creating HD partition - how to & other FAQ....
i've had this G3 ibook for more than two years now. i was happy the way it was & when it went a bit slow, i just upgraded the RAM (256MB-->640MB). once again i was happy until someone suggested that i try partitioning the HD. now this idea has stuck to my head & since i haven't done it before (well, not on a mac!) i have some pretty silly doubts....
1) would partitioning improve performance/speed?
if i load the OS on a smaller partition say 5GB, would that be sufficient for further updates (running 10.3, & i honestly don't see how & why apple can release any more major updates!) or maybe translate into faster boot-up times? having said that, the last time i restarted the machine was 27 days, 8 hours and 24 minutes ago.
2) would apps open /run faster?
this is a pretty obvious doubt. if i had a partition dedicated for all the apps (not counting utilities here) would they do any better?
3) would i have to format the HD?
because that would mean an entire day to back up the data to CDs, reload the OS and apps, wait for an eternity for "software update" to do its job & finally get back the data. in fact i had accumulated a ton of junk so i had no choice but to go in for a HD wipe & clean install last june.... that is definitely not something i look forward to!
4) once partitions have been created can i just move apps or data between them?
if i want to put frequently used apps on a separate partition....
5) what 3rd software would you recommend?
if there are any... which do the job with the least amount of fuss...
6) any personal peeves, irritating bugs, similar problems - and your suggestions!
IMHO, the most important bit here!
thanks guys!
1) would partitioning improve performance/speed?
if i load the OS on a smaller partition say 5GB, would that be sufficient for further updates (running 10.3, & i honestly don't see how & why apple can release any more major updates!) or maybe translate into faster boot-up times? having said that, the last time i restarted the machine was 27 days, 8 hours and 24 minutes ago.
2) would apps open /run faster?
this is a pretty obvious doubt. if i had a partition dedicated for all the apps (not counting utilities here) would they do any better?
3) would i have to format the HD?
because that would mean an entire day to back up the data to CDs, reload the OS and apps, wait for an eternity for "software update" to do its job & finally get back the data. in fact i had accumulated a ton of junk so i had no choice but to go in for a HD wipe & clean install last june.... that is definitely not something i look forward to!
4) once partitions have been created can i just move apps or data between them?
if i want to put frequently used apps on a separate partition....
5) what 3rd software would you recommend?
if there are any... which do the job with the least amount of fuss...
6) any personal peeves, irritating bugs, similar problems - and your suggestions!
IMHO, the most important bit here!
thanks guys!
Comments
I HAD to partition the drive that I put in an old iMac G3 ... and it took some mucking around with Netinfo and all to get the "home" folders set up on a different partition from the OS... (this may not be such a problem now, that was with 10.0)
You WILL have to reformat the entire drive to create partitions. Any performance gains you might see will take YEARS to make up for the time it will take you to back-up and restore your entire HD after doing the partitions
You'd probably get the same minor performance boost by just re-installing the OS on the single partition (so that everything is "cleaner" on the drive.) But again, you've got the hassle of backing up and reinstalling.
cheers mate!
i already feel redeemed... thank you, Lord!