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*Formating PC, little help*
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Luis M.
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
22
Posts :
112
Posted : Jun 28, 2008 20:03:20
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Can some body give me a phew tips on how to format properly, i know it's nothing special but when it comes to disk partition confuses-me a little bit.
Shoul i have a look how the disk is now and then on the format apply the same settings to it??
hope someone can help me, so i can start working on a project.
Thanhks pple
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Tomos
IsraTrance Full Member
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84
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981
Posted : Jun 28, 2008 21:20
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Which OS?
How big is the drive/drives?
Are you installing an OS or just formatting a new drive? |
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Luis M.
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
22
Posts :
112
Posted : Jun 28, 2008 22:08
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Windows XP
Professional x64
Service Pack 2
Version 2003
Drives total size is 765 G.
This is he partition i have at the moment:
C system and applications: 298 G.
E Other stuff: 465 G.
i want to format it all to make sure all bullshit that i can not dellete is off( Like coming from the shop)
I want the partition on three disks, one for system and applications, another for vsts presets mixer presets etc.. and another disk for any other stuff.
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Tomos
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Jun 28, 2008 23:50
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You still only listed the partitions, not the number of drives, so I'll guess you only have 2 drives. Regardless..
Firstly, x64 supports very little hardware and software.
Think carefully before deciding to install it unless you are absolutely sure everything you want to use is supported.
Obviously, if you format, everything on the drive will be permanently removed. Backup!
You say you want to format it all, I take it that means drives C and E.
Insert your Windows CD and boot from it (if it doesn't give you the option, go into the BIOS and set boot priority to the CD/DVD drive)
You can work it out from reading the instructions, but you should delete all the partitions on each drive then you can define your own size for each.
The XP partition should go on the fastest drive (usually the larger, more modern drive), at least 30GB should do it for the OS, Sequencer and plugins.
You can split the rest up however you like.
Mine is split thusly:
C: System/Sequencer & Apps/Plugins
D: Songs/Presets
E: Samples
Good luck.. its not hard really. Just be sure you've got the right OS for your needs and you are prepared to lose everything in the format. |
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Luis M.
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
22
Posts :
112
Posted : Jun 29, 2008 04:20
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Ok my friend you was very helpfull, i have a starting point now, thank you!
But i would like to try and be more clear and especific in order to be easy and quick for you or somebody else to help me, so i can get the most of my PC wich i am sure it's a good machine for audio, when used correctly,(excludind my xp 64 wich i don't want to worry about for the time being, if possible)
My PC is a Intel Core, 2 Quad CPU Q6600 2x 2.40GHz, 8 GB ram & 763 GB Hard drive wich i only use for music.
Os: XP Pro x64
SP 2
2003
Sound card: fireface 800 (rme)
Sequencer: Cubase 4
Disk partition:
So, should i have one Partition for System, Cubase, Apps and Plugins/VSTS installed. ?
Another Partition for my tracks made in Cubase and Presets of my Plugins, Mixer Preferences etc. ?
And a last partition for Percussion, Movie Samples. ? Is this what tomos means by "Samples"?
My disk is 763 GB, What is the rough percentage i should have on each of the three partitions to guarantee the best performance. ?
Please guys, i will be watting on some help to format and set partitions on my PC.
Peace and light for you all |
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Luis M.
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
22
Posts :
112
Posted : Jun 29, 2008 04:54
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Is disk partition a matter of organization depending from person to person or there's a rule that i shoud folow.???
(i don't wanna fuck up the performance of the machine.lolol) |
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mlazar
Started Topics :
4
Posts :
54
Posted : Jun 29, 2008 17:37
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Hi Luis,
First things first. If you're running windows (mac soon too folks) you may be prone to viruses and spyware attacking your system. I run a laptop with an external drive in the house(usb--maudio firewire410 likes being alone), and in the studio (hehe my garage) I'm running 2 systems--one with a 5 drive pata syncraid and the other is a 4 drive sata raid (intel).
I usually set up my system with a 100G system drive, its a bit much (80 could work) but then I have extra room to install visual studio and some other development apps, and up my pagefile a bit.
The important thing is to split your system (which can get corrupted, infected, whatever) and your data.
I prefer not to partition, but get two physical drives since if the one drive actually fails you won't lose everything. (has happened to me hence my preference to raid 5 in spite of performance, syncraid is cool guys)
a backup setup is a good idea -- look up a free utility called rsync that you can set up to make backups of your system, and I also like the DOS version of Norton Ghost 2003. Don't use the new version as it is not the old reliable ghost product but rather powerquest driveimage rebranded.
