got a new pc coming with a 2TB hardrive no operating system, and a fresh copy of windows 7 64bit to go on it.

can anyone advise the best way to go about setting up the HD with regards to partitioning/formatting please? indeed do i need to partition it?

Buy an SSD and put win 7 on that, use the 2tb for storage 😉

This. ^^

Honestly, the days of partitioning are past. You *could* create a system and a data partition; the logic is that you can flatten the system partition and keep your data. But really, I probably wouldn’t bother, I’ve not set up a system like that since Windows 98 days.

The above advice about putting Windows on an SSD is good, especially if you’re starting from scratch.

Whatever you decide you don’t have to partition the hard drive unless you want to (as long as the Bios can cope with drives > 1tb; if it’s a new computer then you’ll probably be fine but my mobo, which is a couple of years old, did need a bios update).

Partitioning a drive would allow you to present a drive as several smaller ones, which can be essential if, as mentioned above, your bios can’t see the whole drive capacity and it can be useful for keeping things tidy (perhaps by using a separate partition for data storage).

I think that partitioning was also meant to offer a level of protection as (because the drive heads need to lift over the partition boundaries?) disc errors on one partition aren’t meant to be able to propagate across the whole disc (I could be wrong on this though).

There’s probably lots of conflicting advice on the internet as to whether you should partition or not, but you don’t have to in order to install Windows.

It’s been a while since I installed Windows from scratch (I’ve gone through various upgrades) but I’m pretty sure that the Windows installation process will partition for you if you decide to go down that route.

i’ve been looking at the ssd as the disc for windows etc, based on what i have on my current machine if i popped windows 7 and my current software (some of it i could lose to be honest) on the disc it would use about 30gb.

so would something like this…

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AYCRCKA/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=computers

…be worth me spending an extra 50quid and the hassle of taking to pieces a new machine and fiddling?

Go for one of these Kingston SSD

You get a good reliable drive and the mounting kit you will need to install it in a normal desktop case. I have a SSD in both a laptop and a desktop style machine, it is a mini tower. The speed increase is amazing. Also don’t go for a 64GB drive, you will fill that before you know it, it is amazing how fast Windows 7 and a couple of applications will use up that space.

Oh and do make sure you have a spare HD drive bay, nothing more frustrating than buying an upgrade that doesn’t fit in your new machine.

30Gb just istn’t going to cut it, and 64Gb is going to be tight if you want to run the computer for a number of years.

This:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Series-120GB-Solid-State/dp/B009NHAF06/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1392204312&sr=1-6&keywords=120gb+ssd

will give you space for future applications.

This looks ideal for the OP (and me). Thoughts?

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120gb-intel-520-series-25-ssd-sata-iii-6gb-s-sandforce-2281-mlc-read-550mb-s-write-500mb-s-40k-iops-

– Sorry, wrong thread! –