Splatsch: snip [...] if C:\ is for Win, D:\ for softwares and E:\ for data : if you format C:\, you'll still have to install again all your softwares ?
Yes. But I don't know what softwares you have in mind, maybe you include games here? I have around 12 GB of software and is all on the windows partition. Even if all was portable, still not worth a dedicated partition.
I go for portable versions whenever I have the option. Opera, Pale Moon, Skype, VLC, Thunderbird, all Piriform's programs and most of the freeware software I use is portable (I should do the same for Firefox but I'm lazy). And don't put them in C:\Program Files (x86)\ or C:\Program Files\.
timppu: snip [...]
I personally don't see much point having several partitions on one hard drive. I keep one hard drive as one partition,
It depends a lot on how someone is managing their files. Having multiple partitions can equal performance, flexibility and less time doing maintenance.
For example, if I copy a big unfragmented file from a partition at the beginning of my drive, it has around 120 MB/s transfer speed. Same scenario, but from a partition at the end of the drive is only around 65 MB/s. So it's definitely better to have Windows and games on the first partitions
Disk read/write heads will travel less back and forth on a smaller partition, thus having better access times.
Different cluster sizes for partitions. On a windows partition and one with lots of smaller files, like games (looking at Shadowrun Dragonfall with over 23000 files O_o) it's best to have the default 4 KB cluster size, but on one with big files, like movies, archives, ISOs, the performance will be increased with bigger cluster sizes (e.g., 32 KB).
Having to do an error-checking for bad sectors on a single partition drive can take a huge amount of time. I once did that on a newly bought 2 TB external drive and it took around 12h - learned my lesson.
Smaller Windows partitions (120-200 GB) can easily be cloned and restored when needed.
Less fragmentation with multiple partitions; Windows likes to scatter its files all over the place. I have all my music on a single partition and it needs no defragmenting because I rarely do writing on it.
Btw, Defraggler has an option to move specific files at the end of drive/partition, so you can do that for rarely accessed files (like those from C:\Windows\Installer\, for example) - don't know why the opposite isn't available too.