Most importantly, if you don't raid, put your other drive on another channel (sata this is easy right) and put most of your swapdisk there. Windows will require you to keep a minimum pagefile on your system but as the reads for dll files and other libraries are happening, the hard disk competes to write the data at the same time. a while ago (6 years?) I had a much slower computer and was able to get 4 additional tracks running by moving the swapdisk.
Hope this helps
-m
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Luis M.
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
22
Posts :
112
Posted : Jun 29, 2008 19:03
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Yeah man it helps!
I see what you mean with the fisical drives, its nice my friend does the same but my hard drive is huge more than 750 GB so i should not need it. isn't it?
I have acronis software for back up that came with the PC.
OK, I am more clear now, i have been doing some reading and you people was very helpfull.
Basic thing is to separate my system and applications from my data. (sorted)
Just one more thing, when i insert the windows disk and get ready to start the format it says if i want something like raid or scs or something>
What is that?
Thank you people! |
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Dharma Lab
Started Topics :
8
Posts :
342
Posted : Jun 30, 2008 21:14
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RAID & SCSI are controllers for drives, etc. I'm willing to bet you do not have SCSI, and if you are asking the questions you are asking, I don;t think you should even consider RAID, as it's more complex (provided your board even has a RAID controller).
I also use Acronis, and ghost, & I usually keep my system partition pretty small, like 40 GB or so, mainly so I don't fill it up with lots of stuff that really doesn't need to be there. It forces me to store non-system type stuff on other drives, where they generally belong.
I do not recommend removing the entire swapfile to another drive. Always keep at least a small swap file (also called page file, or virtual memory) of 50 MB or so on the C: drive. My experience has been that moving the swap file to another drive has had very marginal performance increase, but I tend to buy top of the line computer parts.
 Keep The Faith,
Christian K. |
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Luis M.
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
22
Posts :
112
Posted : Jul 1, 2008 05:13
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Yeah man, you are right, the more i read the more complex it gets!(RAID, Basic,Dynamic disks etc.) lolololol (maybe i should not expect to learn so much about this technical issues.Step by Step Isn't it?)
As long as my Cubase runs Smooth i'll be cool!
But anyway i will saty with the principles of having OS/Apps in C drive(main) and audio/samples/ on other drive/drives like tomos explained.
I was recomended as well by "Sonica"(where i got my gear from) to format the samples and audio drives at 32 K. right?
Good Vibes for all
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Dharma Lab
Started Topics :
8
Posts :
342
Posted : Jul 1, 2008 20:15
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Quote:
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On 2008-07-01 05:13, Luis M. wrote:
I was recomended as well by "Sonica"(where i got my gear from) to format the samples and audio drives at 32 K. right?
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By format to 32K I believe you are talking about the cluster/block bize of the partition. Sounds like a good idea when it comes to samples, since most of them are probably going to be several MB or more.
Keep The Faith,
Christian K. |
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Luis M.
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
22
Posts :
112
Posted : Jul 2, 2008 02:50
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yeah man "Allocation Unit Size"
Stay cool and if there's any tips you suggest ...wonderfull. |
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Tomos
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
84
Posts :
981
Posted : Jul 2, 2008 12:50
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Formatting as NTFS on all your drives is sufficient.
Don't confuse yourself with clusters and blocks. Formatting with NTFS is the only option with XP setup anyway?
You can parition and size your disks in the setup, so don't bother with any additional steps using a partition utility - it just isn't necessary.
You might be taking performance a little far at this point. If your drive is spinning at 7200rpm you're pretty much sorted regardless.
Besides, a lot of samples are loaded into memory from the disk so it won't constantly seek for them.
As for running Cubase 'smoothly' once it's open, the only things really you need to prevent slowdowns is a decent CPU for more simultaneous instances of plug-ins and RAM to hold it all in.
Something else worth noting - disk fragmentation slows access and loading times for programs and files (such as samples). But fragmentation only occurs when you delete something, then overwrite it with something that won't exactly fit in that free space.
On a samples partition you're likely to just keep adding and adding, so it will never get fragmented.
Defrag the whole system every 6 months with anything but the XP defrag - which doesn't do the MBR or organise files by usage so is generally pretty useless.
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Luis M.
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
22
Posts :
112
Posted : Jul 3, 2008 03:02
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Well one thing i know, when you have a "shit" PC you need to really have alot of performance tweeks in order to be able to work fine with Audio, in my case i got a good one for that task even not having alot of knowledge in the subject but i just like to now these things."Learning is a continuous process isn't it, there's allways space for more...
And it's nice when you know what you are doing!
Thanks tommos i liked that "fragmentation" explanation. Clear as Water. |
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Upavas
Upavas
Started Topics :
150
Posts :
3315
Posted : Jul 3, 2008 10:10
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