“I’ve recently upgraded my computer hardware to include a 40 gig hard drive dedicated to recording audio. Before I get started, I was wondering, when using a software digital recording system such as MOTU’s Digital Performer, is there any advantage to partitioning the new drive, or should I treat it as a single volume?”
The answer to this question depends on the OS you are running, as they all have different wants and needs. Since you mention Digital Performer we can assume you are on a Mac. For a Mac, the answer depends on the version of the Mac OS. Older versions may require partitions of 2 to 4 gig (depends on the specific version). OS9 doesn’t. If no partition is required by your system, then in general there is no reason to make one, as long as your audio drive is separate from your system/application drive. You are well served to have all of the space available and to organize your projects into folders. If you break the drive down into partitions you will always have wasted space as each one gets near full. For example, you’d never start a project on a partition with only 200 MB left. If you have six partitions each with 200 MB remaining that you can’t use, that’s 1.2 gig of wasted space.
One downside of the big partition is that it can take longer for file maintenance routines such as Norton’s Speed Disk and other utilities. With partitions, you can optimize them separately as needed, which can save time. Some users like to have two main partitions so they can copy files from one to the other quickly as a sort of backup system. The thinking is that if a file on partition A gets damaged they have it on partition B even if they have yet to back it up to tape or CD-R. Of course, even if you just have one partition you can copy files by dragging them while holding the option key so this doesn’t seem like a big deal.
Bottom line – Enjoy your 40 gig of unmitigated space.