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My very own "Mac OS X Hint" for Rob...
Authored by: eno on Nov 30, '04 11:54:30AM

The hint is this: Don't needlessly partition your disks!

If you hadn't needlessly partitioned your disks, you:

1. Wouldn't have needed to repartition them.
2. Wouldn't have needed to try this program.
3. Wouldn't have needed to pay $35 for it.
4. Wouldn't have needed to write this article.
5. Wouldn't have needed to justify the cost of your time.
6. Wouldn't have needed to go through so much extra backup above and beyond your normal backup routine.
7. Wouldn't have needed to stress out so much.

And furthermore, you wouldn't need to do any of the above again in the future. Needless partitioning is for computer hobbyists who prefer to "tinker" with their computers rather than actually use them for productive work.

Contrast this needless partitioning with the following Good Reasons For Partitioning:

1. Separation of operating system files and user data (doesn't apply in your case because you choose to mix the two).

2. Having multiple, bootable operating system versions on the same machine (again, doesn't apply in your case according to the information you've provided in the article).



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My very own "Mac OS X Hint" for Rob...
Authored by: klktrk on Nov 30, '04 02:23:03PM

3. If you are working with kinds of data which might benefit from using another type of file system. You might want, for example, large video files to be on a non HFS+ system. Or, in order to be able to lock down your OS in some good ways, you might prefer to have your boot partition use NFS.



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My very own response to the hint...
Authored by: robg on Nov 30, '04 03:55:06PM

Thanks for the advice, but I don't necessarily provide 100% detail on every config in my machine in each hint :).

I run several different OS X systems on a number of partitions -- I have seed access, so I have the latest beta on one partition. As another mentioned here, I also have a maintenance OS X installation. I have an experimental partition where I do weird and dangerous stuff. And I do, to a great extent, keep my system and personal files separate -- the exception is one main folder in my Documents folder for macosxhints. And I just generally prefer the 'hard' organization of partitions to folders. But that's the great thing about computing; we can all make the choices we want, and not be forced to do things the way someone else wants.

I prefer partitions. I prefer the pain and suffering you claim they bring me. I enjoy knowing that if my system partition heads south, the vast majority of my stuff is going to be fine (and I keep good backups of the rest). I like having multiple copies of OS X installed for easy switching between them, etc. etc. etc. And at some point, I'll probably move /Users off the boot drive; I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

So while I appreciate the advice, I'm going to choose to ignore it and keep working the way I want to! :)

-rob.



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My very own "Mac OS X Hint" for Rob...
Authored by: g3ski on Nov 30, '04 04:01:25PM

Rob said "Yea, I know it's not required and I don't get any speed gain, but it's just the way I prefer to organize things."

He doesn't seem to do it needlessly, but rather to organize...okay so you may see that as needless.

As time has passed, I too have reduced the amount of partitioning. but there are still good reasons to parition, especially for video, audio, graphics users:

1. photoshop scratch disks
2. Video editing partitions on the inner tracks
3. Being able to erase part of a disk for increased speed with new video projects
4. Audio app scratch disks
5 Putting FCP render and media files into different partitions is smart (although it's better to put them on separate drives)

---
"I want my two dollars!"



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