Seriously.... necessary to create partition or not?

[Telstar1948]

I use OneDrive set for online and offline so my data is available on my device if I have no internet. I also back up my SP3 to an external drive.

As someone else said, you can also have your data backed up offsite through the internet (pay service or even a homemade setup at another location with internet service)

My specific work files I have included in the above setup but I also place them annually on a DVD for archiving.

 

[kristalsoldier]

This is the thing with the cloud, the time when you were not able to connect at anytime is gone. My phone acts as AP. So I'm virtually connected at any time I want.

Agreed. This is so true.

 

[Buelligan]

There are lots of potential solutions, each with its own drawbacks. By far the best is to use a cloud based solution like Google or OneDrive. Google is WAAAAAAY cheaper so that's my preference. With Google docs (OneDrive, Sugarsync, Dropbox, etc.) you can access the data/docs from your cell phone, tablet or remote computer.
Not sure about your specific needs so I can't speak to your need for instant access if you have internet access problems. From a risk perspective, you would have to have a system failure AND the internet down at the same time, including cell phone access. That would be a serious disaster situation which would probably mean you have bigger issues (like personal survival) so I'm not so sure you would be worried about accessing docs/data.
You can also set up CrashPlan to do a backup online AND to another physical remote storage device (I have this for hosting two servers) that can be FedEx'd to you or you can go get them if they're in driving distance.

THAT IS NOT TRUE! OneDrive is the exact same price
100 GB is $1.99/month
200GB is $3.99/month

Google doesn't even have a 200GB option and theirs is shared across a few Apps, OneDrive is a single point of access.

Plus if you use Office 365 Home, you plus the 5 others members you can share your account with ALL get 1TB of storage. So with that in mind OneDrive is WAAAAAAY cheaper you get 6TB of storage for $99/yr VS Google's 1TB for$120/yr

That was true until about 3 weeks ago when Microsoft changed all there storage pricing to compete.

 

[Jeff Au]

I'm interested to find out the answer too - like if it's possible to create a 2nd data partition in the base SSD for SP3. Separating the data from the OS/system means I can easily refresh or reinstall the OS partition without worrying about wiping out my data drive.

Just replying to my own question for everyone's benefit. You need to disable Bitlocker on the main drive (C to allow splitting of the partition into a new partition. I now have C: as 200GB (system, app & OS stuff) and D: as 270GB (data). You then re-enable Bitlocker after you are done with the partitioning.

 

[ariel56]

Just replying to my own question for everyone's benefit. You need to disable Bitlocker on the main drive (C to allow splitting of the partition into a new partition. I now have C: as 200GB (system, app & OS stuff) and D: as 270GB (data). You then re-enable Bitlocker after you are done with the partitioning.

Thanks a lot! I have checked your prescription
After the encryption has been canceled, paragon partition manager (freeware) has indeed succeeded. There is a bug though: during restart my SP3 has stuck: probably the program does not recognize touchscreen and the attached keyboard. I have done manual restart, and everything is fine now.

 

[GreyFox7]

To each their own. In simple terms the downside to multiple partitions is space fragmentation (inefficient space usage) and leads to juggling partitions, locations of programs and data and free space. IMO this was one of the principal drivers to ever increasing disk sizes. Go back a generation when we spoke of drives in megabytes not gigabytes, it was a constant hassle. This is also the complete opposite intent of Storage Spaces, DFS, Mount Points, and Storage Virtualization.

I wont try to convert you from your predisposed thinking. Just think of this when you're low on space in one or both partitions but the combined free space of both partitions eliminates the issue. The more partitions you make the more space you waste.