Unless you have a special reason, there is no point in partitioning. And, sure, there are reasons to have such. What are yours exactly? I ask not to be inquisitive but to suggest this approach would help you think through the issues. If, say, it is to have a part that is easily wiped and defragged and always ready for efficient caching etc then there would be no need to have it as a start up disk and so no need for an OS. If you want to operate different OSs like 8.6, 9.1 etc then this would be a good reason and then the question of having to put an OS on each would answer itself.
As for the specific questions I am sure you will get good answers from many good folk on the list. In a yellow book that came with an old Norton's Utilities (like 3.something) there was a very nice account of Hard Disks - may have been written by Peter Norton. I will see if there is an online version in the help files on another computer I have. It was a beauty and I recommend it. Here are some remarks you may find helpful re specific questions: I'd be very surprised if an alias of an OS would work. The computer needs to boot before it understands the alias system surely? In general, you do not need an OS on a volume (think HD, virtual or otherwise) if you don't need to start from it. All volumes on a HD spin together, there's no saving on spindle wear. Once you are booted up and all the volumes are mounted or recognised by the OS, any app on any disk should load into memory and fire up as long as any of its special needs are met: eg. it may need an extension which needs to have been loaded at start up on the start up disk. So it is no use having a set of extensions on the start up disk that is not appropriate to the app concerned. In general! I would not be surprised if some apps need to be on the start up disk even though this is not fathomable from first principles - I have discovered that all things happen in this world somewhere. Aliases of things on the start up should work fine in this context. In general, if there is a facility in any particular software for you to assign a scratch disk or cache in disk space, you can choose whatever volume (think HD, (partitioned creation or not) you like. In fact, Photoshop used to recommend you assign a whole volume for the scratch for efficient operation - a guaranteed nice clean empty defragged block ... A RAM disk is not "on" any hard disk, rather it is in RAM, fast electronic chip based storage. It is a disk in the sense that an area of RAM is reserved for storing things that are more conventionally written to HD space. It is a Virtual Volume (HD) in chipspace. VM or Virtual Memory proper (an area of HD is assigned to augment real chip RAM) can be assigned to any volume you like in the memory control panel david_elmo > Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 10:11:33 -0400 > From: Dave Checkman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Partitioning: What/Where? > > I've slogged along for quite a while now with a home-made > partitioning scheme on my PowerMac 6500 (OS 9.2.2 and 120 GB memory). > But, I'm not sure if I've accomplished anything of note. Basically, > I've used "content" type as the basis for each partition, e.g. "Main" > (System file and main applications), "Audio" (all audio-related > apps), "Publishing" (all word processing and related software) and a > "Scratch" partition (a huge partition for downloading music, etc.). > > Now, I discovered I don't know some basic stuff that I can't seem to > find answers to. I'll list the questions in no particular order; > > 1) Do I have to install the core OS System file in each partition? > (Dumb question right?) I have it set up that way now. The reason: as > I remember, some applications on a partition wouldn't "work" (error > messages, etc.) unless the System file was there with them. > > The second part to this: if the System file has to be repeated in > each partition, will it work if I put in an *aliased* System file in > all but my "Main" partition where I've got the actual file? > > Third part: will I be able (as I can now) select, say, "Publishing" > to be the "start-up" volume if the actual System file is not on that > partition? > > 2) Do I have to separately install the originals of some applications > in each partition? For example, after I installed Stuffit Deluxe in > my "Main" partition, I made an alias of the app icon and installed it > on "Publishing". But, no dice, the alias wouldn't work there. And, as > I recall, the same happened for my Epson printer; I had to install > the whole Epson file again in "Publishing". Another example: just > installing my Sonnet Crescendo driver software on "Main" (I thought > it would take effect on the entire hard drive) left the other > partitions back in their original slow-as-molasses state. > > 3) And then there's the matter of "splitting up" components of a > single piece of software. For example, some partitioning-advice > sources say it's good to move various temporary *cache* files onto > the "Scratch" partition. Put your printer cache files there, and so > on. I'm not sure I'd correctly identify the correct cache's that can > be moved, but can this be done without "hurting anything"? > > As another example, I want to set up a RAM disk for a couple of the > browsers I've got. I may be exceptionally "thick" about doing this, > but I can't figure out whether I have to keep that RAM disk on the > same volume/partition as the browser or if it's okay to put it, say, > in my "Scratch" partition. > > I think you get the picture. I'm at sea about assigning stuff between > partitions and about the need to duplicate-install a lot of stuff on > each partition. Help! Thanks. > > > Dave -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
