matter where thy are installed and its usually the apps that break the OS not the other way around? ....so what i had done is just create my Backup of the OS after i install the apps i know i will never need to change, and leave the ones out i know that may have a lot of updates or changes as time goes on, so if anything were to screw up bad with them i could just recover and reinstall the app.

This may not apply to you, but through my experimenting b4 with multiple partitions on a Dual boot i found Logical partitions more buggy when mixing filesystem types... Im just guessing but the Logicals are all at the murcy of the single Extended partition, so if possible i stick everything on Primaries, If there all the same FS type though i doubt theyl be any conflicts.

And if this isn't an external drive you plan on sharing with other OS types why are you use FAT? only benefit i Think it has besides universal compatability is its formatted partitions are Slightly larger because its FS takes up less space, but has worse performance reliability etc then NTFS or Other FSs?

EDIT: Oh yeah... some of the seperate partitions may be more relavent for HDD due to fragmentation performance, but with SSDs Random access times and such thats not realy an issue anymore on SSD no? .....you can probably trim away a few of those partitions and stick to just Primaries?

EDIT Again: oh and since SSDs Fail Hard and currently at a quicker rate... might aswell get rid of your Backup partition and just use an entirely different Hard drive for backup.

 

[Deders]

I can't see why you'd want so many partitions, there won't be any real advantage and it would be much easier in the long run to have all the free space consolidated in case you run out. And is 25GB really necessary? My 128GB Samsung 830 only wants 11.9GB for over provisioning.

 

[Z15CAM]

"why are you using only 1 Primary?" - FAT32 Dos Primary Active Boot - Why NOT ;o)

"Logicals are all at the mercy of the single Extended partition" - Yes they are but automatically line up in order under DOS and WinGUI

"why are you use FAT" - DOS access for Over-Writing your OS

"get rid of your Backup partition and just use an entirely different Hard drive for backup" - That I do but isn't it safer to have a 2nd BackUp besides I occasionally load games in it - BackUp Partitions have to be FAT32 for DOS access ;o)

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"why you'd want so many partitions" - I mainly use 2 Partitions for the OS: Primary Active FAT32 C : BOOT (I like C: to be FAT so I can Flash HardWare Firmware and protect my Registry BackUp) and a Logical NTFS Drive D : WIN7 in an Extended Partition. All other Logical Partitions Fat or NTFS simply Organize and Categorize my Work. Basically once a Partition has been formatted NTFS it divorces itself from the Extended Partition under DOS.

I Hate Fragmenting My OS Partition - I have not had to Defrag my OS since Win95A - I've no idea how SSD's handle this scenario ;o)

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Guess my major question is: Can a Win98 x's 86 DOS Boot Disc FDISK.EXE Prepare Partitions and Format a 128GB SSD to FAT32 in order to install Win7 64Bit and Maintain Alignment - The Win7 Installation Partition D : Labeled WIN7 will be re-formatted NTFS during SetUp and any other Fat32 partitions can be re-formatted NTFS after Win is Installed?

Is my take on TRIM Protection correct? That is to assign 25% of the SSD Volume for it and does the Free Space need to be partitioned and formatted and then the Partition Deleted?

My 128GB SSD Partitions would look like this:

C : - Primary ACTIVE FAT32 Partition Labeled "BOOT" - 5GB's Boot Partition. I also assign Temporary Internet Files here along with Buffering a Caches from various Apps.

All other Drives are Logical in and Extended DOS Partition - The Question is do I assign all the rest of the Volume as Extended or just 91GB's leaving 25% Volume to protect TRIM and just forget about it?

D : - Logical NTFS Drive in an Extended Partiton Labeled "WIN7"(the OS Partition) - 40GB's

E : - Logical FAT32 Drive in an Extended Partition Labeled "PROGRAMS" - 5GB's

F : - Logical FAT32 or NTFS Drive in an Extended Partition Labeled "PLAYGROUND" - 20GB's

G : - Logical FAT32 Drive in an Extended Partition Labeled "GAMES" - 16GB's. I have it FAT32 because I will use this Partition for a GHO Image of the OS C : and D : Partitions.

H : - Logical NTFS Drive in an Extended Partition Labeled "ISO" - 10GB's

Totaling 96GB's which is 75% of the SSD's 128GB capacity leaving 25% @ 32GB's to protect TRIM.

 

[Deders]

The other Partitions simply Organize and Categorize my Work.

Folders?

TBH the best way would be to create the partitions on a Win7 system that was designed with SSD's in mind so it's correctly aligned etc, you can use the disk manager in computer management.

 

[Z15CAM]

TBH the best way would be to create the partitions on a Win7 system that was designed with SSD's in mind so it's correctly aligned etc, you can use the disk manager in computer management.

I understand Disk Manager in the Win7 environment but what is TBH?

 

[masteryoda34]

I understand Disk Manager but what is TBH?

https://www.google.com/search?q=TBH

 

[Z15CAM]

LOL - Your a great help. Mind you I love Windows but TBH I would not trust Microsoft to protect or organize any of my work.

More Thoughts:

As for Alignment I may try 1st creating a 1024kb Primary DOS Partition then continue Partitioning and Formatting as I've indicated. When I've finished FDisking, I will delete the 1024kb Partition. The Win7 SetUp will install to D : Formatted NTFS and automatically load the FAT32 Active Partition with the Boot Files.

Once Win is installed, I can run MsInfo to check my FDisk Alignment "Partition Starting Offset" is divisible by 4096 equaling a whole number if not I guess I could use Gparted followed by a Win7 Repair or BUST the SSD, start all over and attempt to set my partitions using DISKPART during the Win7 installation - which is probably the BEST solution - Siish!