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I have PC with Windows 7 and two drives: SSD 256 GB (system, 1 partition), HDD 3 TB (data, 3 partitions - 1 TB each).

I have also second HDD 3 TB in external HDD case which is using USB port to connect to PC. That drive also has 3 partitions, 1 TB each. I'm using it to backup data from my internal HDD (I do not use any backup tools, I just copy files / directories I want to backup).

Now I bought third HDD 3 TB and second external HDD case (all the same) and I'm going to use it also for backups, but this time I'm wondering:

Am I doing this right by dividing external HDDs into partitions? Are there any useful reasons to do so? For example: I remember that some systems has / had some troubles with big partitions / drives so maybe it's still good because of legacy reasons which may be needed in some critical situations? I also remember some rule that files on bigger partitions take more space. Or maybe I should create one big 3 TB partition because "that'll be much better"?

PS. Additional thing to consider: as I'm using external drives only from time to time (I do not have them connected to PC 24/7) they are / will always be in much better shape than the current internal HDD so at some moment in future I'm going to replace my internal drive with one of external ones. Having external HDD already partitioned will probably make that job easier.

Lex
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  • Arguably you “aren’t doing it right” by dividing _internal_ drives into partitions (except were required for technical reasons of course). Partitions suck. Use folders instead! – Daniel B Aug 05 '20 at 17:38
  • Yet another option: filesystem on the entire device (superfloppy). [Hardly ever the best solution](https://superuser.com/a/1181406/432690), but possible. – Kamil Maciorowski Aug 05 '20 at 17:38
  • @DanielB: What about some old rule that files take more space on bigger partitions? Is that now "the ancient one" and I should not care about it? I'm using NTFS. As of intenal drive: I like it to have my files separated in that way. – Lex Aug 05 '20 at 17:46
  • It’s about the default cluster size. You don’t have to use the default. // You wanted an opinion, and now you have it. ;-) – Daniel B Aug 05 '20 at 18:51
  • @DanielB: I see. According to [what I found](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/140365/default-cluster-size-for-ntfs-fat-and-exfat) it seems that default NTFS cluster size is the same for 1 TB and 3 TB partition and it is 4 KB so it does not matter? But it also seems that partitions bigger than 2 TB are not supported on the older systems - so in case of some emergency situation my backup drive with only one 3 TB partition will probably not be visible if connected to some PC with older version of Windows (I do not know about other operating systems). – Lex Aug 05 '20 at 20:42

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Personally, I do not see any advantages of creating partitions on big HDDs in 2020s. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, we did it because we expected troubles with Win XP, with file-sharing utilities, with filesystems etc. Nowadays, all actual OS types use big partitions without errors, so don’t waste your time on splitting drives to pieces!

Mr. Geek
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