[mohitgarg]

I wanted to know if partitioning hard drive for HTPC was recommended (OS and XBMC) on separate partition and data on separate drive.

Also does partitioning help contain virus to the system partition (one with OS) and the data on other drives remains safe.

[darkscout]

1) Why

2) No.

2 Appendum. Linux really doesn't get viruses.

[poofyhairguy]

If by "data" you mean the actual media data for XBMC the best option is multiple hard drives!

[teaguecl]

I wanted to know if partitioning hard drive for HTPC was recommended (OS and XBMC) on separate partition and data on separate drive.

Also does partitioning help contain virus to the system partition (one with OS) and the data on other drives remains safe.

I always put my large media files in a separate partition from my OS. I use Linux and it sounds like your questions is kind of Windowsy, but the advice is the same either way. The reasoning is that I'm constantly adding new data to my media partition - sometimes even completely filling it up. An OS gets very upset when it runs out of space, it needs some for swap and temporary files and other stuff. Filling up the media partition has no ill effects, other than not being able to add more media! Think of it as an "escalation of privilege" security problem. If any user can crash the system by simply creating large files and starving the OS for a critical resource (disk space), then your system is unstable - or as most people call it: "Windows"

On your second question, darkscout is correct - separate partition for you OS and data will not protect your data in any way from a virus.

[mohitgarg]

thanks guys, I think making two partitions of and HD is a good idea (One for OS+XBMC) and one for movies and data.

Multiple hard drives = more heat

so the old age partitioning drives to protect data from virus and that of preventing formatting of full drive is a myth?

[darkscout]

thanks guys, I think making two partitions of and HD is a good idea (One for OS+XBMC) and one for movies and data.

Multiple hard drives = more heat

so the old age partitioning drives to protect data from virus and that of preventing formatting of full drive is a myth?

I guess I still don't see the point. My HTPC has a 500G hard drive. SABnzbd is asked to shut down if there is less than 5G left.

So you partition it with 10/490. What happens if you want more than 10GB for the OS? Or what if you only use 4GB? Now you've wasted 6GB.

And I've never heard that myth, every I've heard it. It's been a while since I've even seen a good ole virus (not just spyware/botnet crap) and it tried to infect EVERYTHING. USB drives, anything connected. No reason why it couldn't access another partition.

[>>X<<]

In a windows environment I always use a separate partition for system then if anything major goes wrong its a simple case of format and re install of windows on that partition, how would you do that if its all in the same partition

The other reason I keep system separate is you get huge amounts of fragmented files from media storage especially when using rar

Whole bunch of reasons you could lose your OS including drive failure why lose everything else as well not to mention its just as easy to create two partitions as it is to create one