Partitioning for Performance: Hitachi 7K500 Benchmark Setup Specifics

[Phil]

Keep in mind that that review solely relies on synthetic benchmarks (even PCMark Vantage is synthetic).

To add one more synthetic benchmark: the WD1600BEKT beats the 7K500 with a clear margin in the HDTune IOPS benchmarks.

Which drive is faster in real life is uncertain.

[surfasb]

I'm curious how much time will be saved by setting up all these partitions.

[isas]

As I have bought the same harddisc (7K500) this guide is really helpful.

But I don't really get why you take so much free space on the system-partition.
I always used to make a new partition for my tools and programms.
I agree with you for the temp-partition but this one also seems too big for me - I would choose about 20 GB. How can you fill up 64 GB with temp data?
Using ccleaner regularly will delete most of it...

So it would look like this:
T: 20 GB (temp)
C: 40 GB (system)
D: 30 GB (tools)
E: rest GB (or more partitions)

Is there really a performance improvement if you have more free space on your harddrive? So I in fact have to buy even bigger drives to really use the size that I bought - just because of the big part of empty space which I'll never fill up.

[PapaSmurf69]

Putting your tools and applications in a separate partition from the system causes the hard drive to work harder to start programs. Some of the files the programs use are placed in the Windows folder so you want the applications to be as close to the windows folder as possible so they can be accessed quicker and easier. Putting them in a separate folder on the same hard drive forces the head to have to move further to access them and causes it to bounce between the windows folder and the application folder.

The sizes of each of the partitions can be debated until the cows come home with merit to each, but using a separate application partition isn't debatable, just slower.

[NiteWalker]

Good info to know about that hitachi drive, thanks for posting that.
I usually keep 2 partitions on my laptop; one smaller one for OS (40GB) and the rest for documents and media. Can't say I've noticed my system lagging. That's definitely an interesting post to read though. Thanks for going through that and posting it up for us.

[leslieann]

I have done HDtach (and other) testing with this many times over the years.
I recommended before committing to all of these partitions, you actually test and see what you get because you may be surprised.

Note, I am disregarding the Windows7 swap file in this discussion for simplicity. This partition is necessary and does not effect what I discuss below.

What is being done is called "short stroking", which is the basis of the information posted. Short stroking means you cut the partition short, thereby decreasing the hard disks arm stroke which speeds things up. This DOES work.

However.
The problem comes in with how Windows deals with things. While a short stroked drive increases speeds, a split drive, slows it down. Just adding that extra partition will not only eliminate your short stroke advantage, but will actually make it worse than if you had left only one partition. I suspect Windows has to verify which partition it needs to check, before it can read the master file table of that partition and locate the file.

What was said earlier about Windows operating best with one partition, is true.


Now, there are advantages to multiple partitions, please don't get me wrong. I often do so. Why? Because if you store everything outside of your Windows partition, you can reformat and re-install Windows to your hearts content and not worry about your data being erased.

Oh, in the past I also setup a secondary drive, also short stroked) for a swap file. While a second drive will speed up swap speeds, in truth, you can't tell a difference.

If you do every tweak you can find, you MIGHT see a glimmer of change in speeds of things, but the truth is, the only way you will notice much is in benchmarks. Seat of your pants is more important.

[NiteWalker]

What was said earlier about Windows operating best with one partition, is true.

Interesting. I was always under the impression the opposite was true, or at least a long while back a dell rep told me the the fuller a hard drive becomes (assuming windows is on the same partition as storage) the slower it would run. I should know better.

Now, there are advantages to multiple partitions, please don't get me wrong. I often do so. Why? Because if you store everything outside of your Windows partition, you can reformat and re-install Windows to your hearts content and not worry about your data being erased.

And that's the primary reason I use 2 partitions.

[isas]

I just have found some really interesting articles/discussions regarding the "short stroking":
- some tests by Tom's Hardware which somehow shows the I/O-advantage you could gain (also read the comments)
- this short explanation
and finally a discussion which says in fact that there actually is no reallife performance gain by short-stroking your harddrive and losing most of the capacity. they also refer to the article by Tom's Hardware.

It would be nice to hear the opinion of the threadstarter "tilleroftheearth" here.

[deeastman]

I haven't seen this posted so I thought I would mention that the Hitachi 7K500, 2.5", 7200rpm drive is selling for $78 at Fry's Electronics as of 3/8/10.

http://www.frys.com/product/5966014

[NiteWalker]

Not bad. Comes to the same price amazon is offering after shipping is added,though amazon doesn't have it in stock at the moment.

I'm with amazon though, because of the prime trial. The fry's deal is good for locals. I'm wondering how much of a performance gain I'd see with this coming from a WD5000BEVT.