Partitioning Advice - Single SSD

I have two 2 TB Samsung T7 external NVMe drives I use to make images of my systems. On my pc's, I only have one SSD, with each one with only a single C partition. On two of them, the SSD has 350 GB of data. Using the external SSDs, I can make full backups of the entire SSD in between 10 and 15 minutes using Macrium X. I have a few older external hard drives, where I back up data only using FreeFile Sync. The few times I had two or more hard drives, I would put data files on one and the OS and apps on the other.

i have a 1TB NVMe M2 type SSD and i partition the drive into two partitions 25% and 75%.
the 25% (C: drive 250GB) is to install Windows
the 75% (D: drive 750GB) is where i move all my folders to and keep my personal files

Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music, Video are moved to D: drive

Desktop/Program and all Windows file/folders stay on C: drive

this way i can repair/reinstall Windows and my personal folders remain intact
note. i still have external drives for backup.

thats my setup
best of luck Steve ..

hsehestedt said:

True, you would need to reinstall the data in addition to the OS, but we are talking about disaster recovery here. How many times have to had to do a full restore for an emergency? This is not something you would need to do every month or even every year.

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Maybe out terminology is not aligned. I am not aware of a partial restore mode, it is all or nothing. So all the data is gone after a restore of the OS, and it also needs to be restored. It does not take a disaster for a restore to be done. If have even done a restore to check a situation from a couple of weeks ago, then another restore to get back the most current status.

With a program like DiskGenius*, it is easy to adjust the size of partitions. I have a C: for the OS and standard folders like Documents and Dowloads. Then a separate D: partition for data. I often move downloads and documents to the D:, especially program install files, virtual machines and music that I have ripped from CDs.

This makes my weekly Macrium images small and fast. I will adjust the two partitions so that Windows has about 100 GB free.

* I know this can be done with DiskPart but it saves me from remembering commands and is quicker.

kelper said:

* I know this can be done with DiskPart but it saves me from remembering commands and is quicker.

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Yes and no. DiskPart has limitations like it can only shrink partitions to a limited degree vs programs like DiskGenius. Also, it cannot move a partition down to where free space on the drive is located. It can only expand partitions toward the end of the disk.

I use something like MiniTool for any partition manipulations, I agree that DIskPart has too many limitations. I do recommend a full backup before shuffling partitions, lots of time for things go go wrong when you're doing that on a large disk with multiple partitions.

This thread is a classic
ask 100 people this type of question and you almost get 100 answers.

so is it my turn now... I set one partition for boot/system.. then one partition for page/swap/hibernation.
If the disk is bigger then 500+GB then i make third data partition....
I never store personal data on C: (Exception of the rule is short temporary before i delete or move what i just saved to C:)