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I have a large 6Tb external hard drive, which I am not using to boot my system at the moment, but only as a storage. I plan to store regular backups, photos (unarchieved) and some personal data. I use Linux.

Should I still partition the hard drive? If so, what will be the appropriate partition size and what could be the advantages and disadvantages of it (e.g. it can have low access speed or partitions will not be visible under some systems)? Are there any restrictions or performance issues in Ubuntu that I should consider?

This post gives similar answer, but is relevant for OS setups.

Additionally I found relevant this criteria:

  • Different filesystem types - one can use different file system types on partitions, like having a "native" ext4 partition, NTFS partition if you need to exchange files with Windows machine freely (without third party software). This makes sense for photos.

From what I see, there is no speed gain from partitioning a disk, even if it is large. Quite oppositely, there is a loss in speed. However, defragmentation will easier (it can be done for each partition separately), which will improve the performance.

Can anyone provide a better answer relevant for storage disks?

I have no idea what the answer could be and what problems can pop up.

E.g. maybe having boot partition is useful to recover the data from this hard drive? Or If I have a disk error in one partition the others will work? If I plan to have multiple users for the disk, is there increased safety if I partition it? If I use it for backup, I will be copying and deleting large amounts of data every week (e.g. several hundred Gb). Maybe such operation cause disk to fail quickly, but only one partition will be affected?

I guess all above is about physical partitions (not logical ones), but correct if it is wrong.

Community
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Noidea
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  • Whoever downvoted it, provide the details why. Down-vote is for questions not showing research effort, not clear or not useful. I don't see either of the problems here. – Noidea Sep 16 '16 at 13:21
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    You're asking for an entire list of ALL criteria in terms of partitioning an external drive. Users are downvoting because this is likely too large of a scope for this SE, and in fact, the answer would probably be too long. The list is also not likely to be exhaustive, so after some time, the answer would become useless. – nightsurfer Sep 16 '16 at 13:25
  • Furthermore, you linked to an already answered question, and just asked the same question around it. Don't be surprised if this is put on hold for being a duplicate. – nightsurfer Sep 16 '16 at 13:26
  • @Kaizerwolf I think the fact that there are many of them, doesn't mean there shouldn't be a list of important ones. I already posted a list of criteria, so it is only the matter whether something crucial is missing. There is nothing in the answer about disk failures of regular backups, which are of major importance. Multi user is important for any family or company. – Noidea Sep 16 '16 at 13:44
  • Major importance for you might not be major importance for someone else. This question could even be flagged as too broad, primarily opinion-based, there's a host of reasons why. – nightsurfer Sep 16 '16 at 13:47
  • @Kaizerwolf no, you can't disagree that disk failures and regular backups are of major concern for most of people who buy external hard drives. If someone uses HDD as decoration for a X-mas tree this is not a reason to call it opinion-based. – Noidea Sep 16 '16 at 13:52
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – nightsurfer Sep 16 '16 at 13:53
  • @Kaizerwolf Yes, but the question is about external drive. Talking about internal ones, first answer - have an OS partition, swap partition and 1-2 data partitions. But neither OS nor swap seems to be needed here. Or maybe it is? If I knew I wouldn't ask. – Noidea Sep 16 '16 at 13:54
  • "Whoever downvoted it, provide the details why." - Your asking for a list of advantages and disadvantages for using partitions. Read our Help Center thats the reason for my vote. – Ramhound Sep 16 '16 at 15:30
  • @Ramhound can you be precise? I didn't find a topic in Help Center which forbids asking about advantages and disadvantages. Besides, the question I cited is not closed or downvoted and has a high rating. – Noidea Sep 16 '16 at 15:42
  • @Noidea - Just because its not closed, does not make it on a good question, for a Q&A website. I would argue that a list of advantages and disadvantages, would fall under, "there is no actual problem to be solved" and/or "every answer is equally valid" type questions – Ramhound Sep 16 '16 at 17:02
  • @Ramhound well, this is a problem for me, as I have to do something with the drive :). This is a decision I have to make once. It will be hard to toss terrabytes of data around if I have to change my mind later. Besides, I am quite happy with accepted answer. The other answer is not as good as this one. – Noidea Sep 16 '16 at 17:10

2 Answers2

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Addressing the points from the previous post:

Advantages

Format convenience. This point is true, regarding keeping your data partitioned from your OS. Keeping your OS on a partition, programs on another, and data on one or more dedicated partitions is not horrible.

Increased Security. The security point is moot. Malware usually infects anything it can reach.

Improved Performance. Negligible increase in performance. What we can do here is put the OS on a SSD and data on a fast HDD.

Disadvantages

Slower Data Moves Negligible with SATA-3 and only really applies when dealing with crossing physical drives.

Set-Up Convenience Not sure how this would impact you.

Reduced Space Negligible

The answer to your question: The reasons to put your data on a separate drive is for more space and/or to separate data from OS/Software. If your internal drive has enough space, a separate partition lets you achieve the separation.

One thing to consider is using the external as your backup storage location. Regularly copy all your data from internal drive to some external storage location. Backups are more important than separating OS from data. Though the separation makes backups simpler, if you have enough data and limited storage for backups to the point where data-only backups are warranted.

Boot partition - you always have one, but your external drive only needs one if you plan to boot to it.

Disk errors - if it's a physical error, the whole drive can be affected. If it's localized, it's likely localized. If the problem is with the file tables, partitioning can help. But we're talking about a home system here right?

Multiple users - no impact. File system and OS permissions handle security.

Copying - not sure about partitions, but external drives are notoriously slower than internal ones. Even with USB 3, thunderbolt, or firewire, you're giving up speed for portability.

A physical drive is a building. Logical drives are a building divided into suites, e.g. separating shops within a mini-mall. Partitions are the walls within a suite.

The short answer is do not divide the drive, unless you need to divide the data.

Jeter-work
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Prove to me that you can even use a drive without a partition, because as far as I know (and I do know a lot, obviously not all) you cannot use a hard drive without at least one partition table. All drives that have the ability to contain data need an MBR or GUID partition table in order to be accessed and used. With that being said, since you require a device that is basically used for backups and NOT for duel booting, I would only create one partition (using the default amount of space) using an NTFS file system. If you haven't even touched the external hard drive's partition or file system, don't. It should already be configured for you with the appropriate configurations.

aud.io
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  • He's asking about dividing the drive into multiple partitions. 2. He's using Linux, not Windows, so doesn't need MBR or GPT unless he needs/wants to use NTFS for the drive. 3. Linux not windows, so likely not using NTFS for the drive. 4. Linux not Windows so reformatting to Ext4 is a good idea for 6TB. 5. Dual not duel. Instead of flaming the poster as an answer, just leave a comment to the original and move on.
    • – Jeter-work Sep 16 '16 at 14:10
  • Indeed, and I'm basically telling him that he doesn't need multiple partitions. But I do like your answer better, well written! – aud.io Sep 16 '16 at 14:12