is it better to devide harddisk into 2 or more drives (C,D..)? why & how to do that? Thanks.?

Answer 1

Some systems don't support drives larger than 137 GB but most drive vendors include utilities to get around that. People will often partition because of this rather than using the utilities.

Other reasons to partition could be for disk/data management. On a MS Windows system, you don't really have a good backup application included with the OS so people will find separating data onto its own partition easier to write to external media (they know all data will be on the "D:" drive while applications will be on the "C:" drive for example). If you had to reinstall the OS, you could keep your second partition intact too so it is a litttle easier to rebuild and not have to restore all your data from CD/DVD or an external system.

** Edit **

Forgot to include the "how". If you bring up Computer Management (Start->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Computer Management) you can select Disk Management to visually see the partitions. For the initial partition though, that will be created at OS installation.

One thing to keep in mind though is that a disk failure will affect both partitions as they are based on a single underlying disk so make sure to backup any files to external media. Don't think that just because you saved a copy on the C: and D: drives that you are completely protected. You can use that for user error (accidental deletion) but a disk failure will take out both partitions.

Answer 2

It's not better or worse. The best comparison is having one big bucket or having 2 (or more) smaller buckets that total the same amount as the one big bucket. Multiple partitions on a hard drive can be used for a couple reasons:

1 - Making a duel-boot or multi-boot system. One computer, several operating systems.

2 - Having a drive for a specific purpose. Might be useful if you want to put all your work-related documents, photos, music, videos, ect. in one area.

3 - Some systems come with a secondary partition that's used to restore the system to the original factory installation if there's a severe problem.

As for how, there's also a couple ways
1 - System disk (usually a floppy disk) The fdisk utillity will let you delete and create partitions. But know that if you delete or modify any partition with data on it using this, it will be history. Operating system, files, everything.

2 - (Windows XP) If you have an unpartitioned section of the hard drive, you can use the disk management tool to create a partition. Right-click on My Computer, go to Manage. Under the Storage section, there's Disk Management. If you look at your hard drive, it will show you how it's partitioned. If there's any grey unpartitioned area, you can create a new partition there.

3 - Special software, like Norton's PartitionMagic, can resize, add, delete and modify partitions. This can work if you don't want to completely re-install Windows and all your software and do not have any unpartitioned space on your hard drive. This software can effectively 'cut' a chunk out of your C: drive and make it a D: drive. But like the system disk, if you use this to delete a partition, you'll lose everything there.

Answer 3

It can be beneficial to divide your hard disk into more than one drive (called partitioning). Windows uses hard drive space to use as a Temp file to process data. This file easily gets fragmented. Putting this file on it's own hard drive can help keep fragmentation low on your other hard drive. My brother puts his Operating system on one disk and the rest of his stuff on another to keep things speedy. Another reason to partition is you can sometimes get a little bit more room out of your hard drive by making smaller partitions. With how large hard drives are anymore, It is not worth getting a few more megabytes by partitioning your drive 20 times.

I use Partition Magic to make my partitions.

Answer 4

It is better to have it divided in two. Put all valuable files like documents and music onto drive D, and just use C for windows and program installs. some programs can split partitions but i wouldn't trust them. best way is to burn all important stuff do disk and start from scratch

Answer 5

Yes, it is highly recommended. 1 partition C:/ to install your Windows operating system and programs, and the other partition D:\ to save all your files and data. If your Windows gets corrupted (which always happen) or is hit by a virus and if the only solution is to reformat or reinstall it, you only have to reformat your C:\ partition, erasing all your data in it, but all your files and data in D: will still be there and you can open them again when you have repaired your Windows in partition C:\.