<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 8:44 PM, Raymond Wagner <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:raymond@wagnerrp.com">raymond@wagnerrp.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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The disk is going to have to seek any time you do anything other than sequential access. If you are reading one file while writing another, the disk will keep seeking back and forth between those two files. It makes no difference whether they're on the same or separate partitions. Claiming partitioning will increase, decrease, or in any way affect how much you seek is blatantly false.</blockquote>
<div><br>Seek time does depend on how far the head has to move. If two files are in a separate partitions then you are guaranteed to have to seek the distance between the two partitions every time you switch from accessing one file to the other. If they are in the same partition (and the single partition covers the same area as the two separate partitions did) then the two files may be closer or further than that, depending on how the filesystem is laid out. It'd depend mainly how full the partition is and how many other files were written between the two you're accessing. It is certainly false to say that it makes no difference whether they're on the same or separate partitions.<br>
<br>Cheers,<br>Steve<br></div></div>