Path: utzoo!attcan!lsuc!maccs!cs4g6ag
From: cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Does partitioning speed up access time?
Message-ID: <25AF88F4.1155@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca>
Date: 13 Jan 90 20:00:52 GMT
References: <4653.25acd701@uwovax.uwo.ca>
Reply-To: cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn)
Organization: McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
Lines: 19


   Well, whether or not partitioning would speed up your accesses depends
on whether or not you're using files on the same partition or not, and how
full your hard disk is.

   On a hard disk with a single partition, the possibility is there that
to retrieve two files, the head may have to travel from one edge of the
disk to the other (or, if you're really full up and fragmented, the same
can happen for one file).  If you partition the disk and stay on one par-
tition for your two files, there is obviously a smaller upper limit to the
amount of head travel requried.  Therefore, disk accesses will be faster.
However, if you have one file on one partition and the other file on the
other partition, the head will likely have to travel farther than it would
have otherwise.
-- 
Stephen M. Dunn                               cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca
          <std_disclaimer.h> = "\nI'm only an undergraduate!!!\n";
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    If it's true that love is only a game//Well, then I can play pretend