Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of JohnBPrice
JohnBPrice

asked on

Why partition a single volume into C: and D: drives?

I just got a new server, with 400G in a single hardware RAID volume.  It came partitioned with a 12G C: Drive, and the rest in a D: drive.  I've always despised partitioning a single disk this way (C: always runs out of space) and I thought it was a dead practice now that the NTFS supports large enough partitions.  Is there any reason or advantage to partitioning separate C: & D: drive on a single RAID volume?  (Windows Server 2003)
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of rhandels
rhandels
Flag of Netherlands image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of JohnBPrice
JohnBPrice

ASKER

Thanks, Hmmm, do partitions really have a performance impact on Raid 5 arrays?  If I seek cluster 100 on C: and cluster 500 on D:, does the RAID controller see anything different than seek cluster 100 and cluster 500?  I understand that putting the most frequently used files in a limited area of the disk can improve performance through reduced seek times, but this box is going to be primarily SQL Server, and the data files might get more activity than the OS files.

Frankly, I'm looking for a good excuse to not re-partition the darn thing because its a pain in the butt, though maybe I could just drop the D: partition and stretch the C: partition if it comes to that.
Hi,

I'm not quite sure if the performnace is better, i always create multiple partitions and don't reïnstall with one partition to check the performance, but my gut feeling tells me this will give you more performance... This is also stated in the W2k and W2k3 MSCE books, to create multiple partitions..

Also, the reïnstall of the operating system is a very good reason to partition.. But eventually, the choise is up to you... Because Microsoft also states not to put a SQL database on a RAID 5 setting, although this will work...(all for perfromance, right ;))
it's easier to backup and has a performance impact to partition the drive.
anyway, it's recommended for SQL servers, to use different partitions for System, Datafiles and Logfiles.