How do the two partions work?

[woody84]

Just got a new Laptop with Windows 7 home. it is set up with two partitions:
"OS" that is about 120 Gig and "DATA" that is 208 Gig.

how should I be using these? for instance I am about to put 25Gig of Music on the laptop from my other computer. Should I put that on the "OS" or the "DATA"? same goes for everyday stuff too, like word files that stuff.
I tried to google a little to get a basic "idiots" guide but didn't come up with anything.

thanks in advance.

 

[foothead]

Generally the OS one would be dedicated for your OS and programs, dont use it for music and files. Data is there to be used for files, movies, music, whatever else...
You can install games/programs wherever you want though, but I'd recommend the OS one, to avoid clutter.

 

[Kage]

If for example you only stored music and work files on the data drive, this kind of file won't be affected by a virus. You could happily format the OS drive if anything happened, and you'd still have all your data there, waiting.
I still recommend you back up to another drive though, any important documents/files you may have, in case of a drive failure or similar catastrophy.

There are programs you can use that can shrink the partitions safetly, to a smaller size, to make the remaining one bigger, or even to create more partitions if you wished.
Partition Magic is one example that I've had work, but that program isn't free.

 

[woody84]

been a while, forgot I posted this question....

thanks for the replies, seems like I had it figured out but I wanted to be sure.

I probably won't have too much of an issue since most everything media wise, is stored on my main desk top then backed up on a second HD, and backed up on my external drive that is connected to the router so I mainly just stream the files anyway.